ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – The Royal & Ancient Golf Club, exclusively for men since it was founded 260 years ago at St. Andrews, will vote in September on whether women can join the club.

“It’s an exciting day for the club,” club secretary Peter Dawson said Wednesday. “There will be quite a bit of internal discussion between now and the September vote. It’s a matter for the members to determine. All indications are very supportive.”

A statement from the club said that all committees were “strongly in favor of the rule change” and asked members to go along.

The move was hailed by British sports minister Helen Grant, who was hopeful a favorable vote would encourage other single-sex golf clubs to follow suit.

Dawson, however, said the vote would have no bearing on whether the British Open is played on links courses that exclude women as members – Royal St. George’s, Royal Troon and Muirfield, where Phil Mickelson won last year. The Open returns to Troon in 2016.

“I don’t want you to think there’s any connection between this vote and these issues,” said Dawson, R&A chief executive. “What other clubs choose to do in the UK is not connected to this. … To be entirely honest, we’re not here to put pressure on other clubs that have supported The Open Championship and other R&A championships.”

The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews has about 2,400 members from around the world and dates to 1754. The clubhouse is among the most famous buildings in golf, overlooking the Old Course at St. Andrews.

Augusta National for years was the symbol of men-only golf clubs because it hosts The Masters every April. The club announced in August 2012 that it had invited women to join for the first time – former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore.

Even though Augusta National went 80 years without a female member, it had no policy that barred women from joining. The R&A had such a policy, and that’s what will be voted on in September.

Dawson said he did not think Augusta National’s decision had any bearing on the Royal & Ancient Golf Club.

“We noted what happened at Augusta,” he said. “They have their own procedure of doing things. We are doing this because of our governance role.”

He also said the R&A did not feel pressure from any of its corporate sponsors, who were subjected to the debate at the British Open.

“You can always ask that question: `Why now? Why not 10 years ago?’ The R&A have been considering this. It’s been on our agenda, on our radar, for quite some time,” Dawson said. “The feeling is as society changes, as sport changes, as golf changes, it’s something the R&A needs to do, and is doing now as being forward-looking as we can.”

The 2,400-member club and the group that runs The Open as well as the Rules of Golf are separate entities.

For years, the men-only Royal & Ancient was in charge of the Rules of Golf for every country in the world except for the United States and Mexico, which are governed by the USGA. And it operated the British Open, the oldest championship in golf.

Ten years ago, the administrative duties were split off into a corporate structure that is called “The R&A,” of which Dawson is the chief executive. That’s the group in charge of the Rules of Golf and organizing The Open and other R&A championships.

And while “The R&A” has female employees, its committee and board roles are populated by members of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. So there are no women in leadership roles when it comes to rules and championship golf.

That likely will change with a favorable vote in September for female members.

“This is welcome news from the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, and I urge its members to follow their committees’ recommendations and vote `yes’ for women members,” Grant said in a statement. “It would mark a step in the right direction for the sport and I would hope encourage the remaining golf clubs that still have anachronistic single-sex member policies to follow suit.”

While the members have access to the R&A clubhouse behind the first tee at the Old Course, R&A members belong to a club, not a golf course. The seven golf courses at St. Andrews are open to the public.

Halifax, Nova Scotia – Fomrer Masters Champion Trevor Immelman will join Americans Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland as part of ‘Team World’ in the inaugural Canada Cup Match to take place at Ashburn Golf Club – New Course in Halifax, N.S. on Monday, June 30, 2014.

The Canada Cup is part of GOLFest Nova Scotia, a week-long celebration of national pride and all things golf in Canada that will also feature a Web.com Tour event, the Nova Scotia Open, from June 29 to July 6.

Hailing from Cape Town, South Africa, Immelman has eleven worldwide victories. He is a two-time champion on the PGA TOUR, three-time champion on the European Tour and five-time champion on the Sunshine Tour (South Africa). In 2013, Immelman won the first event of the Web.com Tour Finals at the Hotel Fitness Championship in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

No stranger to international team competition, Immelman represented the International Team in the 2005 and 2007 Presidents Cup. In fact, Immelman was paired with Canada Cup competitor Mike Weir for three out of four team matches in 2005. Immelman also won the Omega Mission Hills World Cup (now ISPS HANDA World Cup) with fellow South African Rory Sabbatini in 2003, a feat his team World partners, Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland, also accomplished in 2011.

“I am excited to represent the World alongside Matt and Gary as we compete against Team Canada in what will be a special day for golf in Canada and around the world. I know Canadians are very passionate and supportive of their country when it comes to sports. The Canada Cup is a unique format that I am sure will create a fun and entertaining environment for all. I look forward to sharing this experience with all the players and spectators as I visit Halifax, Nova Scotia for the first time in June,” said Immelman.

