Longtime head pro Billy Simkin departs for position at Peninsula Lakes

Rick Janes

Special to The Lake Report

There is a plaque to the right of the clubhouse entrance at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Club that celebrates the head professionals who have served the club over the past 100 years. Of the 19 names, Billy Simkin has been the longest-serving and had a mind to retire there. Until now, that is.

After 15 years as head professional, Billy Simkin, 39, is leaving the Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Club to become head teaching professional at Peninsula Lakes Golf Club, a fine 27-hole facility near Fonthill.

Simkin arrived in Niagara-on-the-Lake in 2006, to be the assistant to head professional Scott Cochrane. With Cochrane’s departure a year later, a 24-year-old Simkin took over the top job.

“When the board of directors gave me the chance to be head professional in 2007, my goal was to be the longest-serving head pro at North America’s oldest golf course,” said Simkin who achieved that distinction three years ago surpassing the tenure of Ross Leeder who was the pro for 12 years.

“While my vision was to retire at Niagara-on-the-Lake, the move to Penn Lakes is about resetting my career path as a teaching professional and spending more time with my two boys, Avery, 11 and Emmett 8. It’s also a chance for me to get back to what I love, teaching and playing, rather than being stuck in an office.”

Born and raised in Guelph, Simkin came to the game at an early age, at a time before Tiger Woods, when many courses wouldn’t allow juniors to play until they were 12 years old.

“I fell in love with the game when I was eight,” said Simkin. “My parents would take the family to the old Pergola mini-putt and driving range on Highway 6, a couple of nights a week. Since I was too young to play a regulation golf course, this was my introduction to the game. I loved it.”

When he was old enough, he started playing at Victoria Park West Golf Club in Guelph and became one of the top junior golfers in the region.

He started to compete as soon as he could and won the men’s club championship at Victoria Park West at the age of 14. Self-taught, he took his game to the Puslinch Lakes Golf Club in Cambridge to be part of the junior program organized by Jack and Joyce Leggatt, parents of retired PGA Tour player Ian Leggatt.

“I knew that I wanted to be a golf professional when I was 12 years old. I remember the exact moment,” said Simkin.

“It was early spring and I was watching the head professional at Victoria Park West take his new tour bag out of the box. That was it. It had his name on it. That’s what I wanted. I started working at Victoria Park West as a range picker when I was 13.”

While many top juniors typically pursue U.S. golf scholarships, Simkin chose the route of many club professionals and enrolled in the professional golf management program at Georgian College in Orillia, a career path that might prove to be a challenge for someone who has struggled with a stutter his entire life. While at Georgian, he worked at Blue Springs Golf Club.

“As a kid I knew that my speech would be a challenge given the communication skills that the golf business required. That’s why working at Blue Springs, a private club, was so important for me,” he said.

“Every member knew my challenge and no one there cared that I stuttered. That relaxed me. And when I came to Niagara-on-the-Lake, everyone embraced me and allowed me to grow. And that has meant a lot to me. Had I worked at a course that was strictly public, I would likely have struggled because of my stutter.”

There will be a new head professional’s name on the plague outside the main entrance to the clubhouse this year. The club has started the search.

There are some big shoes to fill. At the end of last season, Ricky Watson left the golf business as an associate professional at the club to pursue a career in real estate. Watson, 31, had been a fixture there for 18 years. He and Simkin had worked together since 2006.

“Ricky and I tried hard to make Niagara-on-the-Lake a great golf club, not just a golf course. The goal was to create an active golf environment for the members, with leagues, events and championships,” Simkin said.

“I’m proud of what we accomplished. Walking away from those 280 members is hard. They are the reason why I stayed so long. Many of them have become friends and that’s what I’ll miss most.”

Rick Janes is a member of the Golf Journalists Association of Canada. He is a life member and past chief executive of the PGA of Canada and retired commissioner of the Canadian Tour.