‘I’ll miss a lot of the people and certain things, but I’m still going to be involved in the game, I just won’t be teaching,’ says Smith, who was a golf pro for 30+ years
After more than three decades in the game, Orillia golf professional Terry Smith is set to put down his teaching clubs for the last time.
Smith, 61, will give his final lesson this Saturday at Hawk Ridge Golf Club, where he’s spent the past 11 years as the club’s Teaching Professional. For him, the decision to retire was simple; it was just time.
“It was time to do it,” he said. “My wife’s been retired for three years now, and we’re in a position where it’s a good time for me to do it, take advantage of the time we can have and do some summer travel.”
After decades of working straight through the season, Smith smiled at the thought of having his first true summer off in more than three decades.
“I haven’t taken summer holidays since 1990,” he said. “So it will be nice to be able to do some stuff.”
He began thinking about retirement about a year ago, and says the decision came easily.
“It wasn’t really a difficult decision,” he said. “I’ll miss a lot of the people and certain things, but I’m still going to be involved in the game, I just won’t be teaching.”
He let his colleagues and students know gradually after deciding in late May that this would be his final season.
“I did it in stages,” he said. “Talked to different people at different times.”
Looking back, Smith said his proudest achievements aren’t trophies or milestones, but the relationships he’s built through the sport.
“Probably the relationships,” he said. “I teach a lot of kids, and over the years I’ve met a lot of families and worked closely with them. Just the relationships that I’ve made, that’s what stands out.”
He said the successes he’s seen over the years belong entirely to the golfers themselves.
“The successes belong to the golfers,” Smith said. “I can give them the basic tools, but they put the work in to achieve success.”
For Smith, the joy of teaching has always come from seeing a student’s breakthrough moment.
“The best part is seeing when people kind of get it,” he said. “When they start to hit better shots, you can just see the satisfaction they have. You can tell they want to get out and play more. They want to practice because they feel like they’ve got something that can help them enjoy the game more.”
Over time, he’s seen the game change dramatically, from technology to the price of a round.
“The cost to play is the biggest thing,” he said. “When I started, green fees at your average course were probably in the $20 range. Now they’re $80 to $100. And technology, the size of a driver head when I started was about the size of what a hybrid head looks like now.”
If golf has taught him anything, Smith said, it’s patience.
“It’s a hard game,” he said. “Nobody ever gets it completely. You can play your best and worst within the same round. Things just have to go right, and you learn to be patient with that.”
With teaching behind him, Smith said he’s looking forward to playing again, even competitively.
“I’ll probably play a little bit more on the competitive side now that I’ll have time to work on my game myself,” he said. “There’s a senior tour circuit with the interior PGA, a few events each year, and I may look into some of those.”
His family, wife Kelly and sons Dawson, 26, Donny, 23, and Jack, 20, are happy to see him slow down.
“They were happy to know they’d get more of me,” he said. “There will be more time with them, but mostly more time with my wife, Kelly.”
Even in retirement, Smith won’t be far from the game, or from the rink. His winter months remain filled with hockey, both as a referee and mentor.
“My winter activities will stay the same,” he said. “I’m sitting on the board of directors for the Orillia Minor Hockey Association now. I work for the OMHA as an officiating coach, what used to be called a supervisor, helping new and experienced officials refine and tune their game.”
It’s his third stint on the OMHA board.
“The first one was back in the ’90s,” he said. “So it’s nice to be able to stay involved.”
As his final day at Hawk Ridge approaches, Smith said it still feels like any other end to a season, at least for now.
“It feels like it’s just another day,” he said. “The end of the year is always the end of the year, you finish up, and then you come back in the spring. So it feels pretty normal.”
Smith says it will truly hit him when the next golf season rolls around in the spring.
When asked how he hopes people will remember him, Smith paused before answering.
“Patience,” he said. “The ability to work with different levels of players, and just trying to work with the kind of player they were, overall, as opposed to trying to change them. Trying to help them be the best they can be with what they have.”
For young people hoping to follow in his footsteps by making a career out of golf, his advice is simple.
“Be available, communicate well, be patient, and be positive,” he said. “Try to be as positive as you can with everybody.”
And if he could offer one bit of wisdom to his 13-year-old self, the young golfer who once won the Ontario Bantam Championship, it would be to “enjoy the game, and enjoy the people.”
