Although they don’t realize it, the players at next week’s World Junior Girls Golf Championship have much in common with the golf course they are competing on.

They are all teenagers, have impressive tournament histories and—as all teens can be—at times unpredictable, capricious and challenging.

The Marshes Golf Club, located in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, opened in 2002. It holds the distinction of being the last design collaboration between the late Robert Trent Jones and his elder son, Robert Trent Jones Jr. Also of note is that the layout features six par-3s, six par-4s and six par-5s.

As far as tournament history, The Marshes has played host to the Canadian Women’s Tour and five PGA of Canada Senior Championships, plus many top pro and amateur events. Its championship pedigree comes as no surprise as, in addition to its prestigious designers, its owner knows a thing or two about major events. Sir Terry Matthews was born in Wales and moved to Ottawa where he became a high-tech billionaire. His love of golf led him to buy Celtic Manor in his native Wales in 1980 and build two golf courses, one of which was the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup.

When Matthews developed The Marshes, the goal was to attract public and corporate clients who wanted a high-end golf experience. More about the course shortly, but that experience is enhanced by the glitzy Brookstreet Hotel which overlooks the eighth tee. The CAA/AAA Four Diamond hotel offers not only a great view but outstanding accommodations and cuisine plus a spa, pools and just about every other conceivable amenity. It will be home for a week to the competitors in the World Junior Girls Golf Championship.

Back to golf… As you might expect from its name, the course has its share of water. In fact, that unforgiving hazard is present on every hole, says Head Professional Andrew Donaldson.

In addition to water, he says, every hole presents something else, he says. “Teeth. This is a course that challenges you, but the real challenge is to just keep the ball in play. Take what the golf course gives you and you should score well. Try to bite off too much and you will pay the price. Length is not the primary factor here. You have to place the ball where the hole tells you to.”

Nowhere is that more evident than on the par-5 second hole, one of two tough par-5s in the first six holes. Wrapping around a lake for its entire length, it epitomizes Donaldson’s warning. In fact, he says, the first six holes can make or break a round.

Not that the middle holes are any picnic, but a good round can be derailed over the last three holes, Donaldson says. The 16^th is a par-5 with a stream that cuts across the fairway before meandering up to the left side of the green. The 17^th is a well-bunkered par-3 and the finishing par-4 presents a fairway bunker off the tee and then wetlands that threaten the second shot.

“Unless they are playing very well and very carefully, just about every player will lose a ball during their round,” says Donaldson. “But they are really good players so it should be exciting to watch them tackle the challenge.”

Donaldson and his wife had a baby girl just prior to the World Junior Girls Golf Championship, so he may have an extra interest in this tournament at his home course. He calls the event “an investment in the future” and “good for the game” and he couldn’t be more accurate.

In addition to the four competition rounds which run Tuesday, Sept. 22, through Friday, Sept. 25, there will be a coaching symposium and a skills clinic on Sunday, Sept. 20, and a junior-amateur fundraiser on Monday, Sept. 21. Not only will the championship identify the best under-19 female golfers in the world, but it is intended to raise the profile of the game among that age group and encourage more young women to take up golf.

To learn more about the World Junior Girls Golf Championship, visit www.worldjuniorgirls.com. For more on The Marshes Golf Club, go to www.marshesgolfclub.com.

Any doubt about the credibility of the World Junior Girls Golf Championship is immediately erased when you realize just how many of the top NCAA women’s golf coaches are in attendance.

“I was shocked when I saw how many were accredited when we had the first championship last September,” says Jim Clark, who was the tournament director for the inaugural event at Angus Glen in Markham, Ont. “I imagine there might be twice as many this year.”

Ann Carroll, head coach for Team Canada’s national girls’ development squad, will be Team Canada’s head coach when the second annual championship is staged at The Marshes Golf Club in Ottawa from Sept. 20 to 25. “It is really one-stop shopping for the college coaches,” she says, “because, in reality, the world of golf is coming here.”

Even with relatively short advance notice, the first World Junior Girls Golf Championship was a success. The joint initiative of Golf Canada and the Golf Association of Ontario could be viewed as a dry run for the 2015 Pan Am Games golf event, but it also showcased some of the best young female golfers in the world.

