In mid-April, I had the pleasure of traveling to the Nova Scotia Golf Association’s spring meeting – an unofficial launch to the province’s golf season.  The gathering’s new educational format featured speakers from Golf Canada, the Golf Association of Ontario (GAO), and the USGA sharing valuable insights about membership, course rating, handicap, golf communities and pace of play.  We all left energized and ready for the start of another great season.  There was just one problem: only a single course was open throughout the entire province with lots of snow still lingering. The weather did not look as though it would provide any relief with cool temperatures on their way to keep the snow in place.

Our club visits in Nova Scotia brought us down to West Pubnico GC – the first club open this year. It was certainly refreshing to see flags waving on the greens and some golfers enjoying a cool but sunny day.  Shirley d’Entremont, President of the NSGA, took Dave Campbell, Executive Director of the NSGA, and I on a tour of her home course and it was delightful to feel the start of another season.

Once the season is in full swing, Nova Scotia is home to countless treasures. On a trip to Nova Scotia last fall, our visits took us up to Amherst and through some of the surrounding area.  One small quaint town near Springhill had a storied history surrounding a coal mine and a nice golf club supported by a tireless group of volunteers.  Parrsboro was another beautiful little 9-hole course in the area with a vista overlooking the exquisite Minas Basin.  As golfers, we usually think of the bigger destination courses when travelling, but it is important not to miss out on the many lesser known gems along the way.  You will not be disappointed.

After our tour, I had the thrill of spending some time on a lobster boat with Carl d’Entremont who was kind enough to take Dave Campbell and I out for a ride.   What an opportunity to enjoy a slice of life in West Pubnico!  The sea, the lobster, the fishermen – all parts of the passionate Nova Scotian lifestyle. With its seasonality, working in the concentrated lobster fishing season is in many ways similar to the drive that it takes to be in the golf industry in Canada.

Fast forward six weeks: the west has enjoyed a fabulous start; the prairie provinces were a little late, but are now rounding into form; and the Atlantic is now just starting to see some warmer temperatures.  Unfortunately, the same type of ice damage that affected Ontario last year is now an issue throughout parts of the Atlantic Provinces.

But with warming temperatures, it does seem as though that golf is finally underway throughout the country and hopefully, Mother Nature will provide some good weather for everyone to make some great golf memories. As the season unfolds, why not share those memories with all of Canada?

Tell us your story on golfcanadagolf.ca and read all about your fellow Canadians’ golf journeys or share your thoughts and pictures through social media with the hashtag #GolfCanadaGolf. I love telling you about my stories “On the Road” and would love to hear where you’ve been and what our great game has shown you.

Christine Dengel is a PGA of Canada golf professional with more than 30 years of experience in multiple facets of the golf industry, and a lifelong passion for and commitment to the game of golf. Prior to joining Golf Canada, she was a Territory Sales Manager for Callaway Golf Canada for 18 years. During her time with Callaway, Dengel managed the GTA and Southwestern Ontario territory from 1992-2005 and has managed the Southern Ontario territory since 2006.

Victoria – Toronto, Ontario’s Albin Choi, Richmond Hill, Ontario’s Taylor Pendrith and Seal Beach, California’s Dan Buchner shot matching rounds of 6-under 64 on Thursday at Uplands Golf Club to share the lead after one round at the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada’s Bayview Place Island Savings Open presented by Times Colonist.

Pendrith, a 24-year old Mackenzie Tour rookie and co-runner-up in last week’s PC Financial Open playoff, birdied his final hole to join Choi’s early clubhouse lead, while Buchner navigated his way around Uplands without a bogey to match the lead at 6-under late in the afternoon.

“Obviously there are a lot of positives last week. Just being in the playoff was awesome. I had a really solid last round and I’m playing really well right now,” said Pendrith, who is now 14-under for his last 36 regulation holes after closing with an 8-under 64 last Sunday in Vancouver. “It’s nice to have another 64 today. I’m pleased with the round. It could have been a couple lower, but I’m happy.”

