Golf is a sport rich in history and tradition. These elements are upheld at all levels of the game – see the video below to learn how the CN Future Links “Learn To Play” junior program helps to introduce these elements to children.

New this year, Learn To Play is changing from seven levels to four stages and refocusing its programming to target a smaller age range.

The target age group of 6-12 year-olds will now be rewarded with colour-coded hats and gear provided by the program’s new apparel sponsor, Puma Golf. CN Future Links instructors will benefit by enticing juniors with the popular, vibrant Puma colours that have been made famous by PGA Tour stars Rickie Fowler and Canadian Graham DeLaet.

With the new updates, the seven core modules of Learn To Play remain unchanged. Acting as foundational elements, the modules are easily transferrable to other sports and aspects of life – one of the primary goals of CN Future Links.

You can read more about each core module of CN Future Links here.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The Match Play Championship will not be in its traditional spot early in the 2015 season for the first time since it began in 1999.

The future of the World Golf Championship remains muddled after Accenture decided this year not to renew its title sponsorship. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem had said in February that he hoped to have a clear direction within a month or so.

“This has been taking longer than we thought,” Finchem said at The Players Championship. “We’ll see. We probably won’t have anything to say for at least a few weeks.”

But an announcement out of Texas on Tuesday made one thing clear. There is no room on the schedule for the Match Play Championship between the start of the year and The Players Championship.

The Valero Texas Open announced that it would be played next year on March 26-29, two weeks before the Masters. That means every day on the PGA Tour calendar is taken between the Hyundai Tournament of Champions (Jan. 9-12) and The Players (May 7-10).

The Match Play traditionally wraps up the West Coast Swing at the end of February, except for in 2001 when it was played in Australia in early January. The Honda Classic, the start of the Florida Swing, will be held next year on Feb. 26 to March 1.

Finchem did not rule out a return to Tucson, Ariz., which has an experienced host organization in the Conquistadors and Tucson is a strong golf market.

“Where we’re going is an open question,” he said. “Certainly, Tucson is a possibility.”

The tour is in talks with at least one potential sponsor, and it’s a remote possibility that the tournament simply takes a year off. One problem with that is the PGA Tour would have a hole in its schedule.

The Byron Nelson in Dallas (under new sponsorship next year with AT&T) is to be played May 21-24. That would leave a week open after The Players.

Finchem said in February that the tour was looking at a makeover for the Match Play because even the best players – Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, for example – are not guaranteed being around for more than one day in the current format of single elimination.

Woods, Mickelson and Adam Scott did not play this year.

The greater concern appears to be a title sponsor, which could play a large role in where the Match Play is held. But for 2015, the only open date before the end of the major championship season would be May 14-17.

(COURTENAY, BC) – California’s David Bradshaw opened up a massive lead at PGA Tour Canada’s British Columbia Qualifying Tournament Wednesday, firing a 10-under 62 at Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community to lead by 10 shots through 36 holes.

Bradshaw’s 62 is a competitive course record at Crown Isle and gave him a 17-under par total, following his opening 65 in Tuesday’s first round. Summerland, B.C.’s Greg Machtaler was in solo second at 7-under after a second round 69.

“I was hitting it great and putting really well. I had one little blip when I three-putted nine, but I made everything I looked at,” said Bradshaw, who carded 11 birdies on Wednesday. The 31-year old said any thoughts of shooting 59 were dashed after three-putting the ninth hole – a turn of events that Bradshaw said actually helped him on the back nine.

“When I got to 5-under on eight, it occurred to me that I could do it,” said Bradshaw of the potential for a sub-60 round. “But when I three-putted nine, it kind of relaxed me because I knew it was done with and I could just focus on the next shot.”

With a double-digit lead heading into Thursday’s third round, Bradshaw said he’s going to focus on the tasks at hand as much as possible.

“Golf’s a weird game. It seems like the more you focus on the individual shot, the better they total at the end,” said Bradshaw, who is coming off an appearance two weeks ago at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he Monday Qualified to play on the PGA Tour for the fourth time in his career.

Machtaler carded five birdies to offset a double bogey and give him a 3-under 69, his second straight sub-60 round for the week.

