Member Profile: Jeff Wiggins Reflects on a Career in Canada’s Great North
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So there Jeff Wiggins was, in a pub in Portugal, across the bar from his mate and fellow PGA of Canada professional Cory Draper, talking to some “Welsh fellers,” when Draper shouted “Jeff!!” to grab his attention and the lovely barmaid also shot up and gave him a glance.
This was the opening Wiggins needed. So at night’s end he casually asked the woman what exactly about his handle had sparked her interest.
“That’s my dog’s name,” she replied flatly.
Oof. But Wiggins was undeterred and scrambled his way to a date and many more with this Irish lass named Mary for the five weeks he was in Europe helping Draper navigate European Senior Tour Q-School. Then, before he left, he offered his newfound love a plane ticket to his homeland in hopes of furthering their relationship.
A plane ticket to Whitehorse, Yukon.
Originally from Saskatoon, Wiggins has been the director of golf and head professional at Whitehorse’s Mountain View Golf Club for close to a decade. Upon turning pro in 1996, he moved to British Columbia for an assistant’s job at Christina Lake Golf Club, then to Creston Golf Club and next to Prince George Golf & Curling Club.
“I seemed to gravitate north,” Wiggins joked during December’s PGA Head Professional Championship of Canada presented by Callaway Golf, where he finished T37.
Speaking of which, it was at Prince George where a posting for the top job at Mountain View caught his eye for two reasons: His profound love and interest in Canada and its history; and the numbers the club wasn’t, but should have been, doing. He saw an opportunity to both further quench his explorative thirst and to turn a struggling club around.
“Anytime you can see a scenario like that in this industry and an opportunity, why not?” explained Wiggins.
The not-for-profit club opened in 1983 and expanded to 18 holes in 1986. Puddicomb Golf handled the design while an army of local volunteers picked rocks and dug out tree stumps. It is one of two golf courses in the territory along with the 4,000-yard, pay-in-a-drop-box Annie Lake Golf and Country Club, which was built by U.S. military personnel during the Second World War.
The quality of Mountain View, Wiggins insists, surprises all first-timers, including some of his fellow PGA of BC members who have come to visit. And as you might expect, his is not your typical head professional job.
“It’s not one of those places where you go in and you have all the resources and the amenities and you’re sort of micromanaging your managers,” says Wiggins. “You have to be the guy who is still behind the counter. You’re the teacher, you’re the fitter. You’re the guy who’s ordering limes or running to Superstore if that’s the case.”
Which is both a blessing and a curse. Wiggins works long and unusual hours, not normally closing shop until midnight to accommodate golfers who have the luxury of teeing off after their kids have gone to bed given the enormity of summer daylight. Wiggins will even accommodate groups who want to tee off past 10 for the novelty of playing into the following day. It makes for a lot of long nights, though late mornings are the norm too given everybody is on the same body clock.
“We have a saying around here, it’s never 10 degrees until 10 a.m.,” Wiggins cracked.
On the flip side, the jack-of-all-trades nature of the position means the growth curve for someone taking the job is much quicker than elsewhere. The club’s limited budget and remote location equates to a skeletal staff, though Wiggins has lured a few assistants north over the years.
“There’s a lot of positions out there where you get disconnected from your clientele. You get too much involvement with your staff, and that’s not a bad thing, but you miss what the people are all about and what they’re looking for and for that I was always grateful,” Wiggins stated. “It’s one of those places you’re going to learn everything you need to know to be a head professional just about anywhere in the world.”
The club is thriving too, as is golf in the Yukon. Mountain View averages 325 members paying $1,265 annually for full playing privileges. The season starts in earnest in May and runs until the Thanksgiving long weekend and 10 per cent of the membership is made up by juniors. Wiggins runs men’s and ladies’ leagues as well as junior clinics.
But while Wiggins has adored his time in Whitehorse and has been instrumental in growing the game in the territory, he and his wife — Mary, who came to Canada after all and fell for the Great White North too — have decided to move on. The long hours that were easy breezy in Wiggins’ younger days have become harder since he’s entered his 40s. He’d like to stay in the BC zone and he and Mary — along with Jeff, Jr., the namesake dog that sparked their first conversation, plus a beagle they rescued — will never be far from mountains and lakes. Abe Buckle, previously the general manager and head golf professional at Dragonfly Golf Links in Renfrew, Ont., is replacing Wiggins as of February 1, though Wiggins will stay on through the end of February to help with the transition. He stressed he’ll dearly miss Whitehorse when he leaves.
“I think every Canadian owes it to themselves to see the north,” Wiggins concluded. “We all want to get the best of our holidays. We want to travel to Hawaii, we want to come down to the desert, we want to do Florida, we want to go to Europe. I think we’re all missing a big opportunity in our country. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen and I’ve been around this globe four times.”