Reed On The Greens March 18, 2025
Sutton’s Homecoming A Full-Circle Moment
by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioSports.com
Above Photo courtesy Mitch Sutton

Londoner Mitch Sutton has travelled the world as an amateur and professional golfer in search of fame and fortune. Like tens of thousands of other uber-talented golfers, he came up short in his quest for a PGA Tour card. In golf, where a single missed putt per round can squash the dreams of world-class athletes, there are no guarantees.

But 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.

Mitch Sutton. Photo: PGA Tour.

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.

As a kid, you couldn’t keep Sutton off the golf course. In recent years at local indoor and outdoor teaching facilities, he has built a strong stable of talented junior golfers, including Fanshawe Falcons standout Ben Landers – a former Tyson Tour champion – and current Tyson Tour stars Ben Hudson – who Sutton calls “one of the hardest working students I’ve ever had” – and Logan Woodiwiss, 2024 Tyson Tour and Lambton Junior Golf Tour champ. All three worked under Sutton in 2024 while he was teaching professional at The Oaks Golf and Country Club.

Sutton said he’ll now focus on teaching at West Haven “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.”

Mitch Sutton on the cover of the 2012 London Free Press Golf Guide

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.

Like Landers, Hudson and Woodiwiss, Sutton had great mentors during his junior golf days. He learned from notable coaches including Len Foran and Henry Brunton, and former West Haven pro Tim Churchill who said he had “never seen a junior golfer with (Sutton’s) ability.”

In 2006 at age 14, Sutton set a course-record 64 at Thames Valley Golf Course while winning the first of his two (2006 and ’08) Les Thomas Memorial Championship events on the Tyson Tour. After the round, one of his competitors quipped, “Everyone else was playing for second place.”

Sutton’s coming out season was 2008, when U.S. college coaches began to take notice of this golf prodigy from Canada. That year, at age 16, Sutton first captured the Ontario Junior Boys championship at Whitevale Golf Club in Toronto – he was the first 16-year-old to win the tournament. Then, he won his first of two-straight Canadian Junior Boys championships in Edmonton. That summer, the RCGA (now Golf Canada) invited Sutton to play in the Duke of York Young Champions of the World tournament in Scotland. The RCGA named Sutton to its under-22 development team.

Also in 2008, Sutton won the RCGA’s Quebec Future Links championship, finished second at the Ontario Future Links event and secured a spot on the RCGA’s national squad. A then 17-year-old Sutton said, “It’s awesome to be selected and to have chances to represent Canada. It means a lot in terms of being able to improve my game. They’re going to help me along and there will be a couple of international events.”

Sutton would go on to capture the 2009 Canadian Junior Boys Championship at Westmount Golf and Country Club in Kitchener, and finish runner-up at the Ontario Men’s Amateur Championship, captured by Cam Burke of New Hamburg. While a Grade 12 student at Saunders, Sutton chose North Carolina as his college destination. It was where Forest, Ont.’s Matt Hill was playing golf, and where his junior foe, Albin Choi of Toronto, would become his roommate.

Before he left London for his freshman year at North Carolina, Sutton said, “I don’t really have any expectations this year. There’s no reason to put extra pressure on myself. I pretty much am going to keep doing what I am doing, practicing hard and I hope to improve my game overall.”

Mitch Sutton at the 2018 RBC Canadian Open. Photo courtesy Mitch Sutton.

Looking back, Sutton said it was a “fantastic experience rooming with Choi, practicing together every day, competing as teammates.” While a member of Team Ontario at the London Hunt and Country Club and Redtail Golf Club-hosted 2010 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, Sutton had a front row seat as Choi, 18, destroyed the field with 17-under-par victory. That included a final-round 66 at London Hunt. Eugene Wong of North Vancouver finished runner-up, and Burke finished third.

That early-2010s era of golf included the likes of Londoner Andrew Parr, and Jace Walker of St. Thomas who went on to win as a caddie on the PGA Tour, in addition to Sutton, Choi, Wong and Burke. None of those talented golfers secured a career on the big tour.

“It is a cruel game – it’s tough to make a living golfing as a professional,” said Sutton, who certainly saw his share of time inside the ropes as a pro. With the Wolfpack, he won two Division I events, and would have won more if not for a wrist injury suffered during his senior year. In spring 2014 he turned pro and competed on numerous mini tours, as well as on the PGA Tour Canada, before establishing roots in London. Last summer, he married his bride, Jessica.

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, where we have a solid team with (GM) Jeff Pacheco and (golf course superintendent) Joel Johnston. I can’t wait for the golf season to begin, and to continue working with junior golfers. It’s going to be fun.”

Despite his strong focus on winning tournaments, having fun has always been Sutton’s passion on the golf course. It’s why he’s a golf lifer. And it’s why the members at West Haven – as well as local junior up-and-comers – will continue to benefit from his wisdom and his continued enthusiasm for the game.

And as everyone will tell you, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

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Award-winning writer, broadcaster and author Jeffrey Reed is one of Canada’s leading golf journalists, with roots dating back to 1980. Reed penned the 2018-published book, The Canadian Seniors’ Golf Association, Celebrating 100 Years of Seniors Golf 1918-2018, housed in the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame & Museum library. Reach him at jeff@londonontariosports.com.