“I’m really happy with where I am and how I’ve played,” said Machtaler, who said he’s looking forward to the challenge of two more Q-School rounds. “They’re definitely not comfortable rounds, so I couldn’t ask for more to be where I am right now.”

With the top 18 players this week earning exempt status and rest of the top 40 plus ties earning conditional status for 2014, 20 players were at 3-under or better and in position for full cards, while 47 players were at even or better and in position for conditional status.

The 2014 Elmhurst Invitational golf tournament will offer two exemptions into the 2014 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship.

As part of Elmhurst’s 100-year celebration the invitational will run from June 27-29th, 2014 and is expecting to draw its strongest field ever.

Invitations will be extended to top caliber players from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota and Minnesota. To entice players to enter, fully paid exemptions to the 2014 Canadian Men’s Amateur to be hosted by Elmhurst Golf & Country Club from August 2–7, 2014 will be awarded to the top-two finishers at the conclusion of the Elmhurst Invitational.

The Elmhurst Invitational was created to fill a gap that was left behind when the Manitoba Amateur Golf Tour ceased to exist.

“Top ranked players in Manitoba were saddened by the demise of the amateur tour,” said John Multan a long time member and founder of the ElmhurstInvitational. “As a former player, there were not enough competitive events left to play in and we were hungry for some competition. After discussing the concept with other competitive golfers, Elmhurst decided to step up to the plate and fill this gap.”

Since its inception in 2004, the Elmhurst Invitational has succeeded in its goal to supply competitive golfers with a golf course and a field that truly tests everyone who plays in it.

For further information on the Elmhurst Invitational, please contact Dave McMillan, Director of Golf, Elmhurst Golf and Country Club by phone at (204) 222-5511.

Victoria, B.C. (Golf Canada) – Bear Mountain Resort will play host to the first of six CN Future Links Championship events in 2014 – the CN Future Links Pacific Championship – which will be held May 9-11, with a practice round being staged on Thursday, May 8th.

The 54-hole stroke play championship will feature the country’s top junior golfers aged 11-18 including eight of Team Canada’s National Development Squad members. Players will vie for titles in a Junior Boys and Junior Girls division on Bear Mountain’s Valley Course.

“Golf Canada is delighted to return to Victoria to host our opening event of the season,” said Golf Canada tournament director Cam Crawford. “The field at Bear Mountain is going to be exceptionally strong with some of Canada’s top junior competitors in the field and it should prove to be an exciting championship.”

Team Canada’s Development Squad program will be represented on the junior boys side by 2013 CN Future Links Ontario Champion, Carter Simon, 17, of Sutton, Ont., and CN Future Links Quebec Champion, Étienne Papineau, 17, of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. Teammates Matt Williams, 17, of Calgary and Tony Gil, 15, of Vaughan, Ont. will also vie for the Pacific title.

On the junior girls side, Team Canada’s Development squad will be led by 2013 CN Future Links Western champion Sabrine Garrison, 17, of Calgary, alongside the reigning 2013 CN Future Links Prairie Champion, Jaclyn Lee, 17 from Calgary. Valérie Tanguay, 18, of St-Hyacinthe, Que., and Naomi Ko, 16, of Victoria will also represent the squad in the season opening event.

The Bear Mountain Golf Resort was designed by Jack Nicklaus and previously hosted the Telus World Skins Game in 2010 where Mike Weir, Fred Couples, Ian Poulter, Retief Goosen and Camilo Villegas dueled it out over two days for charity.

“With new ownership increasing its investment in all aspects of Bear Mountain we are working towards our goal of becoming the finest residential resort community in Canada. We are proud to be able to host the best Canadian young golfers here at Bear Mountain and work with Golf Canada to grow our great game,” said Jordan Ray Director of Golf at Bear Mountain Resort.

The top six competitors in the Junior Boys division of each CN Future Links Championship will earn exemptions into the 2014 Canadian Junior Boys Championship, which will be contested July 28 – August 1 at the Legends on the Niagara (Battlefield Course) in Niagara Falls, Ont., while the Junior Girls champion from each CN Future Links Championship will earn an exemption into the 2014 Canadian Junior Girls Championship which runs July 28 – August 1 at Thornhill Golf and Country Club in Thornhill, Ont.