Buchner, a fifth-year Mackenzie Tour member, credited his solid play to familiarity with Uplands and a well-executed game plan on Thursday.

“I’m not the longest driver out here, but I might be the straightest, so this is a good course for me,” said the 41-year old Buchner of the tree-lined Uplands layout. “The one drive I hooked into the trees I pitched out and got up and down from 150 yards, so for the most part I stayed out of trouble.”

Earlier, Choi, who recorded his first career top-10 on the Mackenzie Tour last week, held the lead for most of the morning before finishing with a bogey on the ninth, his final hole of the day, to settle for a 6-under 64.

“It always stings to end with a bogey, but that’s why it’s a four day tournament and there are still three days left. I’m just looking forward to what’s coming ahead,” said the 23-year old. Choi was born in Surrey, B.C. and made his pro debut at Uplands in 2013. “I feel great being in British Columbia and on the west coast being from here. I had my pro debut here a couple of years ago and I remember this course very well. It was nice to play well today.”

One shot back of the trio at 6-under was Eugene Wong, making his 2015 Mackenzie Tour season debut, along with J.J. Spaun and Ryan Brehm.

DUBLIN, Ohio – Hideki Matsuyama was bracing for a rough day at the Memorial and wound up with a share of the lead Thursday.

Tiger Woods still doesn’t know what to expect.

Matsuyama made a bold start in his bid to join Woods as the only repeat winners at Muirfield Village by running off four straight birdies on the back nine and one strong par save on his way to an 8-under 64 that tied the Japanese star with Bo Van Pelt.

“To be honest with you, up until yesterday I was not hitting the ball very well, I was not chipping very well, I was not putting very well,” Matsuyama said through a translator. “And I don’t know what happened overnight. We just caught magic.”

It was a dream start for Van Pelt for other reasons. He grew up across the state line in Indiana and used to play hooky from school to attend the Memorial from the time he was 10 until he got out of high school. Muirfield Village is where he first dreamed about playing the PGA Tour. In calm conditions under an overcast sky, Van Pelt made a career-best 10 birdies for his best score in 41 rounds at the course Jack Nicklaus built.

“Other than the Masters, this tournament means more to me than any one I’ve ever played,” Van Pelt said. “So it’s always good to play well around a place that means a lot to you.”

Woods, a five-time winner of the Memorial, wasn’t sure what he was going to get. He hooked his tee shot and started with a bogey for the eighth time in his last nine starts on the PGA Tour. He went so far right off the tee at the 18th that it went out-of-bounds (the next tee shot wasn’t much better) and made double bogey to go out in 40. He hooked his 3-wood on the first hole. It was looking like another big number.

Instead, Woods battled to save pars and convert birdies, and he salvaged a 73 that left him nine shots behind.

“Physically, I feel good. Mentally, I feel beat up,” Woods said. “To turn that round around like I did today … that was hard.”

He was determined to stick with the changes he is making to his swing under a fourth coach as a pro, no matter how long it takes. Considering he hasn’t had a top 10 in his last 13 events dating to the end of 2013, this could take time.

“I was just trying to stay committed to what we’re working on, to what we’re doing,” he said. “I hit it awful, yeah. So what? I was going to go through this phase and stick with it, keep sticking with it. And some of the shots I hit were really, really good. But then I also had some really bad shots, too. And we need to work on that.”

Matsuyama won the Memorial last year in a playoff. It was his first win in America and validated him as one of the many rising stars in golf.

He said every course on the PGA Tour feels difficult to him, and even when he made a pair of 15-foot birdie putts on his way to a 32 on the front nine while playing with Phil Mickelson (72) and Rickie Fowler (72), he wasn’t comfortable.

“I was just trying to hang on,” he said.

So was Jason Dufner, the former PGA champion, whose tied for eighth last week at the AT&T Byron Nelson ended a stretch of 17 events on American soil without a top 10. He was tied for the lead after making a 60-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole and was still poised to join Matsuyama and Van Pelt at 64 until he pulled his tee shot into the water on the 18th and closed with a double bogey.