As the host country, Canada is entitled to have two teams in the event. In 2014, Team Canada One finished third behind the U.S. and Sweden, thanks to Brooke Henderson, Grace St-Germain and Naomi Ko.

Although Henderson has gone on to become a rising star on the LPGA and Ko is a freshman at North Carolina State, St-Germain of Orleans, Ont., will be back. At 17, she is the oldest member of Team Canada. She will partner with Hannah Lee of Surrey, B.C., and Tiffany Kong of Vancouver to form Team Canada One.

At 13, Euna Han of Coquitlam, B.C., is the youngest Canadian. Other Team Canada Two members are Alisha Lau and Kathrine Chan, both of Richmond, B.C.

“These six athletes have demonstrated some fantastic results throughout the season,” said Jeff Thompson, Golf Canada’s Chief Sport Officer. “The performances of Canada’s junior female athletes as a whole have been very strong this year, which made this selection process far from simple. That difficulty speaks to the wealth of golfing talent that Canada possesses. We look forward to seeing this group learn and grow in international competition.”

But to identify the World Junior Girls Golf Championship as just a tournament, albeit an important one, is to devalue the concept.

It truly is a celebration of girls’ golf from many perspectives.

A coaching summit is set to take place on Sunday, Sept. 20, at The Marshes. During the competitors’ practice rounds, PGA of Canada coaches will be paired with international coaches to exchange ideas and share in coaching methodology. Following the practice rounds, the PGA of Canada coaches will gather with Team Canada Women’s Head Coach Tristan Mullally and PGA of Canada Technical Director Glenn Cundari in a round-table discussion.

A junior girls’ skills development clinic will be conducted with PGA of Canada coaches introducing and developing golf-specific skills with junior golfers invited from the community. The junior-amateur fundraiser will see World Junior Girls Golf Championship competitors play with local golfing enthusiasts to raise funds towards the development of golf in Ontario.

“Our hope is that this event will help the development and growth of girls’ golf,” says Tournament Director Mary Beth McKenna, who is the Manager of Rules and Competitions for Golf Canada. “We want it to provide inspiration for the next generation of players.”

But continuing to develop that inspiration will take more than bright ideas and enthusiasm.

For years, a similar event has been conducted for boys in Japan. With title sponsorship by Toyota supported by other corporate donors, it continues to be a success.

It would be gratifying to see corporations provide the same sponsorship support for future World Junior Girls Golf Championships.

For more on the World Junior Girls Golf Championship, visit www.worldjuniorgirls.com.

Not even halfway through your round and you’re hot. Man, are you hot.

Sure, the thermometer is in the upper 20s, but it’s not the summer heat that’s frying you.

It’s the waiting on every shot. Every shot!

“Why is that group in front of us so @%#%-ing slow?!”

Cool down. It just might not be their fault. Or the fault of the groups in front of them.

At this year’s Golf Canada annual meeting, attendees were enlightened about the USGA’s research into pace of play by Director of Strategic Projects Hunki Yun and Technical Director Matthew Pringle. You can view their presentation below.

Enlightened, to say the least, because the data indicate that while pace of play is a shared responsibility, much of the blame for slow play may be laid at the feet of course operators.

Pringle says “one of the biggest misconceptions is that slow play is the fault of the group in front of you. That may be the case at times but it is more likely that the golf course is set up to fail. It can’t flow properly, so you will end up waiting at some point. The operator has to balance flow onto and through the course. There are structural reasons why delays occur.”

Yun cites a hypothetical situation where an easy par-4 is followed by a difficult par-3. Golfers finish the par-4 too fast and a bottleneck occurs on the par-3 tee. If the course operator intentionally slowed play on that par-4, perhaps by lengthening it or growing in more rough, the overall round would be more enjoyable for everyone.

“We have been preaching to operators to look critically at their golf course and setting tee time intervals that are realistic,” Pringle says. “The player experience will be better and there will be an economic benefit, too.”

Much of the USGA data reinforce what Bill Yates, founder of Pace Manager Systems, has been preaching for about 20 years. A couple of years ago, he started working with the USGA in their effort to try to understand the root causes of slow play.