In 2013, Team Canada’s Kevin Kwon of Maple Ridge, B.C. captured the Junior Boys title at the CN Future Links Pacific Championship at Crown Isle Resort in Courtenay, B.C., while Brooke Henderson grabbed the 2013 CN Future Links Junior Girls title. Neither will be in the field this year at Bear Mountain.

The CN Future Links Junior Golf Championships are part of CN’s ongoing partnership with Golf Canada and their commitment to junior golf. Focused on supporting safe and fun activities that have a positive impact on children’s health and well being, CN’s investment into CN Future Links is helping to increase grassroots junior golf participation in communities across Canada.

The 2014 CN Future Links tournament schedule also includes the CN Future Links Ontario Championship (May 22-25 at The Rock Club in Minett, Ont.), the CN Future Links Prairie Championship (May 29-June 1 at Shilo Country Club in Westman, Man.) the CN Future Links Western Championship (July 1-4 at Birchbank Golf Course in Trail, B.C.), the CN Future Links Quebec Championship (July 7-10 at Club de golf Continental (St-Laurent) in Ste-Victoire de Sorel, Que. and the CN Future Links Atlantic Championship (July 13-16 at Humber Valley Resort (River Course) in Little Rapids, Nfld.

For more information on the 2014 CN Future Links Pacific Championship, including starting times, post-round results and a full field list click here.

(COURTENAY, British Columbia) – California’s David Bradshaw carded a 7-under 65 Tuesday at Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community to take the first round lead at PGA Tour Canada’s British Columbia Qualifying Tournament. Bradshaw led by two over Garrett Driver and Russell Surber after one round.

With the top 18 players this week earning exempt status and rest of the top 40 plus ties earning conditional status for 2014, 22 players were at 2-under or better and in position for full cards, while 52 players were at even or better and in position for conditional status.

The 31-year old Bradshaw is coming off an appearance two weeks ago at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he Monday Qualified to play on the PGA Tour for the fourth time in his career. He is playing PGA Tour Canada Q-School for the first time, with an eye on earning status on the Web.com Tour next season.

“In years previous, I’ve done a lot of Monday Qualifying and played some of the mini tours, but even playing well in those events doesn’t advance you to the next level,” said Bradshaw. “I had never been to Canada until four days ago, so I thought ‘why not? Let’s go to Canada’ and try to play my way up.”

The Shepherd University grad started with an eagle on the par-5 10th, his first hole of the day, and would go on to post six more birdies on the round. His only miscue on the day came on the par-5 15th, where a ball out-of-bounds led to a bogey.

“I putted really well and I went on a good run on the front. I rolled it pretty well and hit some close iron shots. It’s wet out there so you can play so aggressive, but the greens are perfect too so you can really get on a roll,” said Bradshaw, who added that he was able to play aggressively due to the near-perfect weather conditions.

“I didn’t even look at how far right and left the pins were – I just aimed right at them.”

Two shots behind Bradshaw were Humble, Texas’s Garrett Driver and longtime PGA Tour Canada member Russell Surber, who fired a pair of 5-under 67s. Four Canadians – Summerland, B.C.’s Greg Machtaler, Huntsville, Ont.’s Braeden Cryderman, Langley, B.C.’s Adam Cornelson and Calgary’s James Love – were a shot further back at 68.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Three greens at The Players Championship remained off limits Tuesday to the strongest field in golf, a combination of bad weather in the winter and the misapplication of a turf product.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said he expects the greens on Nos. 4, 11 and 12 will be fine when golf’s richest tournament begins Thursday, and the warmth and sunshine will only help through the week.

Even so, he conceded that conditions at the Stadium Course on the TPC Sawgrass have not been perfect in the seven years since The Players moved from late March to early May. And while he called it “unlikely,” he did not entirely rule out a return to a late March date if it can’t be figured out.

Complaints have been minimal. Then again, the players were warned last week about a cold, wet winter and the issue with the greens. Some were expecting them to be in far worse condition than they were. Some sections have been sodded and plugged, and while there might be cosmetic issues, they appear to be fine.

