You know who’s really hurt by the fact the American dollar is about as strong as Uncle Junior was at the end of the Sopranos?

The Canadians, our lovable, innocent, often helpless neighbors to the North. Now that traveling to Canada isn’t cheaper than traveling back in time, less and less of us are going over there. I talked to a Ontario tourism worker this weekend who was bemoaning the fact that the Canadian and U.S. dollars are about equal now (around 95 U.S. cents equals one Canadian dollar, a staggering difference from when it was 70 cents to the Canadian dollar not that long ago).

It turns out that most Canadians want the U.S. to be strong and them weak. At least in dollars. Because when we can buy gourmet meals for insanely cheap prices there, we’re there in droves.

It’s a little shortsighted to abandon Canada’s great golf destinations just because our dollar is as flaccid looking as Phil Spector at the moment. Everyone seems to have caught on to Whistler’s wonder, but I’d argue that Vancouver is extremely underrated for golf or just as city period and the Kootenays seems to get more interesting every day.

In fact, if forced to choose between spending a lifetime golfing in Ireland or a lifetime golfing in Canada, I’d go with the crazy Canucks in a heartbeat. Just because there are so many more interesting spots to see and so many less annoying Americans who think they’re on a “life journey” crowding every course.

Sorry BTuck.

I’ll be headed off on a big Canadian trip in a few weeks and I’ll let you know how life is in this strange new equal dollar world.

One thing still squarely in American golfers favor is the fact Canadians simply don’t like to pay a lot for golf. Or anything for that matter. This helps keeps the greens fees down so they never reach Scottsdale high season pricing for example.

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