Conducted by SportBox Entertainment Group, the Canada Cup is a one-of-a-kind hospitality and spectator experience. Taking place during Canada Day week in Halifax, Nova Scotia, fans are encouraged to wear red and white and cheer loudly in support of Team Canada’s Weir, DeLaet and Hearn as they take on Team World’s Kuchar, Woodland and Immelman. Each Canada Cup team will also be rounded out by a top Web.com Tour player entered in the Nova Scotia Open. The Canada Cup will start off with a morning pro-am, followed by 9-hole singles matches and 9-hole team alternate shot matches in the afternoon.

Changing the price of golf, one tee-time at a time

( Gord Holder/ Ottawa Citizen) – Would you pay more for a tee time at 10 a.m. on a Saturday than another at 1:15 p.m.?

Jeff Calderwood thinks you would, and he maintains it will be good for you.

Calderwood is the executive director of the Ottawa-based National Golf Course Owners Association, which has signed a partnership/marketing agreement with the U.S. company Quantival to market and deliver its “dynamic pricing” service to golf courses across the Great White North.

Continue reading the blog from Gord Holder.

Scientists link titanium golf clubs to fires

IRVINE, Calif. – Golfers are urged to swing with care after scientists at UC Irvine proved that titanium-coated clubs can cause course-side vegetation to burst into flames.

Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi said that the results confirm a suspicion investigators have had for years: that titanium alloy clubs were the cause of at least two blazes on area golf courses, including one that burned 25 acres at Irvine’s Shady Canyon in 2010. A second fire, sparked at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, burned close to homes.

“The common denominator was each golfer used a titanium club, and hit the ball [from] just out of bounds next to dry vegetation, where the ground was extremely rocky,” he said.

Investigators who were “laughed at” when they first floated the golf club theory have been vindicated, according to Concialdi.

Scientists painstakingly re-created in the lab the course conditions on the days of the fires. Using high-speed cameras and electron microscopes, they found that if hit upon a rock, clubs containing titanium can produce sparks of up to 3,000 degrees that will burn for more than a second, said James Earthman, a chemical engineering and materials science professor and an author of the study.

“And that gives the spark plenty of time” to ignite nearby foliage, he said. “Titanium reacts violently with both oxygen and nitrogen in the air.”

In contrast, when standard stainless steel clubs were used, there was no reaction.

Most golf clubs have steel heads but many manufacturers also make ones with a titanium alloy component in the head. Such alloys are 40 percent lighter, which can make the club easier to swing, researchers said.

So, if you have titanium clubs, be careful when hitting out of rocky conditions close to dry vegetation.

In this mad, mad world, life’s a nicely manicured Caribbean fairway for PGA of Ontario member Scott Loosley, more so than a beach or a highway.

The 25-year-old London, Ont. native hung out at some pretty cool places while growing up including; Greenhills Golf Club, St. Thomas Golf and Country Club, Glen Abbey Golf Club and Grandview Golf Club, where his father Simon Bevan worked as a golf professional. Harsh Ontario winters don’t appear to be in Loosley’s blood.

The sun is quickly setting on what would be a dream job for most assistant golf professionals in Ontario, as Loosely packs up his clubs and luggage and returns home next month from Provo Golf & Country Club and the beautiful sandy beaches of Grace Bay in stunning Turks and Caicos.

“I love being down here in the winter. It’s a great atmosphere with a terrific membership and we see lots of Canadians who needed a break from the snow and cold at home and come here for a little R&R and golf,” says Loosley, who wintered for the second year in a row in an apartment in Provo’s clubhouse and works under the tutelage of Director of Golf Dave Douglas from Sarnia, Ont. Douglas has called the resort course home for 15-plus years.

“I enjoy living at the golf course, you’re close to the action, but I really haven’t had time to play that much because I have been so busy with lessons and working in the shop. I haven’t even been to the beach or swimming in the ocean and it’s a 10-minute walk,” says Loosley, who also caddied for Brian Hadley at the 2013 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey last summer while working as an assistant at Thames Valley Golf Course in London, Ont., where he will return this spring.

This past January was Provo’s busiest ever with 3,300 rounds in the books and the numbers stayed strong throughout the rest of the winter and into spring. I landed in Turks and Caicos because I was looking for some R&R, which in my books includes some golf, but I was equally excited about checking out Ocean Club Resorts where we stayed and the beach. I walked across the road from the road and down the driveway to the clubhouse in less than five minutes where I met Scott for the first of three rounds in three days under sun-drenched skies with the temperature hovering between 83 to 84F every day – just what the doctor ordered to escape the grey dullness of winter in Canada. Did I mention, it’s just a four-hour, direct flight out of Toronto Pearson to Providenciales (Provo) as belongers (locals) call the island?

