Having served on the executive team of the Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA) – and as it’s president in 1989 – Keith Rever has played an important leadership role in the growth of golf across the country.

With the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open being held in his hometown of Regina for the first time at the Wascana Country Club – also referred to in short as WCC – Rever sees it as an important step in promoting the game in his home province.

“I think it’s great that the tournament will be coming here for the first time and we get to see the best female golfers compete first hand,” said Rever, who served as a director of the WCC for 15 years and served as the club’s president in 1980.

“I’m sure seeing the best players compete will inspire more young girls and boys to pick up the sport,” added the Regina native.

According to his daughter, Susan Rever, the significance of the CP Women’s Open coming to Regina is recognized by the entire family.

“Our whole family is excited, as it is the first time Saskatchewan has hosted an LPGA TOUR event. We look forward to being a part of this,” she said.

Recently, Rever – a retired engineer – took a moment to reflect back on his journey as an architect for the growth of the sport in Canada.

Rever says he first developed a passion for golf when he took up the sport as a youngster.

“My mom and dad rented a house about five blocks from a golf course and I would walk down there in the mornings to play a couple rounds and hit balls during the summer; and if you hit enough balls, you start improving,” said Rever, who has been extra busy this summer helping his daughter with a home improvement project.

“I became a junior member at the Wascana Country Club in 1956 and a general share holder in 1960,” he recalled.

“I won the club championship about five times. Its been a lot of fun out there. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people playing at the club.”

Rever’s natural talents on the golf course enabled him to compete at the highest level as an amateur.

He won the City of Regina Championship nine times and was the Saskatchewan Amateur Champion on two separate occasions.

In 1964, Rever was a member of the only team from Saskatchewan to win the Willingdon Cup – an annual team competition dating back to 1927 which features the top amateurs from each province.

“The winds were about 50 miles per hour and of course that gave us Saskatchewan boys a bit of an advantage because we were used to it,” he said with a smile about the Willingdon Cup win.

In 1971, that championship team – consisting of Rever, along with Alec Bland,  who was the non-playing captain, Ernie Greenley, Ed Ross, and Jim Scissons – had their accomplishment honoured in the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.

Willingdon Cup Champions

Rever also has his name enshrined in the Wascana Hall of Fame, as well as, the Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame.

“His inductions are a reminder of his incredible achievements,” noted his daughter, Susan.

“My dad’s passion for the sport, and his lifelong commitment to improve his performance and the sport he loves so much is impressive.”

While he opted to pursue a career in electrical engineering instead of one as a professional golfer, Rever was committed to remaining involved with the sport in other ways.

“I was the president of the Saskatchewan Golf Association in 72 and 73 and back in those days each provincial association nominated a representative to serve on the Royal Canadian Golf Association,” Rever pointed out.

“They asked me if I would consider it; and so in 1976, I joined the board of the RCGA – which of course, changed it’s name to Golf Canada in 2010.”

At the national level, he was a governor of the RCGA from 1976 to 1985, and on the executive team from 1986 to 1990, with a one-year term as president in 1989.

Rever says finding a balance between his full-time career as an engineer and as a member of the RCGA executive team was a bit of a challenge.

“It was really difficult to balance the roles; and I think in retrospect it probably wasn’t fair to my family,” he said with a chuckle.

“But I’m thankful that they put up with me and supported me in every way and I really appreciated that,” noted Rever, who adds that his wife, Marianne, and his son, Scott, are also avid golfers.

Rever says one of the initiatives that he was proud to have supported during his tenure on the executive team was the integration of the RCGA and the Canadian Ladies’ Golf Association (CLGA).

“I think I may have been one of the first RCGA presidents to speak at the CLGA annual meeting.  Our team supported the idea of amalgamation and I was happy to see it eventually happen,” he said.

Rever also recalls one of his biggest thrills was inducting Jack Nicklaus into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1995.

“After I was president of the RCGA, I became chair of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame committee and I had the honour of being part of the team that inducted Jack Nicklaus,” he said.

“Jack was always very supportive of the Royal Canadian Golf Association and attended all the (RBC) Canadian Opens and spoke very highly of it; and regarded it as the fifth major in the world back in those days,” Rever noted about Nicklaus who was inducted in the builder category given his role in designing Glen Abbey.

“I remember the induction ceremony was held at the Glen Abbey Golf Club and there was over 200 people there; and it was just a great evening.”

While Rever speaks highly of Nicklaus’ contributions to the growth of the sport in Canada, he also speaks with high regard about Brooke Henderson and the significance of her success.

