You will never hear Travis Glass dismiss a round of golf as a “good walk spoiled.”
Glass, the teaching pro at Eagle Valley Golf Course in Niagara Falls, has averaged “roughly a thousand lessons a year of the last five, six years.”
Does he ever get tired of having a club in his hand and helping students of all ages perfect their swings?
“I definitely don’t. The people who know me would say that I live and breathe all my golf,” the 33-year-old answered with a laugh. “I love it, every aspect of it. I love running the kids tournaments, I love teaching the junior program.
“I love teaching golf every single day. I teach golf seven days a week in the summertime.”
Although he tries to limit teaching to five days a week during the winter months, he still averages about 35 students a week.
Calling Eagle Valley his home away from would by no means be an exaggeration. His family has owned the 18-hole executive golf course since 1995.
“Part of it being a family-owned golf course, I don’t just teach golf,” he said. “In the summertime, you’ll find me cutting grass and you’ll find me helping the maintenance crew.”
Glass, who turned pro 10 years ago, was recently recognized by the PGA of Ontario as the junior leader of the year and is in contention for the same honor nationally.
The director of a 13-stop tour for golfers 14 and younger was humbled by the recognition from his peers.
“This is something that I didn’t even have as a goal of mine, but the gratitude I got for winning this award went a long way,” he said. “I struggled sleeping that night when I won.”
Parents of the young golfers he teaches and works with as director of the US Kids Golf Niagara Tour reached out to him after he received the prestigious award as did fellow pros.
“I always try to make those kids feel like a million dollars the day they are there,” Glass said. “During the kids tournaments, I always want every single player to feel comfortable being there, regardless if they’re in first place or last.
“It doesn’t matter to me if you’re in first or last, I want you to enjoy yourself.”
The tour, which consists of individual one-day events, is now in its 10th year. Eagle Valley has been running it from the outset that Glass fully took over as director seven years ago.
“Around 2,500 players have gone throughout the junior programs since 2012.”
He pointed out the US Kids Tour complements the Niagara District Junior Golf Tour, a competition for golfers 19 and younger.
“They’re both entry-level tours, except I don’t run a teen division really,” he said. “I only run a 13, 14 division boys and 13, 14 division girls.”
Children who are seven, eight and nine play nine-hole events.
“The parents can caddy for them. It’s once a week, kind of like a league almost.”
The tour attracts about 120 players per event, which includes competitors from across southern Ontario. This year, the last event took place on Oct. 2.
“Basically, how it works is the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in June. Then we restart,” he said. “Sometimes, we do two events at the end of August on Sundays, then four events on Sundays during September.
“The last event is always the first Sunday in October, and that’s just to kind of guarantee we can get the weather.”
Glass graduated from Keizer University College of Golf in West Palm Beach, Fla., after attending Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School in St. Catharines.
Eagle Valley runs a program for every age division, including SNAG (Starting New at Golf) for children five and younger who use plastic clubs. It also has a winter academy which is geared towards juniors who want to compete at a higher level.
As a teaching pro, Glass works with all age groups.
“Age seven is actually a really cool age because that’s when they start taking in a ton of information, and they really start to become more co-ordinated,” he said, speaking from experience. “You get the odd four- and five-year-olds who are pretty co-ordinated, but they still fall down all the time.
“Seven years old is when I really start to see kids develop a skill.”
One of Glass’s approaches, when he’s teaching golf, is helping people change their mindset.
“A lot of the time people have the wrong mindset. We have a joke as pros, ‘You just bend your knees, keep your head down and you’ll be a great golfer,’” he said with a chuckle. “That’s not really the case, and I get a lot of people who have so much knee bend, their chin buried in their chest because they’re trying to keep their head down so much.
“In reality, they can’t keep their head down because of the way their posture is set up in the first place. Their body is always trying to reset itself.
“A lot of times people’s bodies swing the club in the way their body allows them to swing the golf club. Not everyone has that perfect Rory McElroy golf swing or the physique to even do it.
“Everyone has their own little way of making the club move.”
His teaching sessions are limited to the driving range or putting green. Sometimes Glass plays a few holes with his students.
“On-course coaching is adamant for junior golfers and for golfers in general because learning how to hit a golf ball well is difficult. There are so many variables to consider,” he said. “That’s all you can do is control the variables that you can control.
“You can’t control the ball hitting a sprinkler head, which happens sometimes.”
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