Known for its natural, rugged layout through limestone outcroppings, Provo GC combines a solid test of golf stretching from 5,331 to 6,719 yards from the tips with captivating vistas of the natural flora and fauna of the islands – about 40 in total – some inhabited and some not. The course opened in 1992 after a three-year build by the Turks & Caicos Water company and today they pour nearly 300,000 gallons of desalinized water on the course nightly to keep it lush.

The 14th hole at Provo Golf & Country Club

For that reason the inland golf course, which is relatively flat, is nearly always in awesome shape. The greens were as good as any of the top end greens you play at private clubs in the GTA and the new passpalum grass that’s being used as they rebuild tee boxes and make minor changes is outstanding.  The only knock against the course is that it would have been amazing to somehow have built a few holes along the coastline or at least given golfers a view of the water here and there, but I guess that is what the beach is for.

While I played in a two-to-three club wind each day – and I thought that was stiff – apparently those were pretty calm days!  While you can’t see the ocean, the course is not for the faint of heart. There’s room out there off the tee to keep your ball in play but there’s also six water holes on the front and four on the back nine. Inside of the clubhouse’s bar and grill the circular ceiling draped by hundreds of golf course pin flags from all around the world including a couple of dozen from Ontario and other Canadian clubs.

Ocean Club Resort where I stayed  is comprised of two all-suite properties, Ocean Club and Ocean Club West – and works for families, couples and guests looking for a three to four star retreat experience. Guests can indulge in spa treatments, sailing, snorkeling, diving, fishing, parasailing and of course golf with stay and play packages that are worth checking out. Of course, there is always the option of just relaxing under one of Ocean Club’s signature pink beach umbrellas with a good book while visiting Grace Bay Beach, the number one beach destination in the Caribbean as voted by TripAdvisor users.

As for food, there are lots of great places to check out including Ocean Club Resorts’ very own beach front Cabana Bar & Grill and Seaside Café, as well as the ultimate beach bar that’s well worth the taxi drive – Da Conch Shack – one of the best beach bars in the world. If you’re lucky enough to get there have a sip of the legendary rum punch and taste the outstanding Conch Salad. Loosley, on the other hand, is looking forward to some Canadian cooking! There’s no, Starbucks, no Tim Horton’s, no fast food chains to be found on his island paradise.  “The first thing I’ll do when I get off the plane is go to McDonald’s and fill up on burgers and fries – then I’ll know it’s back to reality,” says Loosley who can be reached at scott.loosley@hotmail.com if you’re considering lessons at or near the beach next winter.

The practice green at Provo Golf & Country Club

WASHINGTON – Tiger Woods is not sure whether his ailing back will allow him to play in the Masters, which is two weeks away.

“For Augusta, it’s actually still a little too soon, to be honest with you,” Woods said Monday at a news conference to announce that Quicken Loans is the new title sponsor of his golf tournament. “That’s kind of the frustrating thing about this.”

The Masters is the only major tournament the 38-year-old Woods has never missed. Four of his 14 major championships came at Augusta National, including his first in 1997. He last won the green jacket in 2005.

This year’s Masters is April 10-13.

Woods is off to the worst start of his 18 years on tour, and he’s been troubled lately by back problems.

He stopped playing in the final round at the Honda Classic on March 2 because of what he called back spasms and pain in his lower back. He tried to defend his title the following week at Doral, only for his back to flare up again in the final round, when he shot a 78, the highest Sunday score of his PGA Tour career and his first closing round without a birdie.

Then last week, Woods withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational because of persistent back pain.

“I’ve had a couple weeks off and getting treatment and just working on trying to get ready for Augusta,” Woods said Monday. “As of right now, it’s still too soon, which is, as I said, pretty frustrating.”

This has been the longest sustained problem Woods has had with his lower back.

He first showed signs of back pain at Bethpage Black at The Barclays in 2012, which he attributed to a soft bed at his hotel. He felt twinges during the final round of the PGA Championship last year, and when his back bothered him in the final round of The Barclays two weeks later, he said it was unrelated.

At Monday’s news conference, Woods discussed a deal through 2017 for his tournament to be called the Quicken Loans National. It will be played June 26-29 at Congressional this year. AT&T was in the final year of its contract as sponsor.

The AT&T National began in 2007 with a military theme built around the Fourth of July in the nation’s capital. It has been held at Congressional for all but two years, in 2010 and 2011, as the course prepared to host the U.S. Open. In those years, it was played at Aronimink outside Philadelphia.

Congressional is under contract through 2014, and Woods said there will be a vote next week to determine whether the club would host every other year in 2016, 2018 and 2020.

OAKVILLE, Ont. – PING has announced their 2013 Club Fitters of the Year for Canada.

The awards salute authorized PING fitters who have demonstrated the highest commitment to custom fitting and the promotion of its benefits to golfers of all abilities.