“I’m very impressed with Brooke. She seems like a very nice young lady who obviously has got a lot of natural skill and also very good work ethic; and her success is definitely inspiring a lot of young golfers in the country,” he said.

“So hopefully she’s going to do well when she comes to Saskatchewan. I spoke to her briefly but I didn’t get a chance to tell her to practice her shots into the wind – she’s probably going to need them,” he added with a smile.

“I’ve also met Lorie Kane; and I can tell that she’s a really classy lady. Both Lorie and Brooke are great ambassadors for the game in Canada and have done so much to grow the game,” he added about the two CP Ambassadors who have a combined 10 LPGA TOUR titles between them.

And while golfers, such as Kane and Henderson, have done so much to grow the game through their accomplishments on the golf course, Rever takes pride in knowing his efforts over the years off the golf course – particularly in the boardroom – has built the foundation for the success of the sport across the country.

“It was great to have worked with all the people who were so passionate about the game and wanted to see it grow. It’s also great to know that our efforts over the years have had a positive impact on the sport,” said Rever.

“I’ve also had a chance to meet the new leadership team at Golf Canada and I can say the sport is in good hands.”

With the CP Women’s Open set to tee off on August 23rd in his hometown, the self-described golfing enthusiast says he’s noticing a lot of buzz and excitement surrounding the tournament.

“We had the Brier and also the Memorial Cup here in Regina earlier this year, so its taken a bit of time for the CP Women’s Open to gain traction but now we are hearing about it on the radio and seeing a lot about it in the news,” said Rever.

“So I think by the time this tournament comes around, everyone will be feeling a lot of excitement – I know my family and I will for sure.”

As Laurence Applebaum marked his first year as Golf Canada’s CEO on July 10, it would have been easy to point to a couple of recent announcements as early anniversary presents.

On July 3, it was revealed that the RBC Canadian Open would vacate its logistically problematic date the week immediately after The Open Championship in July and shift to the week prior to the U.S. Open, taking place the first week of June starting next year.

On July 9, Canadian Pacific and Golf Canada announced that CP had extended its title sponsorship of the CP Women’s Open, the only LPGA Tour event in Canada, for five years through 2023. The announcement was made at Magna Golf Club, the opulent and outstanding facility in Aurora, Ont., which will host the 2019 CP Women’s Open.

Just as significant was the news that the event’s charity, CP Has Heart, has raised almost $6.5 million for heart health initiatives in just four years. CP’s sponsorship also supports Golf Canada’s National Team Program (Team Canada) and the Young Pro Program which aids emerging Canadian professionals as they transition to the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour. CP is also the title sponsor of the CP Women’s Leadership Summit which will make its debut on Aug. 21 during the CP Women’s Open at Wascana Country Club in Regina.

But in an interview after the CP Women’s media conference at Magna, Applebaum was quick to deflect the credit for these notable accomplishments.

“We are extremely fortunate to have great partners like CP and RBC and so many others who support the game of golf in Canada. Without them and a supportive Board of Directors and our talented and hard-working team of staff and volunteers, I doubt very much would get accomplished at all, much less in a year.”

So giving credit where credit is due, it must be noted that the past 12 months have been, if not tumultuous, at least a “whirlwind,” according to Applebaum.

“One of the biggest highlights and I have to admit, one of the biggest surprises, was the reception I enjoyed from the golf community both within our borders and outside. I was overwhelmed by how much Canadians love their golf and also by how welcoming the global golf community, like the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour, the USGA and the R&A, has been to a newcomer.”

Building relationships was a keystone of Applebaum’s priority list when he came on board to lead Golf Canada. He traversed the country, listening to golfers to determine how Golf Canada could become “more relevant,” in his words.

One of the positives he noted was the reaction to Golf Canada’s new membership model. The hope is to transition all member clubs to the Gold Level by the end of next year. The Gold Level comes with a laundry list of benefits from an official handicap factor to incident protection (up to $2,500 reimbursement for damaged, lost or stolen equipment, plus other unfortunate golf-related events), discounts on merchandise and event, tickets, and more).

“I had many golfers come up to me and say ‘I’ve been a Golf Canada member for a long time but I’ve never really seen the value. But now I do.’”

Another thing Applebaum noted during his travels was that the “Canadian golf community” is anything but. It’s fragmented, to say the least.

