King of aces

By Paul Brent

Stephen Johnston has a job many of us would kill for. As president and principal founder of Toronto-based golf consulting firm Global Golf Advisors Inc., he has access to some of the most exclusive golf courses on the continent and rubs shoulders with legendary players such as Jack Nicklaus, Mark O’Meara and Greg Norman.

“We’ve been involved in doing business plans for them,” says Johnston, 55, whose 15-member practice serves nearly 2,000 golf club clients out of offices in Toronto and Dallas. His successful dealings with the sport’s movers and shakers lead the National Post to rank him No. 5 on its 2004 list of Top 25 Powerbrokers in Canadian Golf.

But Johnston is just as skilled on the course as he is in the boardroom — he holds the Canadian record for holes-in-one with 49, which puts him at third in the world. He was dubbed the King of Aces in the 2003 book Northern Links, by Brian Kendall, which chronicles Canadians’ passions for golf.

A former partner at KPMG, Johnston convinced the firm to establish a golf consultancy practice in 1988. “It was a tough sell,” he says. The practice grew to about 1,800 clients by March 2006, when he and his partners bought the business. It’s a CA gig with considerable benefits. In one memorable week, he teed off at California’s Pebble Beach and Cypress Hills, New Jersey’s Pine Valley and at Augusta — home to the Masters in Georgia.

So what’s Johnston’s secret for sinking the ball with a single swing? Sorry folks — he’s at a loss to explain why he can regularly do what top touring pros can’t.