That put him at 66, along with Russell Knox, who fed his putts off the ridges beautifully in making seven birdies.

Harris English and Kevin Kisner were among those at 67. Masters champion Jordan Spieth, who saved the start of his round with a world-class short game, was cruising along until one mistake turned a birdie into a bogey on the par-5 seventh late in his round. He had to settle for a 68.

English (No. 70 in the world) and Kisner (No. 61) each have a chance to do well enough at the Memorial to avoid U.S. Open qualifying next week. Another important start belonged to Patrick Rodgers, who has his last chance to gain special temporary membership on the PGA Tour.

Woods grabbed the most attention for two reasons. He’s Tiger Woods, still enough to attract the biggest gallery. And there remains a mystery about the game of a 79-time PGA Tour winner who has plunged to No. 172 in the world.

Most intriguing about his assessment of Thursday’s round was a stubbornness to see the changes to a conclusion, no matter how long that takes. Previous changes have taken as long as 18 months for Woods to figure it out. Time is no longer on his side, however, not at his age and with five surgeries behind him.

“I’ve gone through phases like this, rounds like this, where yeah, it’s easy to revert back and go ahead and hit some old pattern,” he said. “But it doesn’t do you any good going forward. And I’ve done it. Sometimes it’s taken me about a year and then it kicked in and I did pretty good after that. … If you believe in it, do it. And eventually it will start turning.

“And when it turns, I’ve had periods where I’ve played good for four or five years, where I’ve won close to 20 tournaments in that stretch.”

The lowest Canadian on the day was Graham DeLaet who shot a 3-under 69 to place him tied 21, and one shot back is David Hearn.

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. – Cheyenne Woods, Cristie Kerr and P.K. Kongkraphan matched the course record at 9-under 63 on Thursday to share the first-round lead in the Manulife LPGA Classic.

Woods, Tiger Woods’ niece, and Kerr tied the Whistle Bear Golf Club record set by Matt Bettencourt and Jon Mills, in the Web.com Tour’s 2005 Canadian PGA Championship. The tournament is in its first year at Whistle Bear after three years at Grey Silo in Waterloo.

Woods had an eagle, eight birdies and a bogey in calm morning conditions.

“It wasn’t very windy today,” Woods said. “I thought it played a little shorter than it had the past few days because maybe the wind was down. So, I think there are a lot of birdies out there. The par 5s are birdie-able, eagle-able, so I think it’s playing pretty good. It’s a nice course.”

The 24-year-old LPGA Tour rookie made a 50-foot eagle putt on the par-5 ninth.

“I played really solid all day,” said Woods, who won the Ladies European Tour’s Australian Ladies Masters last year for her biggest victory. “I had one bogey, which was a stupid three-putt, but overall I played solid. And I think the biggest thing, we were just having fun out there, Jaye Marie (Green) and I were talking the whole day and it was very relaxed, very relaxed atmosphere while we were playing. That’s sometimes when I play my best.”

The 37-year-old Kerr had 10 birdies and a bogey, playing her opening nine in a career-best 7-under 29. She won the Kia Classic in California in March for her 17th LPGA Tour title.

“The course has pretty generous fairways and, I mean, our tour is so good with talent that I knew somebody was going to shoot a low number,” Kerr said. “Maybe I thought not as many people would shoot such low numbers, but there were definitely birdies out there today.”

Kongkraphan, from Thailand, also had 10 birdies and a bogey.

“I hit the ball very solid today,” Kongkraphan said.

Israel’s Laetitia Beck and Germany’s Sandra Gal were a stroke back.

Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist, the winner Sunday in New Jersey in the ShopRite LPGA Classic, topped the group at 65 along with South Korea’s Sei Young Kim, a two-time winner this season.

Second-ranked Inbee Park, the winner last year at Grey Silo, opened with a 69. Third-ranked Stacy Lewis had a 70, and top-ranked Lydia Ko shot 71.

“Hopefully, tomorrow there will be many more birdies,” said Ko, a two-time winner this year.