Using his training as a process engineer, Yates looked at a round of golf from the perspective of an efficiency expert. “My previous job was to improve efficiencies in how companies produced their product, whatever that might be. In most cases, 90 per cent of the responsibility was on management to improve how they did business. And make no mistake about it. Golf produces a product: It’s the player’s experience when they are at a course.

“Players are not the biggest reason for slow play on our courses, any more than slow drivers, for example, are the reason that gridlocked freeways are slow.”

In other words, if there are too many cars pouring onto a highway with too few lanes, traffic jams are inevitable. The problem isn’t really slow play; it is that golfers hate to have to wait on every shot. (Yun calls it, “Slow versus flow.”) Stop and go. Hurry up and wait. Bottlenecks.

“By understanding the flow of your course and the cycle times of each hole, you are not only getting the same amount of golfers or maybe more around the course, but they will finish in less time and have a much better experience,” says Yun.

But before you go pointing fingers at the operator of the course you are playing, make sure you have done your part: Playing from the correct tees for your ability, playing ready golf, continuous putting, and so on.

Pace of play is everyone’s responsibility.

To understand more about the USGA’s pace of play initiative, click here.

Welcome to the 10th tee!

No matter what your score was on the front nine of the Great RBC Canadian Open Quiz, you can make up some strokes on the back nine.

(If you haven’t played the front nine yet, you can tee it up here.)

A perfect score gives you Hall of Fame credentials and bragging rights when you are watching the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont., from July 20 to 26.

If you tally 15 out of 18, you belong on Tour. Ten out of 18 means you’re headed for qualifying school, and nine or fewer has you destined for the range.

Quiet on the tee, please … Play away!

Answers are at the end.

10. In the 2004 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey, Mike Weir lost in a playoff to Vijay Singh. Prior to that, which Canadian had the best Open finish at Glen Abbey? (Bonus point: In what year?)
    1. George Knudson
    2. Dan Halldorson
    3. Richard Zokol
    4. Dave Barr
    5. Stephen Ames
11. Mark Calcavecchia set a PGA TOUR record for consecutive birdies in the second round of the 2009 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey. How many did he make in a row?
    1. Five
    2. Six
    3. Seven
    4. Eight
    5. Nine
12. The RBC Canadian Open has seen several exciting playoff finishes at Glen Abbey. How many holes did the longest playoff last? (Bonus point: Which two players were involved?)
    1. Three
    2. Four
    3. Five
    4. Six
    5. Seven
13. In addition to being the title sponsor of the RBC Canadian Open, RBC also has a team of ambassadors representing some of the best golfers, male and female, in the world. Which Canadian golfers are members of Team RBC?
    1. Mike Weir
    2. Graham DeLaet
    3. Brooke Henderson
    4. Adam Hadwin
    5. David Hearn
    6. Nick Taylor
    7. All of the above
14. Along with a cheque for US$1,044-million, the professional who wins the 2015 RBC Canadian Open has his name engraved on a stunning silver trophy. The low Canadian is also honoured with an award. What is it called?
    1. The George S. Lyon Cup
    2. The Sandy Somerville Medal
    3. The Rivermead Cup
    4. The Golf Canada Trophy
    5. The Gary Cowan Award
15. Golf fans will never forget Tiger Woods’s unbelievable shot out of the fairway bunker on the final hole of the 2000 RBC Canadian Open. Another incredible shot is commemorated by a plaque on the grounds of Glen Abbey. Whose shot does it mention?
    1. Greg Norman
    2. Mike Weir
    3. Nick Price
    4. John Daly
    5. Fred Couples
16. The RBC Canadian Open course record at Glen Abbey is 62. Which men have shot that score?
    1. Greg Norman
    2. Leonard Thompson
    3. Andy Bean
    4. Tiger Woods
    5. All of the above
17. While players and spectators are obviously essential for the RBC Canadian Open to succeed, the championship could not take place without the support of men and women who volunteer their time. These avid golf fans provide services ranging from marshalling and hospitality to transportation and maintenance. How many volunteers are needed during RBC Canadian Open tournament week?
    1. 400
    2. 750
    3. 1,000
    4. 1,400
    5. 2,000
18. The 2016 RBC Canadian Open will once again take place at Glen Abbey. In total, how many times will that mean Glen Abbey has played host to our national Open?
    1. 17
    2. 19
    3. 20
    4. 22
    5. 28