“When you build a tournament and you’re shooting for perfection – which is what we do – and we have some imperfections, it doesn’t make it any more palatable that the players are being good about it,” Finchem said. “I mean, we need to fix our greens. And we intend to take all the steps I just mentioned and some others aggressively next year. So I think we’re going to be fine.

“At the end of the day, if we can’t maintain consistent conditions – and I think they will be competitively fine this week on balance – then we may have to examine the date.”

The grass was overseeded with rye when The Players was held in March, which is typical for most Florida courses. Finchem said that was easier to manage with the weather. But he said it still took 10 years “to really get it dialed in” for speed and firmness.

The new Bermuda greens were not build until 2007, and a sand cap under the grass on greens and fairways allow the course to be firm after a rain delay.

May typically offers warmer, drier weather, compared with a greater chance for rain in March. Finchem said the problem this year wasn’t just a cold winter, but a rainy winter.

“If we’re doing everything we can and it just is a continuing weather problem that we can’t beat, I suppose we’d rethink the date,” he said. “But when you’re talking about a perennial problem of three greens which have been stubborn most years since `07, I think we’d probably go a different set of greens on those holes, different kinds of greens. These are small greens. We can make bigger greens and probably not have a problem.”

The three greens that were closed to practice are small and get a lot of foot traffic. Finchem is hesitant to make them larger to preserve the heritage of the greens and the shots that are played to them. He said the PGA Tour would be inclined to change the nature of the greens before switching the date.

He said he was 90 percent certain the Stadium Course would get a new strain of Bermuda (TifEagle) for the 2016 tournament. Finchem said a few courses in the area use it and it performs well.

Phil Mickelson was among those not concerned.

“I looked at them. They’re fine,” Mickelson said of the three greens closed to practice. “They’re very playable. Everybody has got to play them. It’s totally fine. Now, they’re not going to be able to be firm and fast like they normally are. They’re softer, a little bit slower, and that’s going to lead to lower scores, but it doesn’t matter. We’re all going to have the opportunity to shoot lower scores.”

Agonizing yet again over getting your mom or wife the perfect Mother’s Day present?

Fret no more. Consider me your personal shopper with the perfect suggestion!

Give her what she really wants: Her family, all wrapped up in the game of golf.

And I don’t mean entertaining her for a couple of hours this Sunday at the predictable Mother’s Day brunch at your club—golf’s equivalent of that cheesy mass-produced card you picked up at the last minute at Shopper’s Drug Mart. (Shame on you.)

What does every mother want? More time with her family, of course, and there are few better opportunities to share family time than through golf.

Indisputably, our world has changed. Rare is the family who gathers each evening around the dining room table to share a meal as well as their respective experiences that day. Rarer still are those families who spend an evening hovering around a board game, playing cards or interacting in other ways. More likely, after a hasty dinner, the family members splinter off in different directions, most likely to individual isolation with their electronic entertainment device of choice.

What if one evening or afternoon each week was a family golf outing? The onus is on golf clubs to promote this opportunity, not only to strengthen the family unit but also, with a nod to today’s financial realities, as a potential membership boost. As one example, ClubLink now offers a complimentary family twilight membership to the spouse and children under 16 of members of its Prestige- and Platinum-level clubs. Family nights with free instruction, complimentary loaner clubs, nine (or fewer, if desired) holes of golf, special menus and other activities are scheduled weekly.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I recently left my post as ClubLink’s director of communications. Nevertheless, I continue to endorse this initiative for other clubs as well. There are other such initiatives out there, but not enough. Truth is, there will never be enough.  Having said that, if your club has a great and proven method of attracting families, I would appreciate hearing about it for inclusion in a future column. Email me at gordongolf@outlook.com.)

Let’s bid good riddance to the days when the husband and father opens his annual dues letter from his male-dominated golf club and announces to his wife: “Hey, honey, guess how much more it’s going to cost us this year for me to spend more time away from you and the kids? Where’s our cheque book?”

On the bookshelf in my office is a framed cover of the Sept. 3, 1960, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. The Norman Rockwell illustration depicts a tubby, cigar-smoking husband in a pork-pie hat and golf attire entering the kitchen door, golf clubs in hand. His facial expression is dumbstruck as he stares at his apron-clad wife. For there, leaning against the wall, is a new set of golf clubs and golf shoes—for her! She is putting a ball across the linoleum floor into a water glass.