Brooke Henderson, the 17-year-old Canadian who was third in the Swinging Skirts in April in California, had a 71. The crowd chanted “Go Canada Go!” and cheered loudly for Henderson

“It was different,” said Henderson, from Smith Falls, Ontario. “The crowd was more in my favor, which was amazing and such an awesome experience. I’m hoping that the next couple days I’ll play well enough so that the crowd’s not just there to see me play but to see me play really well.”

Sister Brittany Henderson opened with a 72.

Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., was the top Canadian at 5-under par 67.

MALMO, Sweden – Swedish amateur Marcus Kinhult was in a three-way tie for the lead after the opening day of the Nordea Masters on 5-under-par 67 on Thursday.

Countryman Jens Dantorp and England’s Chris Paisley were with him, one stroke ahead of nine golfers on 4 under.

The 18-year-old Kinhult sank five birdies on the back nine.

“I just want to keep on playing and hope I’ll be able to accelerate. It’s just the first of four rounds,” he told Swedish news agency TT.

Paisley bogeyed his second hole but hit six birdies at PGA Sweden National.

World No. 4 Henrik Stenson came in at 2 under, while defending champion Thongchai Jaidee scored a 1-over 73.

Relentless rain in Chase, B.C., on Thursday forced the 2015 British Columbia Golf Mid-Amateur and Mid-Master Championship to be shortened to a 36-hole competition.

After the final round of play at Talking Rock Golf Club was cancelled due to the weather conditions, Jordan Belton was crowned the British Columbia Mid-Amateur Champion and Lance Lundy was awarded the Mid-Master title.

“The course was unplayable. There was excessive water in the fairways,” said Susan White, Senior Manager, Field Operations for British Columbia Golf. “To have played would have not been good for the course or the players.”

White and her tournament team surveyed the course just before 6 a.m. and deemed it unplayable shortly after. The respective leaders were then awarded their provincial titles at a presentation ceremony Thursday morning.

The British Columbia Mid-Amateur is for players aged 25 and older while the Mid-Master is for players aged 40 and older.

The Vancouver Golf Club’s Jordan Belton won the Mid-Amateur title and the Hans Swinton Trophy, with a score of 1-over-par 143. Two strokes behind, in a tie for second place were Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club’s Patrick Weeks and Tobiano Golf Club’s Adam Kernan.

Big Sky Golf’s Lance Lundy won the Mid-Master title, with a winning score of 2-over-par 146 besting Fraser Valley Zone 3’s Mark Heinrich and Point Grey Golf & Country Club’s James Decker by one stroke.

The team comprising of Belton, Weeks and Kernan will represent British Columbia at the 2015 Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship, being held Aug. 25-28 at the Abercrombie Golf Club in New Glasgow, N.S.

“It’s not the way you ever want to win, but I’ll take it,” said Belton. “A win’s a win. It feels good.”

Belton, who was playing his second Mid-Amateur after finishing 12th last year, credited his trainer, Nick Mueller of Innovative Fitness for helping him to get into better shape. He joined the Vancouver Golf Club giving him the opportunity to play a lot more golf.

“Nick has really worked with me and in the last year, I’ve been out playing about twice a week,” said Belton, who works in the financial investments industry. “My wife started a home décor business and that’s given me more time to golf. It’s also great that with my work, I have the flexibility to get out and golf with clients and mingle with prospective clients.”

Lance Lundy also had mixed feelings about winning the Mid-Master after the final round cancellation.

“It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to play the final round,” said Lundy. “I knew there was a lot of standing water yesterday and with all the rain that’s come down since, there wasn’t much more the course could take. Nobody likes to win like this, but you take what you’re given. It would have been nice to have the opportunity to make a move toward winning the Mid-Am, but it was fun coming out to play with the guys and give these young guys a run for their money.”

There was also a “Best-Ball Competition” where players may make up their own 2-man teams from the field. This championship is a best-ball conducted over 54-holes but was also shortened due to the weather conditions.

