It doesn’t particularly play like a true links course—hard and fast, that is—but there is an inarguably linksy feel to Glencairn Golf Club in Halton Hills, Ontario. From the Old World architectural charm of its Muirfield-like clubhouse to the bunkering, burns, ball-swallowing fescue and unforced nature of Thomas McBroom’s elegant design, the place honours the game’s history.

And nowhere is there a better nod to those early days than the view from the metal bridge that separates the Speyside and Scotch Block nines of this 27-hole facility.

And that’s precisely where I’m standing on this idyllic, shirt-sleeved autumn afternoon. The typically windswept grounds are almost freakishly subdued and scoreable, the lush greens more receptive than Ritz-Carlton staff, although I’ve just completed a clumsy bogey at the par-3 3rd of the Scotch Block nine. Having parked my cart on the rust-coloured bridge, I stare back at Speyside’s short par-4 2nd, the pot-bunkered nature of which makes the hole look like it was used for World War II bombing practice.

Suddenly, George Bailey’s line in “It’s a Wonderful Life” is called to mind: “You know what the three most exciting sounds in the world are? Anchor chains, plane engines and train whistles.”

It’s the latter that has me waiting in anticipation like a 10-year-old boy. And sure enough, there it is: a CN freight train emerging from the trees below as it arcs west to east on its way to who knows where.

The horn blows four times as it passes beneath—technically a repeated alert of its presence for safety reasons, although, for me, as I survey the rolling Glencairn Golf Club property, it seems just as much a echo from years gone by.