Apparently, the message conveyed by that magazine 54 years ago was that America’s newly emancipated women were about to invade golf courses, previously the exclusive domain of men.  And yet I see illustrations from the late 1800s and early 1900s showing men and women playing together in the same foursome. In fact, the very first golf event at venerable Shinnecock Hills on New York’s Long Island was organized by its women members in 1891. Women have a long and revered and well-deserved place on the golf course and we shouldn’t need a magazine cover or some golf columnist to remind us.

So smarten up. Give your mom or wife and, by natural extension, your family and you a great and lasting gift this Mother’s Day. Make the commitment to golf as a family. It will be, as the saying goes, the gift that keeps on giving.

As the proud patriarch of a golfing family, I am well positioned to tell you that. Here’s one story that is apropos, I believe.

Thirteen years ago, almost exactly to the day of this Mother’s Day, my 70-year-old mother-in-law, Shirley Ironstone, aced the seventh hole at Midland Golf and Country Club. It was her first and only hole in one. What a celebration we had! As we all gathered at the family cottage, three golfing generations toasted her achievement. Surrounded by family, Shirley was in her glory. A certificate announcing her feat adorned her house until she passed on. It now hangs in our home. She may be no longer with us, but that memory and many others shared on the course and in the clubhouse are still vivid among those of us who loved her.

Flowers fade, cards are recycled, appetites return unabated after even the most lavish brunch.  This year, give that most beloved woman in your life the gift of family, the gift of golf, and lifelong memories.

About John Gordon

It’s been said that John Gordon has “done it all” in Canadian golf since he first got involved in 1985 as managing editor of SCOREGolf.

Based on his resume, it’s a statement that’s hard to dispute. He left SCOREGolf to become Golf Canada’s director of communications and member services and was the founding editor of Golf Canada magazine.

In 1994, he turned to golf writing fulltime, authoring eight books, penning a regular column for the Toronto Sun and then the National Post, and writing innumerable articles for golf consumer and trade publications. He was the on-air and online golf analyst for Rogers Sportsnet for eight years before joining ClubLink, one of the world’s largest multi-course owners and operators, to build their communications department, re-launch their magazine and build out their websites.

In 2014, John returned to golf writing fulltime and will contribute regularly to golfcanada.ca. You can follow him on Twitter at @gordongolf.

With yesterday’s announcement of the Young Pro squad, Team Canada’s programming has expanded even further. The diagram below gives a visual outline of where the 25 players, four coaches and six sport science members fit into the ‘big picture’ of Team Canada.

Carlsbad, Calif. – TaylorMade Golf has announced SLDR S, their newest SLDR model engineered to provide distance for golfers of all abilities and swing speeds through high-lofted metalwoods.

The SLDR S line features a low forward center of gravity (CG) placement wherein weight is re-located to the front of the head to promote faster ball speed, a higher launch angle and a lower spin-rate.

“It’s no secret that high launch and low spin maximize driver distance, but some players think that only Tour pros can benefit from lofting up with low forward CG,” said TaylorMade Chief Technical Officer, Benoit Vincent. “This is simply not true. By lofting up, you can generate serious distance regardless of swing speed”.

SLDR S fairway woods and Rescues feature a larger footprint and a shallower face compared to SLDR.

Each club in the SLDR S lineup is bonded. However, golfers will still enjoy four loft options as the driver is available in 10°, 12°, 14° and 16°.

“Historically on the PGA Tour, guys would de-loft their drivers in an attempt to achieve a lower ball flight and gain distance,” said Keith Sbarbaro, TaylorMade Golf’s Vice President of Tour Operations. “But when we introduced low forward CG, players started to see huge distance leaps from added loft. This has been a monumental shift in the way of thinking and a breakthrough in unlocking more distance.

The entire SLDR S metalwood family will be available at retailers starting May 16. The driver will retail for $359 CDN; the fairway woods for $259 CDN; and Rescues for $229 CDN. For more information, visit taylormadegolf.ca.