Answers below (highlight to see)

10. d) Dave Barr finished tied for fourth in the 1988 RBC Canadian Open.
11. e) After starting with two pars, Calcavecchia reeled off nine straight birdies, shooting 65.
12. d) In 1983, John Cook needed six holes to defeat Johnny Miller.
13. g) All of the above. Team RBC also includes Jason Day, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Matt Kuchar, Graeme McDowell, Ryan Palmer and Brandt Snedeker.
14. c) The Rivermead Cup was donated to the Royal Canadian Golf Association by the Rivermead Golf Club in Aylmer, Que., in 1920. It was awarded to the winner of the Open until 1935 when a new trophy was procured. Subsequently, it has been awarded to the low Canadian.
15. d) In the 1994 RBC Canadian Open Pro-Am, John Daly attempted to drive the green on the 452-yard par-4 11th hole. His drive from the elevated tee found the creek in front of the green, travelling an estimated 390 yards in total.
16. a) Norman (third round, 1986), b) Thompson (second round, 1981) and c) Bean (final round, 1983) all shot 62. None would win the championship that year, however. Bean might have, had he not been assessed a two-stroke penalty in the third round for tapping in a two-inch putt with the grip end of his putter, rather than the head, in violation of Rule 14.
17. d) More than 1,400 men and women volunteer to make the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey a success.
18. e) In 2016, Glen Abbey will play host to its 28th RBC Canadian Open.

The Golf Facilities in Canada 2015 report was published last week by Golf Canada and the PGA of Canada in cooperation with the U.S. National Golf Foundation.

While it contained interesting data about the current number, distribution and type of golf facilities in this country, it also provided the opportunity to analyze just where the game in Canada stands from some wider perspectives, historically and globally.

The “snapshot” summary of the report is available here. Snapshots aside, from a historical long view, the game remains popular and accessible, with almost six million people playing at least one round annually. In total, almost 60-million rounds are played in Canada each year.

The Golf Facilities report indicates that of the 2,346 golf facilities in Canada, more than 90 per cent are open to the public, putting to rest the misconception that the game is elitist and exclusionary. To the contrary, thanks to the variety and number of facilities, combined with the handicap system, it can be argued that golf is the most democratic of all sports.

Those who worry about the length of time it takes to play will be interested to find out that nine-hole layouts account for close to 40 per cent of the country’s courses. And it goes without saying that most 18-hole courses are composed of two returning nine-hole loops, making it possible to play in little more than a couple of hours.

Just as happened after golf booms in the 1920s and 1960s, course construction has dropped off following the spectacular growth of the game in the 1990s. In the 1960s, more than 420 facilities opened across Canada, closely followed by more than 310 new openings in the 1990s. Golf, like any other business and recreational activity, is tied to economic factors and changing consumer behaviours. As such, it cycles periodically and unpredictably. In the past 10 years, 158 facilities across Canada have closed for various reasons. Since 2010, 29 courses have opened in six different provinces and 31 18-hole equivalent facilities are in various stages of development.

When the report was released, it also pointed out some inarguable facts about the vital role golf plays across Canada.

“The golf industry is worth more than $14.3-billion to the Canadian economy and represents more than one per cent of our nation’s total GDP,” the report summary stated. “The $5-billion in direct revenues generated by Canada’s 2,346 facilities are more than the revenues generated by all other participation sports and recreational facilities combined ($4.8-billion). The numbers reinforce the massive financial, charitable, and environmental impact that golf has in communities across Canada including hundreds of thousands of jobs, billions in taxes, and a major tourism driver both domestic and international. Canadian golf facilities are a channel for major charitable giving with close to 37,000 events at Canadian courses raising more than $533-million annually for worthwhile causes.”

The accessibility, affordability and popularity of golf in Canada cannot be disputed.  A recent global study by the R&A in partnership with the NGF puts us third in total golf facilities behind the United States and Japan.

The R&A study also reported that there are 34,011 facilities in 204 countries worldwide, providing the opportunity for international participation in showcases such as the current Pan Am Games and the 2016 Olympics. Professional golf tours around the world also reflect this positive international trend.