“Because of their expertise, these fitters are helping golfers across the country realize the benefits of playing custom-fit and custom-built PING equipment,” said John A. Solheim, PING Chairman & CEO. “On top of that, they offer exceptional customer service that builds trust and loyalty in their golf operation and the PING brand. We’ll continue to support them with ongoing training and education, plus innovative new fitting
tools, software and research. These fitters can serve an important role, bringing more people to the sport by demonstrating how properly fit equipment helps them play better and enjoy the game more.”

Solheim said PING offers it’s certified fitting accounts a growing array of tools and software to dial in a more precise fit while making the process easy, cost-effective and convenient. They include the Advanced Fitting System Interchangeable Fitting Cart; the iPING® putter app; a new putter-fitting package, and both nFlight and nFlight Mobile fitting software.

Winners were chosen based on points earned across several criteria and disciplines, including custom orders, commitment to ongoing training, sustained sales growth, use of PING tools and technologies and support of the entire PING product line.

Here are the winners for 2013: (alphabetical order of club)

Trevor Fackrell
Burlington Golf & Country Club Burlington, ON

Michel Blier
Club de golf du Bic
Le Bic, QC

Norm Jackson
Cowichan Golf & Country Club
Duncan, B.C.

Greg Kincade and Staff
Edmonton Country Club
Edmonton, AB

Barry Gibson and Gavin March
McGibby’s Golf at St. Vital Centre
Winnipeg, MB

Chris Power
Rivershore Golf Links
Kamloops, B.C.

Jason Wyatt
Sunningdale Golf & Country Club
London, ON

Ted & Linda Webster, Rob Penner
Ted and Dave Custom Golf
Calgary, AB

NEWMARKET, Ont. – FootJoy has announced the debut of FJ City, a new shoe collection offering men a stylish and functional option for the golf course.

FJ City is inspired by popular street styles and features trendy designs made of high-quality, full-grain waterproof leather uppers and a durable, cleated outsole. The line offers six styles and a variety of eye-catching two-tone color options. Five of the styles are also available with a spikeless outsole through the FJ Professional line for wear on and off the course.

“The new FJ City line gives fashion-conscious  players seeking the latest in footwear trends an alternative shoe option that not only delivers the performance features to play well, but stylish designs to look their best on the course and in the clubhouse,” said Doug Robinson, Vice President of Design and Development Worldwide at FootJoy. “FJ City was inspired by modern trends and is a sophisticated balance between performance and style. Each design element, material and color combination was carefully selected in order to deliver a polished, well-crafted shoe.”

The shoes have a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $180 and come with a  two-tear waterproof warranty.

PHOENIX – Karrie Webb flew up the leaderboard with a course-record 9-under 63, then waited about 90 minutes to see if anyone could catch her in the JTBC Founders Cup.

No one could, giving the 39-year-old Australian her second victory of the season and second in four years at Desert Ridge. She won the Women’s Australian Open last month and has 41 LPGA Tour victories.

For the second time in the event, Webb overcame a six-stroke deficit in the final round to win. In 2011, she closed with a 66 for a one-stroke victory.

The World Golf Hall of Famer birdied five of the last six holes, making a 20-footer on the 18th.

Third-round leader Lydia Ko parred the final three holes to finish a stroke back along with 2013 winner Stacy Lewis, Azahara Munoz, Amy Yang and Mirim Lee.

Jennifer Kirby of Paris, Ont. was the lone Canadian to make the cut. The former Team Canada member shot 69 and tied for 36th at 9-under par 279.

PANAMA CITY – Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz won the Panama Claro Championship on Sunday for his first Web.com Tour title, closing with a 6-under 64 for a four-stroke victory.

The 22-year-old former North Texas player finished at 12-under 268 at Panama Golf Club and earned $112,500 to jump from seventh to second on the money list with $171,500.

Jason Gore was second after a 66. Daniel Berger, Derek Fathauer and Aron Price, the second-round leader, tied for third at 7 under. Berger and Fathauer shot 67, and Price had a 70.

Alex Cejka, the winner of the season-opening Colombia Championship and second last week in the Brazil Champions, tied for 11th at 4 under after a 69. He earned $13,750 to push his tour-leading total to $235,150.

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. earned his best Web.com Tour finish Sunday with a tie for sixth at 6-under 274. In four events on the Tour he’s earned $26,834, which puts him 30th on the money list.

Two-time Canadian Men’s Amateur Champion Cam Burke finished 30th at even-par 260. He shot a 71.

Adam Hadwin finished tied for 61st at 5-over 285. The Abbotsford, B.C. native won the Tour’s Chile Classic in early March. He’s now fourth on the season money list. The top 25 at the end of the season earn PGA Tour cards for next season.