The winners of the Best-Ball Competition were Norm Bradley and Lance Lundy. In second place was the team of Daniel Brown and Bryan Toth and in third place were Tyson Burch and Jay Snyder.

The 2016 British Columbia Golf Mid-Amateur and Mid-Master will be contested at the Nanaimo Golf Club in Naniamo, B.C.

For full results from the 2015 British Columbia Golf Mid-Am and Mid-Master, please click here.

Collegiately speaking, 2015 is an odd year for Team Canada.

Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.), teammates at Kent State and 2014 Co-Mid-American Player of the Year award winners, graduated and began their professional careers as members of Team Canada’s Young Pro Squad.

Adam Svensson (Surrey, B.C.) turned professional mid-way through his junior season at Barry University, chalking up eight NCAA titles during his collegiate tenure. He also joined the Young Pro Squad mid-season along with Conners (who turned professional following the Masters).

Brittany Marchand (Orangeville, Ont.) entered her fifth year studying chemical engineering at N.C. State, becoming ineligible to continue competing for the Wolfpack.

17-year-old Smiths Falls, Ont., native Brooke Henderson elected to turn professional and join the Young Pro Squad, foregoing her scholarship to the University of Florida after becoming the world’s No. 1 ranked female amateur.

Dual-citizen Austin Connelly entered his first year with Team Canada’s Amateur Squad, boasting a World Amateur Ranking inside the top-10 as an 18-year-old high school student.

That leaves just five athletes currently playing with NCAA programs—four on the Amateur Squad and one on the Development Squad (Tyler Saunders). All five athletes earned honours as first-team selections for their respective conference. See how they got there:

With Ha and Tong graduating, and Hamilton entering his senior year, Team Canada’s veterans are primed to pass the torch down to the younger group, many of whom are committed to start their collegiate careers in 2016:

Tony Gil (Vaughan, Ont.) – University of Houston

Trevor Ranton (Waterloo, Ont.) – Indiana University

AJ Armstrong (St. Albert, Alta.) – Washington State University

Patrick Murphy (Crossfield, Alta.) – UCLA

Jaclyn Lee (Calgary) – Ohio State University

Naomi Ko (Victoria, B.C.) – N.C. State University

Austin Connelly (Dual-citizen) – University of Arkansas

This is an exciting transitional period for Team Canada—one that follows the intended pathway of the program, with athletes graduating up the ranks as they work towards becoming Canada’s elite golfers.

BRADENTON, Fla. – Ben Taylor made a tricky 8-foot par putt on the 18th hole Wednesday to give LSU its first NCAA golf championship in 60 years.

The Tigers beat Southern California 4-1 at The Concession Golf Club for their fifth team title and first since 1955.

“To finally get it done is something very special.” LSU coach Chuck Winstead said. “We played and lost to a very good Alabama team last year that won the national championship. It’s more than golf for them, because I’m proud of them as golfers and as men.”

After Taylor holed the putt for a 1-up victory over Bobby Gojuangco, he dropped his putter and embraced teammates who raced up the fairway to the final green.

“The first (putt) was up the slope and very quick, and I didn’t even get it anywhere near the hole on that putt,” Taylor said. “Then I had an 8-foot putt, down grain and hill. Coach always says to hit the last putt, it’s just one more putt. When I hit it, I knew it was going in the hole without a doubt.”

Taylor, from England, helped Nova Southeastern win the 2012 Division II title before transferring to LSU.

“It was a very special moment to end my college career with a putt to win a national championship,” Taylor said.

Brandon Pierce got LSU on the board, beating Rico Hoey 2 and 1. Zach Wright extended his record to 5-0, topping Sean Crocker 3 and 2. Eric Ricard beat Jonah Texeira 1 and 2.

Eric Sugimoto accounted for Southern California’s lone point, beating Stewart Jolly 1 and 2.

“I’ll remember this for the rest of my life,” Sugimoto said. “It’s bittersweet college golf ending, and besides not winning it all today, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Southern California missed a chance for its first team title.