(The Pan Am golf competition starts Thursday, July 16, at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ont. The Olympic golf championship takes place next August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.)

Viewing the three- or four-decade downswing between previous golf booms, we can be hopeful the game will once again recycle in a few years. However, it is impossible to predict economic trends or whether the presence of the game on global stages such as the Pan-Am Games and the Olympics will enhance its popularity or encourage construction of more facilities.

What is known, in the wake of the release of last week’s study, is that there is plenty of golf to go around in Canada and plenty of people interested in taking advantage of it.

The complete Golf Facilities in Canada 2015 report including national and provincial data is available for download here.

For more information about the impact of golf in Canada, visit www.canadagolfs.ca.

The RBC Canadian Open will be played at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., from July 20 to 26.

Our national Open, which has a pantheon of legendary champions, will once again feature some of the greatest players in the world.

Not only is the list of champions impressive, so is the championship’s history.

Here’s a chance to test your knowledge about the RBC Canadian Open.

This is the front nine. The second nine will follow.

If you ace all nine questions, you are halfway to the course record. Five out of nine is par. Anything less than that…well, take a mulligan and step up to the next set of tees.

Answers are at the end.

1. The first RBC Canadian Open was played in …
   1. 1899
   2. 1904
   3. 1932
   4. 1956
   5. 1977
2. Glen Abbey Golf Club played host to its first RBC Canadian Open in …
   1. 1977
   2. 1978
   3. 1983
   4. 1991
   5. 2000
3. Lee Trevino was awarded the first Triple Crown (winning the U.S. Open, the Open Championship and the RBC Canadian Open in the same calendar year). Who is the only other man to accomplish that feat? (Bonus point: In what years, respectively, did they do that?)
   1. Greg Norman
   2. Curtis Strange
   3. Nick Price
   4. Mark Calcavecchia
   5. Tiger Woods
4. Glen Abbey is home not only to one of the finest spectator golf courses in the world, but also to some other notables. Which ones?
   1. Golf Canada
   2. Canadian Golf Museum and Hall of Fame
   3. PGA TOUR Canada
   4. TaylorMade Performance Lab
   5. All of the above
5. In the 2004 RBC Canadian Open, Mike Weir came oh so close to being the first Canadian in 50 years to win the title. Who was the last Canadian to win our national Open? (Bonus point: Who defeated Weir in the three-hole playoff?)
   1. George Knudson
   2. Moe Norman
   3. Gary Cowan
   4. Pat Fletcher
   5. Stan Leonard
6. Some players have won more than two RBC Canadian Opens. Who are they?
   1. Leo Diegel
   2. Tommy Armour
   3. Sam Snead
   4. Lee Trevino
   5. All of the above
7. Glen Abbey Golf Club was Jack Nicklaus’s first solo course design. Although he never won our Open, how many times did he finish as runner-up at Glen Abbey?
   1. One
   2. Two
   3. Three
   4. Five
   5. Seven
8. In the 2013 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey, Hunter Mahan was leading going into Saturday’s third round. He withdrew because …
   1. He injured his wrist hitting out of the rough
   2. He missed his tee time
   3. His wife was about to deliver their first child
   4. He wanted his friend Brandt Snedeker to win
   5. He was touring the Canadian Golf Museum and Hall of Fame
9. Tiger Woods has made a couple of appearances at the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey, winning once in a most dramatic fashion. How did he clinch the victory on Sunday? (Bonus point: Who did he edge by a single shot as a result?)
   1. Holed out on 17 for eagle
   2. Aced the par-3 15^th
   3. Eagled the par-5 16^th
   4. Hit a 216-yard 6-iron from a fairway bunker on 18 for birdie
   5. Won a two-hole playoff

Answers below (highlight to see)

1. b) 1904
2. a) 1977
3. e) Tiger Woods won the Triple Crown in 2000. Trevino did it in 1971.
4. e) All of the above
5. d) Pat Fletcher. (Bonus point: Vijay Singh defeated Weir in the 2004 playoff.)
6. e) All of the above. Thirteen other players have won two titles.
7. e) Nicklaus was a seven-time runner-up in our Open, but only three times at the course he designed: 1981, 1984, 1985.
8. c) Mahan’s wife gave birth to their daughter the following day in Texas.
9. d) (Bonus point: Grant Waite)

With the memories of a wild U.S. Open fresh in his mind, Brandt Snedeker returns to Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., to tee it up on July 23rd with even better memories of the last time he played there.