But the good news is that when he joined Golf Canada, work was well underway on the organization’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy (by a task force headed by current Golf Canada President Leslie Dunning. Published last winter, it is a leading-edge document that, says Applebaum, “shows that we welcome all of Canada’s almost six million golfers with open arms. It’s a great outreach initiative that we are determined to live up to.”

About the same time as the Diversity and Inclusivity Policy was released, Applebaum appeared at a media conference with PGA of Canada CEO Kevin Thistle to announce that the two national organizations have teamed up to combat and prevent abuse, bullying and harassment in golf by adopting Respect in Sport and Respect in the Workplace as part of a deepened commitment to the Responsible Coaching Movement.

Laurence Applebaum and PGA of Canada CEO Kevin Thistle signing the Responsible Coaching Movement for golf in Canada

After such a hectic yet rewarding first year, Applebaum might be excused if some of the memories are a touch hazy. But that’s not the case in at least one instance.

“It had to be at last year’s CP Women’s Open at Royal Ottawa,” he recalls as his face lights up with a smile. “To see Brooke Henderson make the cut on the number and then go out on Saturday and shoot a course-record 63, well, what a great moment for Canadian golfers! It’s something I’ll never forget.”

And with that, he stands up, shakes hands, and heads into Year Two.

Cam Cole seems to have this retirement thing down pat.

“I am playing way more than I ever have in my life,” he says over the phone between rounds at his new home course, The Harvest, in Kelowna. “I am probably playing three or four times a week. The game has not become less a part of my life after retirement. It has become even bigger. I am enjoying that.”

For many years, so many Canadians enjoyed Cole’s beautifully crafted columns from golf’s major championships. By his count, Cole covered 66 majors, along with seven Ryder Cups and six Presidents Cups, nine (RBC) Canadian Opens and several (CP) Canadian Women’s Opens before retiring in December 2016 after an exemplary 41-year career as one of this country’s top sportswriters.

Cole is receiving Golf Canada’s Distinguished Service Award for his contribution to the game. He will receive that award at a June 4 ceremony at Bear Mountain Golf Club in Victoria. A round of golf will follow, which should suit Cole just fine.

“I don’t seem to be getting any better at it, but I still love it,” says Cole, a left-hander who boasts an eight handicap despite playing with a set of Ping Eye 2 irons that are 30 years old. “The Harvest has this reputation of being a really wide open, easy golf course. But scoring there for me seems really difficult. I have had a few rounds close to par, but then I’ve also had some 84s and 85s in there. It just depends, if you miss it in the wrong place you are still going to be struggling. And those greens are really slopey and tough.

“I have enjoyed it there, there’s good group of guys to play with and it’s a very friendly kind of atmosphere.”

Cole, of course, covered much more than golf. He was a fixture at Stanley Cup playoffs, covered many world figure skating championships, Super Bowls and Grey Cups. He attended 16 Olympic Games.

But golf was perhaps his favourite assignment, in part for a selfish reason.

“I enjoyed golf more probably because they can’t play it at night,” Cole says. “As you know, deadlines are the least fun thing about the job. It is so much easier on the brain having a couple of minutes to think before you have to commit it to print. I think generally speaking it makes for better writing if you have some time to think and execute a line or a paragraph without having to just rush into it.”

Michael Farber, Cole’s longtime sportswriting colleague, worked alongside Cole at many big events and paid his friend the ultimate compliment in an interview from his Montreal home.

“I would rather read Cam Cole writing about golf than just about anybody writing about anything,” says Farber, a Sports Illustrated special contributor who also does essays for TSN.

“He is multi-talented and covered so many sports so well, but I think he was such a great golf writer because he was a such a great golfer, at least by the fairly low standards that we mortals have. He had a higher IQ for golf than most of the people writing about it.”

Cole has many great memories from all those golf majors he covered, but says Tiger Woods’ first and last major wins are among the most memorable.

“I think it was my fourth or fifth Masters when Tiger won in 1997 and just blew away the field,” Cole says. “I think he shot 40 on the front nine the first day and we were going, oh dear, and then he shot 30 on the back or something and was off to the races. And then his last major —  I hope it’s not his last, but it might be — the one he won at Torrey Pines (in 2008) on one leg. Those two bookends to his majors career were pretty damn special to watch.”

Cam Cole at Augusta National

Cole also mentions the last Open Championship he covered in 2016 when Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson staged their epic duel at Royal Troon in Scotland.

“I thought was the greatest golf I had ever seen between two guys,” he says.

But Cole says the best memory of his time spent covering golf came in Kelowna, now his home, when he caddied for Jack Nicklaus at the official opening of The Bear Course at Okanagan Golf Club.

