Written By Jeffrey Reed
Londoner Mitch Sutton has travelled the world as an amateur and professional golfer in search of fame and fortune. Now, the 33-year-old golf lifer is home, back where it all started for him as he begins his new role as head golf professional at West Haven Golf and Country Club.
That’s where the former child golf prodigy first made a name for himself on the golf course while a junior golfer attending Saunders Secondary School. Sutton dominated the Junior Tyson Tour fields he entered, and became a household name amongst the Canadian golf community with back-to-back Canadian Junior Boys golf championships in 2008 and ’09.
There was much success around the globe for Sutton, a standout golfer with Division I North Carolina State University in Raleigh where he finished his four-year stint with a 72.96 career scoring average, good for seventh in Wolfpack history. He has competed on mini tours across Canada and the U.S., played on the PGA Tour Canada circuit and made one appearance on the PGA Tour at the 2018 RBC Canadian Open.
Now, Sutton will use that experience – as well as local knowledge – as he begins his duties as West Haven’s new pro.
“It’s pretty cool to be back and taking on this new role, because this is where I started golfing when I was a kid,” said Sutton, who in 2007 at age 16 shot a then course record-tying 8-under 64 at the Rene Muylaert-designed course. He bettered that with a 9-under 63 in 2015.
“I’ve met a lot of great people here at West Haven over the years, and coming into this new role I will already know a lot of our members. I look forward to meeting new members too, and to enjoying this new role as head golf professional. I’m excited to get started,” he said.
Sutton said he’s looking forward to continuing his role in junior golf coaching “as much as I can while working in my new job. My goal is to continue with my passion of passing on my knowledge, teaching these juniors as well as I can and steering them in the right direction as they pursue their own careers. I want to see them improve, and hopefully – eventually – see some of them get on the PGA Tour.”
Of course, that was Sutton’s goal – and no one doubted that he would someday get there. But golf can be a cruel game, despite many successes along the way. In fact, every golfer feels the pain of success and failure occurring simultaneously – even while challenging a single hole of golf, let alone an entire season.
A new era in Sutton’s career begins this spring as he has returned to his golf roots at West Haven.
“I couldn’t imagine a better place to be,” he said.
And as everyone will tell you, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Award-winning writer
Jeffrey Reed has covered Middlesex County sports since 1980. He is publisher and editor of LondonOntarioSports.com. Reach him at
jeff@londonontariosports.com.
