There is little in the youthful golf journey of Matt Matheson in his hometown of Sudbury that would seem to have prepared him much for his newly-anointed role as Assistant Golf Pro at the Cabot St Lucia setting in the Caribbean.

Still, as the 24 year old graduate of St Charles College chats about his six weeks to date in this incredible locale, it’s clear that much of what has made all of this possible lies in the foundational development of the person he is, the bulk of which clearly occurred in Sudbury.

“Someone once told me: work hard and be nice to people,” said Matheson, the younger of two boys in the family and a fixture at local courses since the time he could swing a club. “I think that’s the main thing, the mindset I’ve always had.”

Living that mantra on a daily basis, particularly when it came to a sport that he loved, started early for the young man who would later attend and compete for Brock University as he studied Sport Management.

“I started working at Cedar Green when I was like 12 years old to pay for my membership, mostly picking up balls on the driving range,” said Matheson. “At 13, I started as a back shop boy and fell in love with it pretty quickly. I owe a lot to Sam Yawney and Golf Sudbury.”

Introduced to the game by his father (Rob) at the age of seven, Matheson benefitted from the social family traits to which he would be exposed on a daily basis on his home front, understanding quickly the central point to what makes his work so enjoyable, as well as what allows him to succeed in this environment.

“It was honestly the people,” he said. “We had a lot of great members at Golf Sudbury. That’s really where I learned everything, just communicating with people and the whole hospitality side of it. I developed a lot of relationships there with people who still ask how I am doing.”

Like most in this industry, his earliest thoughts of a career in golf revolved around the PGA Tour or other money making options as a player. “When I went off to play OUA golf, I realized that you’ve got to be really, really good to play professionally. I always joked that if you can’t make it playing the sport, you might as well work in it.”

That said, working in a setting that finds you as the trusted advisor of those ranging from still learning the game to requiring the type of fine tuning that allows them to comfortably tackle any one of the six incredible properties now under the umbrella of Cabot Golf still requires a far greater proficiency than normal in navigating your way around a course.

“You have to be a single digit handicap and you have to do a playing test which involves shooting under a certain score,” said Matheson. “Then it goes to the schooling and the teaching side of it and the management side – but the first phase is to prove that you have a good enough golf game.”

In the past few decades, programs at both Humber College and Georgian College have often served as the academic lead-in to the colleagues that Matheson might mingle with were he still in Ontario. And for as much as he acknowledged that there was likely some benefit to taking that route, Sport Management at Brock did offer other positives that are a big part of his current role.

“In our program, you learn about the business side,” he explained. “You learn how to manage a team; you learn how to manage a venue, which is a really big thing.”

His big break, if you will, at least to this point, came a mere two weeks following his university graduation, signing on and making the move to Cabot Cape Breton, a course that he had always dreamed of playing.

“When I got out there (Nova Scotia), I realized the opportunities that existed, seeing people who were higher up than me move on to other properties and take on higher roles,” said Matheson. “I started working with Cabot two years ago and since then, they have opened three new locations.”

“There are a lot of doors being opened.”

With settings ranging from the Scottish Highlands to Florida and on to Revelstoke (B.C.) – not to mention St Lucia and the flagship property in the Canadian Maritimes – Matheson was hardly the only employee seeking advancement, travel and adventure simultaneously.

“I was looking for something for this winter and began applying to courses in Toronto,” he recalled. “I was getting interviews and thought the ball was really moving when our Director of Golf in Cape Breton called me in to tell me he had chosen me among the six assistant pros to take this job in St Lucia.”

“I was stoked. It feels good to know that your hard work is paying off.”

If hard work is a conscious choice, staying true to his personality is far more innate for Matt Matheson – not to mention excessively helpful in terms of reaching his ultimate dream of one day becoming a Director of Golf.

“I really try and make sure I treat everyone the right way,” he suggested. “That’s a big thing for me. There are people who would come to Cape Breton after booking the course two years in advance as a dream trip. If I was in their shoes, I would want the best possible service, everything to be perfect.”

“I always try and tell my team that,” he continued. “If you try and make each person and each group that you meet during the day feel special, that will take you a long way.”

It is indeed a long way from Sudbury to St Lucia – roughly 4,073 kilometres, to be exact – but in the golf world that Matt Matheson is enjoying these days, one basked in the warmth of a glorious and unbelievably picturesque setting, it’s the core values that were developed in the former that will help him achieve his dreams in the latter – even if they are worlds apart.