WhirlyBirds at Whirlpool

Filed in archive Golf Courses on July 20, 2007

Courtesy: Whirlpool Golf Club, Niagara Falls, Ontario

I wrote a few months back about a golf course I had played in Germany many years ago that was alongside a runway used by F-104s for touch-and-go landings.

I said that it was arguably the nosiest golf course in the world.

I have now played the second nosiest golf course in the world.

On Wednesday of this week, I played Whirlpool Golf Club in Niagara Falls, Ontario. A lovely course, designed by renowned architect, Stanley Thompson.

In superb condition, with splendid, fast rolling greens and manicured fairways, Whirlpool has one blemish - it's smack dab next door to a helicopter tour company.

All day long, two Jet Rangers came and went in loops that repeated every five minutes. As one took off low over the tree tops, the other was returning to reload with more tourists.

We grew used to it but I was praying for a low ceiling the entire round - anything that might ground the pair.

I know a chopper pilot who maintains - as all chopper pilots do, apparently - that helicopters are a bunch of parts flying in loose formation.

And I'm certain I could hear every clattering part in both machines.

There are courses around the world that are right below aircraft flight paths where the big boys come in low and slow.

It's often a fact of life in large urban cities where airports are well outside the city - coincidentally where many golf courses are also located.

Alas, Whirlpool is not situated in a large urban area. It is, however, in a large tourist area and it's just unfortunate that such a lovely golf course is subjected to the roar of low flying helicopters all day long.

That aside, our trip to the wine and golf region known as Niagara-on-the-Lake underscored once again for my wife and I the many pleasures the game affords.

We were paired up with a couple from Quebec (for those who don't know, Quebec is Canada's predominantly French-speaking province).

Michel and Marie were friendly and despite the language barrier (Marie's English was quite good; my French passable), and the Choppers, we had a lovely round.

Michel could pound it off the tee but I was able to match him. His wife could knock it down the middle about 220 yards and Michel explained that she had only been playing for 2 years.

This couple had driven from east of Quebec City, a drive of 7 hours, to southern Ontario to play golf. In a 1971 Pontiac Trans Am convertible! Now that's traveling in style!

And it's also one of the reasons my wife and I love the game so much: the chance encounters with fellow traveling golfers that invariably turn out to be wonderful experiences.

Golf levels every playing field. When you stand on that first tee with someone you've just met, your bond is instant. Golf is the glue.