A victory will do that.

At the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in Washington State, Snedeker put on a charge in the final round, trying to catch eventual champion Jordan Spieth. Also in his sights was Dustin Johnson, who would finish T2 with Louis Oosthuizen. Unfortunately, he fell short, finishing eighth.

It was a far different story in 2013 when Snedeker hoisted the RBC Canadian Open trophy on Glen Abbey’s 18^th green, having edged Johnson by three shots. Like this year’s U.S. Open, the 2013 RBC Canadian Open offered lots of thrills and unpredictable moments.

After 36-hole leader Hunter Mahan withdrew on Saturday to be with his wife, who was about to have their first child in Texas, Snedeker entered the final round at 14 under par, one shot ahead of David Lingmerth.

The turning point of that championship, as it has been many times in the past, hinged on Glen Abbey’s pivotal closing holes.

“Those holes do have a huge impact on the tournament,” Snedeker said in a recent interview.  “You have risk-reward on 16 and 18 where you can make up a lot of shots or you can make a careless mistake and get lapped by the field.  I love the course and have a great feeling heading back to Glen Abbey.  To be honest with you, my ball striking was probably at best a C-minus the last day and I was still able to pull out a win.  If I have good control over my ball striking and putt well, I like my chances this year.”

Despite not having his best ball-striking game that day, Snedeker looked to be cruising to victory until Johnson reached the par-5 16^th in two after a 350-yard drive. Although Johnson’s eagle putt rimmed out, the birdie was good enough to tie him with Snedeker for the lead at 15 under with two holes to go.

(As a historical footnote, Glen Abbey’s 16^th hole has marked a turning point in previous RBC Canadian Opens. In 1994, Nick Price lasered a 2-iron on the short par-5 that led to a one-shot win over Mark Calcavecchia. Ten years later, in the centennial edition of our Open, national hero Mike Weir, who entered the final round with a three-shot lead, three-putted the difficult green. He ended up tied with Vijay Singh, who would win the eventual three-hole playoff, dashing hopes for the first Canadian winner in 50 years.)

But Johnson’s drive on the par-4 17^th went out of bounds and the resulting triple-bogey 7 took him out of contention. Snedeker matched Johnson’s birdie on 16 and cruised to the victory with a two-under-par 70.

“This is a tournament I said early on in my career I wanted to win just because my caddie [Scott Vail of Oshawa, Ont.] is actually from Canada and it’s his national Open,” Snedeker said. “It meant a lot to him and it means a lot to me. It’s the third-oldest tournament on TOUR and it has some great history to it and now to put my name on that trophy it means a lot.”

Once again, the 2015 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey will feature a strong field, due in no small part to the commitment by RBC to the game of golf. In addition to our Open, RBC is also the title sponsor of The RBC Heritage on the PGA TOUR.

Team RBC includes Snedeker and fellow PGA TOUR stars Matt Kuchar, Jason Day, Graeme McDowell, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk and Canadians Mike Weir, Graham DeLaet, David Hearn, Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor.  On the women’s side, Team RBC includes Canadian phenom Brooke Henderson and Morgan Pressel.

“My relationship with RBC has been great,” Snedeker said.  “Two of my wins have been at RBC-sponsored tournaments since I became an ambassador.  They basically saved the RBC Heritage tournament and that is one of my favourite tournaments all year.  They are doing so much for the game of golf, not only in Canada, but around the world.  I feel honoured to be aligned with such a great company.”

Glen Abbey will play host to the RBC Canadian Open for a record 28^th time next year. Like Snedeker, the winners in 2015 and 2016 and beyond will join a pantheon of RBC Canadian Open champions at Canada’s most famous course, all of whom are commemorated on the Wall of Champions outside the clubhouse: Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Lee Trevino, Vijay Singh, Mark O’Meara, Nick Price, Curtis Strange, Hal Sutton and more.

To purchase tickets to the 2015 RBC Canadian Open hosted by Glen Abbey Golf Club from July 20-26 please click here.