“Second place is way better than third,” Trojans coach Chris Zambri said. “In the end, where we are, that’s how we’re measured, so I’m pretty bummed. You’ve got to play great and survive, so when you get (to the final), you want to get it done. Again, second beats third, fourth, dead last by a mile, yet we still haven’t won a national title and that’s a bummer.”

On Monday, SMU’s Bryson DeChambeau won the individual title.

Golf Canada in partnership with title sponsor CN announced today that the CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge National Event will be hosted at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont. on Saturday, July 18^th leading into the 2015 RBC Canadian Open.

Now in its seventh season, the CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge National Event brings together Canada’s 24 top-scoring juniors in a competition that showcases putting, chipping, iron and driving skills on the national stage.

Delivered by Golf Canada in partnership with the PGA of Canada, CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenges are conducted throughout the year by facilities running CN Future Links programming across Canada. Scores from each Junior Skills Challenge are submitted online to a national leaderboard, from which top qualifiers are selected prior to the June 22^nd deadline. Participants from six different age groups will be invited as follows:

• Girls 11 and under (5 players)
• Boys 11 and under (5 players)
• Girls 12 to 14 (4 players)
• Boys 12 to 14 (4 players)
• Girls 15 to 18 (3 players)
• Boys 15 to 18 (3 players)

For Golf Canada Chief Sport Officer Jeff Thompson, hosting the CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge leading into the RBC Canadian Open will bring a heightened level of excitement for juniors looking to qualify for the National Event.

“CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge is an exciting platform to motivate junior golfers to want to improve both personally and against their peers across four fundamentally important areas of golf skill development,” said Thompson. “We are excited to host the National Event this year on the same grounds as the RBC Canadian Open just days before PGA TOUR stars vie for our National Open title.”

The winners of the CN Future Links Skills Challenge National Event in the boys and girls 15-18 age groups will receive an exemption into their local CN Future Links Championship in 2016. All other attending participants of the CN Future Links Junior Skills National Event will receive prizing courtesy of Titleist Footjoy.

“The CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge is an excellent part of the entire CN Future Links suite of programs, of which PGA of Canada members are proud leaders in the delivery in the program,” said Gary Bernard, PGA of Canada CEO. “The partnership between the PGA of Canada and Golf Canada continues to grow, thus ensuring the continued growth of developing world-class programs for golf in this country.”

To celebrate the event being hosted for the first time leading into the RBC Canadian Open, junior participants will also have the opportunity to test the storied Glen Abbey layout in an exciting match play format on Sunday, July 19^th prior to tournament week. Following that, junior participants will be provided weekly grounds passes and have an opportunity to be involved in Monday’s Pro-Am and secure a spot in Wednesday’s CN Future Links Walk with a Pro event during the Wednesday Pro-Am.

The Junior Skills Challenge is one of many program elements from the CN Future Links family of programming, dedicated to promoting the active, health and safety values of golf.

Current CN Future Links programming includes the Learn to Play program as well as mobile clinics, PGA Jr. League, Girls Club, Field Trip and the CN Future Links Championships. As part of its investment in Canadian junior golf, CN is also a proud supporter of Golf in Schools.

In 2014, CN Future Links junior golf activities were conducted at 455 golf facilities with more than 7,000 juniors registered in the Learn to Play program. In addition, 160 golf facilities took part in the Junior Skills Challenge running more than 3,200 juniors through qualifying events. More than 56,000 youngsters participated in more than 1,200 mobile golf clinics across the country. Since 2006, more than 1.2 million children have been introduced to golf through the CN Future Links program.

To learn more about how to qualify for the 2015 CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge National Event, click here.

Get the feeling sometimes that weather forecasters are conspiring to keep us off the golf course?

Larry David thinks so.

David, the man who created the iconic Seinfeld TV series, put forth a conspiracy theory about this topic on his show Curb Your Enthusiasm: The local weatherman intentionally predicts rain so he can have the golf course to himself.

While that is stretching it a bit, there is a dark secret, a documented phenomenon, in weather forecasting. Its devastating impact on participation in outdoor activities such as golf is terrifying.