Juniors 17 years of age and under are permitted access to the grounds free of charge during the RBC Canadian Open. To download your FREE Junior Ticket, please click here.

For kids who are into golf, the CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge has it all: a reason to spend more time at the course or range, an opportunity to compete against their peers locally, provincially and nationally, online stats tracking and personal leaderboard, and a chance to —not only advance to the national final at Glen Abbey Golf Club the Saturday prior to the RBC Canadian Open —but to actually play the course and rub shoulders with some of their golf heroes.

Created in 2008, the CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge is focused on developing the key golf skills of putting, chipping, iron play and driving. Administered by Golf Canada, and run by PGA of Canada professionals at facilities across Canada, the program allows participants up to the age of 18 to compete in all four skills and receive a score based on their performance in each of the categories.

“When we launched this program, we saw it as the first output of our Long Term Player Development [LTPD] program,” says Jeff Thompson, Golf Canada’s Chief Sport Officer. “The redesigned Junior Skills Challenge is an interactive program aligned with the LTPD guidelines that focuses on all the key golf skills, rather than just a score. It is now an integral part of the suite of junior programs that is available to kids across Canada.”

In addition to the National Skills Challenge, other CN Future Links programming includes the Learn to Play program as well as mobile clinics, PGA Junior Leagues, Girls Club 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, there were 150 Skills Challenge qualifying events throughout Canada, involving more than 3,500 juniors. In total, since the program’s inception in 2008, more than 15,000 kids have participated.

The 2014 national final was held at Angus Glen GC in Markham, Ont., last September in conjunction with the inaugural World Junior Girls Golf Championship. The champions were: Braxton Kuntz, Breezy Bend Country Club, Manitoba (Boys 911); Sarah Gallagher, Braeben Golf Course, Ontario (Girls 911); Finn Lawlor, Seymour Golf Club, British Columbia (Boys 1214); Laura Wong, Seymour Golf Club, British Columbia (Girls 1214); Tyler Leclair, Seymour Golf Club, British Columbia (Boys 1518); Molly MacDermaid, Gowan Brae Golf Club, New Brunswick (Girls 1518).

“It was a lot of fun out there,” said Leclair after his victory. “It was very special to win here. The event was really set up well and all of the sponsors have been great. It was tough, everyone battled hard, and it got close and came down to one putt in the end. To win this on a national level is very sweet.”

This year, the topperforming juniors will be invited to Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont., to compete in the national championship on July 18, the Saturday prior to the RBC Canadian Open. The next day, they will play in a Ryder Cupstyle event on the tournament course. On the Monday of tournament week, they will have a chance to caddie in the Golf Canada Foundation ProAm, and on Wednesday, they can walk with a pro inside the ropes.

“It’s a real weeklong memorable experience of a lifetime,” says Thompson.

Each of the qualified and attending participants in the final will receive a performance recognition package valued at more than $200 courtesy of Titleist. The winners of the national event in each age group for each gender will also receive a performance recognition package valued at $300 courtesy of Titleist. The national champions in the 1518 age group will also receive an exemption into one CN Future Links Championship in 2016.

Juniors can get involved in two ways. There is no charge for either option.

First, they can register with an official CN Future Links Skills Challenge facility. (A listing of participating facilities is available at www.cnfuturelinks.com.) Then, a PGA of Canada professional will run them through an official skills test. Following that, the junior can post and review their skills scores on the national leaderboard.

Alternatively, they can develop their skills on their own time and track their progress with a personalized online practice scorecard. Where they practice doesn’t matter—golf course, range, field or backyard. They will receive personalized login information so they can access a secure and private site to record their putting, chipping, iron play and driving scores.

“One of the strengths of the CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge is that it is designed to identify and reward kids who have wellrounded golf games,” says Thompson, “and that is one of the goals of our Long Term Player Development Program.

Details on the CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge and the entire listing of programs and information for junior golfers, parents, instructors and facilities are available at: cnfuturelinks.com.

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.

I’ll miss the usual phone call this year from the man I called the “godfather of Canadian golf.”

Many more knew him as “Mr. Canadian Open.”

The call I always counted on, well, since the mid-1980s when we first met, would come a week or two before the RBC Canadian Open whenever it was played at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont. It will return there July 20-26 for the 27^th time.