It is the dastardly “wet bias.”

Well known within the forecasting fraternity for years, it was publicly outed in Nate Silver’s 2012 book The Signal and The Noise.

“This phenomenon is commonly known as a ‘wet bias’, where weather forecasters will err toward predicting more rain than there really is. After all, we all take notice when forecasters say there won’t be rain and it ends up raining but when they predict rain and it ends up not raining, we’ll shrug it off and count ourselves lucky. The worst part is the performance of local TV meteorologists. These guys consistently over-predict rain so much that it’s difficult to place much confidence in their forecasts at all.”

Since 1998, Jeff Hutcheson has been a gregarious and peripatetic mainstay of CTV’s Canada AM crew. He’s a longtime avid golfer and while he can regularly be seen describing the national forecast to viewers across the country on weekday mornings, he is quick to point out he is not a meteorologist at all, much less a member of Silver’s despised “local TV” species. He’s a “presenter,” so don’t shoot the messenger, he pleads.

Unlike the fictional weatherman on Curb Your Enthusiasm (“I assure you I have never intentionally predicted rain so I could have the course to myself,” he says), Hutcheson wants to see full tee sheets, especially on tourism-dependent Prince Edward Island where he now lives.

“One of the major problems is that people don’t realize that each little area can be its own eco-system,” he says. “For example, in P.E.I., if it’s raining in Charlottetown, it might be sunny in Cavendish [about 40 kilometres away] where they are thinking about going to golf, but they won’t go because they think it’s raining there, too. You can’t look at the regional forecast and believe that applies to every place within that region.” Hutcheson says most forecasts (prominently including those “local TV” talking heads) are necessarily generalized because of time constraints and people should visit the Environment Canada web site for more detailed information. (Canada AM gets its meteorological data from Environment Canada.)

Chris Scott, who most definitely is a meteorologist, agrees with Hutcheson. Scott, chief meteorologist for The Weather Network, fudges a bit when asked about the existence of the infamous wet bias, but understands the frustrations of golfers and golf courses when it comes to weather forecasts.

He wants us to understand there are frustrations among his colleagues as well. “The science of weather is as complex as any science out there, but we all ‘live’ the weather. We don’t ‘live’ nuclear physics. In general, people won’t make the effort to dig down for the specific details. They want a yes or no answer. Will it rain or won’t it? The weather is full of probabilities, chances, risk. As forecasters, we have to do a better job of communicating to the public.”

To that end, Scott has met with representatives from the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA) Canada. “We are always evaluating the way we present the weather and trying to educate the public on how to better identify what the forecast is for their specific location. We want to be as helpful and reliable as we possibly can be.”

Many in the golf industry see this from a totally different perspective.

“We keep asking local radio stations to present the weather in a more positive way,” says Mary-Pat Quilty, Director of Golf at Settlers’ Ghost Golf Club, located in one of Canada’s most popular tourist regions just outside Barrie, Ont. “If there’s a 30-per-cent chance it will rain, there’s a 70-per-cent chance it won’t, but all people hear is the word ‘rain.’” The reliability of five-day forecasts is questionable (and empirical data concurs), she says, but a negative forecast early in the week translates into a spotty tee sheet and significant loss of prime-time revenue on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. “The impact of that forecast, not just on golf courses, but on every tourism-based business, is enormous,” Quilty says. Especially during our all-too-brief Canadian golf season.

“Radar Rob” concurs with Quilty. In real life, he is Rob Howell, General Manager of the Metcalfe Golf Club near Ottawa. His alter ego (@RadarRob1 on Twitter) was borne out of his belief he could more accurately predict the weather than local forecasters. Perusing local radar, he soon proved his point and customers were calling the course for his opinion over that of the “official” prognosticators. YouTube videos and even a challenge to the local forecasters that involved the loser playing golf in some fancy underwear followed. (You can read about it here.)