But the phone call won’t come this year.

“Goose,” the gravelly voice would say (more about that nickname shortly), “when are you going to be there? Where do you want to meet?”

That unmistakable, and now sorely missed, voice belonged to Richard H. Grimm, who passed away a year ago, on May 26, at the age of 91.

It is well documented that Glen Abbey would not exist without Dick Grimm. Here is a précis.

He, along with another great gentleman of the game, the late Bruce Forbes, had the vision of a permanent home for our Open. Forbes, a successful businessman from Brantford, Ont., had been president of the Royal Canadian Golf Association (now Golf Canada) in 1965 and became its executive director in 1970. Dick’s involvement with the Open began when he, as president of the host club, chaired the 1965 Open at Mississaugua Golf and Country Club. He went on to chair the event seven more times and joined the RCGA as director of professional tournaments from 1983 to 1992. I was fortunate to work with him there for a couple of years.

(There’s lots more on his Canadian Golf Hall of Fame resume, which you can read here. All that and more was recounted a year ago in various obituaries, the finest of which is by Lorne Rubenstein, who was very close to Dick. You can read it here. Do so, and you will understand why I called him the godfather of Canadian golf.)

In 1972, when Dick was chairing the Open at Cherry Hill near Fort Erie, Ont., he was approached by Rod McIsaac, principal of Great Northern Capital. “He told me he liked watching the tournament but it was his feeling that the gallery was not given a fair shake for viewing,” Dick told me when I was writing my book, The Great Golf Courses of Canada. “Immediately, I thought, ‘Here’s another gripe from a spectator.’ But then he threw me for a country mile by saying he had a piece of property in Oakville—and we [RCGA] were thinking of a permanent site for the Open.”

The deal was done and Dick and Bruce persuaded Jack Nicklaus to design Glen Abbey, his first solo design, and one that has stood the test of time as one of the best spectator courses in the world since it opened in 1976. And woe betide anyone who said differently if Mr. Canadian Open was within earshot.

Once, just once, early in our friendship, when I was editor of SCOREGolf, I made the mistake of criticizing something, I forget what, about the Open and/or Glen Abbey in print. The next time I saw Dick, he called me “Goose.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because the Canadian Open is the goose that lays the golden egg for golf in Canada and I never want you to forget that.”

So “Goose” I remained until the day he died. I counted it an honour that he had a nickname for me. I called him “Godfather.” I am not sure he was so honoured. But he smiled when I called him that.

Although age and illness had cruelly, inevitably, turned him into a shadow of the imposing physical presence he once was when he passed away a year ago, Dick Grimm will remain a giant, figuratively, in Canadian golf forever.

No one knows that better than Bill Paul. Bill, now Chief Championship Officer at Golf Canada, who first met Dick almost 40 years ago. Dick not only got Bill, then a high-school student, into golf, but inextricably involved him in the Canadian Open which has become his life’s work, not unlike his mentor. Even after Bill took over Dick’s responsibilities in 1993, the two, teacher and student, still met frequently to talk about our national championship.

“He was always generous with his time and his advice,” Bill recalls. “The Open was so close to his heart. Although we didn’t always agree, he really was a great man, and a great person, in so many ways. If I had a wish for one thing to end my career on, whenever that may be, it would be to return the Open to a permanent site. It’s funny how all that may circle back to the vision he had. In a way, it would be a tribute to him.”

I will miss my friend’s pre-Open phone call this year, and the golf we played when he was healthy, and the lunches we shared as his health declined (“Hey, Goose, how about a bowl of soup and a bun at Bayview?”), and so much more, until I die. It’s not often you get to spend time with a legend.

But I will go again to the Open at Glen Abbey this July to honour his memory. I’ll wander around just below the clubhouse, where you can see the 16^th green, the second green, the tee on the par-3 third, maybe the 17^th tee if you squint, and remember the man who made this all possible.

Dick Grimm went to his grave a year ago intent, as always, on giving everyone “a fair shake.”

For the most part, he succeeded admirably.

So please take a minute on May 26, and whenever the Open rolls into Glen Abbey, remember the man who made it—and so much more in Canadian golf—happen.