“Radar Rob began to track the weatherman’s forecast against his forecast, the actual conditions and revenue,” Howell wrote in an article in Golf Business magazine. “The results were staggering. Over a five-day period in May [2014] where we only received 1 mm of rain, our revenue dropped by over 50 per cent on the three days the forecast was incorrect.” Howell’s, er, Radar Rob’s predictions for those same five days were almost spot on.

In the spring of 2014, Howell writes, “Ottawa went through a stretch of the worst weather forecasting I have ever seen. For example, on Friday, May 9, in Ottawa, it was 26 degrees and sunny. However, the forecast was for showers and thundershowers. That day, Metcalfe had 34 paid green fees; other courses in the city reported four, eight and even zero paid rounds.”

NGCOA Canada hears Quilty and Howell and their weather-sensitive peers in the golf industry loud and clear. Their new Weather Position Statement has four major objectives:

1. To minimize the detrimental effect of weather forecasts on golf rounds played.
2. To encourage weather forecasting agencies and media to provide golf-specific forecasts within their general weather forecasts.
3. To support NGCOA Canada golf courses with credible consultation that assists their communications with local media and golfers.
4. To increase golfer awareness of the true realities of weather impact on their golf.

To that end, the NGCOA has some recommendations for media reporting on the weather. These include:

• Probability of precipitation should be expressed as a positive percentage rather than negative, i.e., “70-per-cent chance of no rain” instead of “30-per-cent chance of rain”.
• Precipitation should be expressed with start and stop times; i.e., “the chance of rain will be until 10 a.m., no rain forecasted for the rest of the day.”
• Intensity of precipitation should be related to golfer impact; i.e., “chance of light rain shouldn’t interfere with your golf game.”
• Coverage of precipitation should be related to golfer impact; i.e., “isolated showers should miss most golf courses.”
• All visual media should display more positive graphics icons; i.e., partly sunny with over 50-per-cent chance of no rain should display large sun, small cloud, no rain drops.
• Golf forecasts should be restricted to 24-hour lead time, to maintain high accuracy.
• Web and mobile distribution should be geo-positioned to provide very localized one-kilometre grids for golf forecasts, generating unique weather for every golf course.
• All forecasts should be updated no less frequently than hourly.

In the final analysis, predicting the weather is a complicated and inexact science. Despite all their education and experience, forecasters remain at the mercy of a capricious, cruel and, often, unpredictable master. They are also at the mercy of an impatient and less than understanding audience. Golfers may not want to hear this, but a large part of the onus is on us to do our homework, not just look at the “probability of precipitation” percentage or some cartoonish icon.

Some thoughts from

Here are some tips from Craig Loughry, Golf Canada’s Director of Course Rating and Handicapping, a true all-season golfer

1. Think local to where you are playing, not where you live. Many golfers drive 40 to 50 kilometres to play and the weather can certainly be different.
2. If the forecast says there’s an 80-per-cent chance of rain, check the amount of precipitation expected. If it’s one to five millimetres, real golfers shouldn’t care. That’s a light shower, a softening of the greens, thank you!
3. Dress appropriately. New high-tech gear allows you to enjoy golf in cold, heat, or rain. For example, this year adidas has introduced a three-layer concept to cover most eventualities: a “climachill” shirt with woven titanium fibres that draw heat away from the body for ventilation and evaporation of sweat for cooling comfort and small aluminum dots on the back of the neck create an instant cooling sensation against skin; a “climaheat” pullover with fabric that insulates heat generated by the golfer’s body and traps it within the hollow fibres to deliver sustained warmth, without restricting movement; and a “climaproof” jacket designed to withstand the roughest elements without sacrificing flexibility, comfort and range of motion during play.
4. Check radar and look at the pattern of flow.
5. Check hour-by-hour forecasts.

There are some great apps, says Loughry, like Weather Underground and MyRadar. If you’re going “old school” on your desktop, he suggests Environment Canada.

The Weather Network has also come out with a couple of helpful additions: their start-stop precipitation app and videos on their web site www.theweathernetwork.com in which meteorologists explain how to better interpret the weather probabilities in your specific area.