“That,” he says, “was pretty special.”

Cam Cole and Dave Perkins

So was the fact that Cole got to play several of the major venues he covered. His name was drawn three times to play Augusta National on the Monday morning following the tournament.

Cole hasn’t missed writing as much as he thought he might.

“I haven’t and that shocks me a bit. But I think it’s just that in the last two or three years with shrinking staffs, a lot of the fun kind of went out of the newspaper game towards the end .

I have had a few opportunities to write this or that, but just haven’t been moved to do it.”

Watching those majors at home on TV also hasn’t been as difficult as Cole thought it might be.

“I am a little bit wistful sometimes. Last year, I would have loved to have been there to watch Sergio (Garcia) win the Masters because he has been such a story through the years, but you know, in general, I just love watching golf and to be honest when you are at a major probably half the time you are sitting in front of a TV monitor anyway while you are writing. It’s not like you have never seen it before on TV. It’s kind of nice to just sit back in the living room with a beer at my elbow and watch these things.”

Cole will miss not being at Carnoustie for this summer’s Open Championship, but he will be there to visit a friend in June.

He and his wife Jan are taking a three-week driving trip through Northern Ireland, Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland. And yes, some golf will be played.

They plan to play, among others, Rory McIlroy’s old home course, Holywood, in Northern Ireland.

“I wanted to play courses I have never played before for the most part,” says Cole, who figures he has teed it up at more than 100 courses in Britain.

Cole is no stranger to receiving recognition for his work. Last fall, he was inducted into the media wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame and he is a two-time recipient of the Sport Media Canada Award for Outstanding Sports Writing.  Cole says he never feels completely worthy of the accolades.

“As a general sports columnist, every time you get nominated for something like this for a specific sport you never feel like you deserve it. A golf recognition for me is like, really? What did I ever contribute to golf? I am way more of a taker than a giver of this game. It has been really good to me. But it’s a really nice surprise and a really great honour.”

OTTAWA, Ont. – On a day that was perfect to play golf, Canada’s golf industry was on Parliament Hill touting the benefits of the sport to nearly 70 members of parliament and a handful of Canada’s senators as well.

It was the first year the National Allied Golf Associations (composed of Golf Canada, the PGA of Canada, the National Golf Course Owners Association, the Canadian Society of Club Managers, and the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association) decided to change their outward marketing approach to align with the American golf industry associations.

NAGA, as its known, will remain the administrative name for the body of industry associations, but moving forward the brand will be called ‘We Are Golf.’

We Are Golf set up a junior golf clinic on Parliament Hill in concert with Golf in Schools, and welcomed nearly 100 students from Carson Grove Elementary School on Tuesday, many of whom had never played golf before.

“What’s been amazing is that we’ve been able to get the word out about We Are Golf,” said Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum, who has just recently celebrated one year at the helm of Golf Canada.

From left to right: Charlie Beaulieu (Vice President, Golf Canada), Leslie Dunning (President, Golf Canada), Laurence Applebaum (CEO, Golf Canada), Patrick Kelly (President, B.C. Golf)

The objective of the day was to continue to grow awareness of golf in the country’s decision makers, as leaders from each of the respective organizations had a day chalk-full of meetings on Parliament Hill with MPs from across the country.

Jeff Calderwood, the CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association and chair of NAGA, said one of the main objectives of the day was based on how many people the organization got to meet with, and he said they ended up exceeded that number.

“It’s up to us to tell the story about golf and let the nearly 70 MPs and the few senators know all about what the golf industry is really about. Without that, you’re susceptible to politicians just seeing this as a game,” said Calderwood. “It could be a great game, and a game more people could play than any other sport, but if you need to go beyond that and give them the rest of the story. That’s when they start to treat you the way you need to be treated to have a fair outcome on anything environmental, tax-related, or funding-related.”

Calderwood said a key message would be around how golf is a vital industry in almost every community in Canada. Well north of 75 percent of all communities (or ‘ridings,’ in political vernacular) have a golf course – save for downtown ridings like Toronto Centre or Ottawa Centre, for example – and even the ones that don’t are only 10 minutes away from the nearest course, said Calderwood.

This past election was a first for Calderwood, he said, as more than 200 MPs that came into the legislature were first-timers. He admitted Tuesday that with the next election only 18 months away, there would be a lot of education for the new MPs on the golf industry – its economic benefits, its environmental benefits, and more.

“It never ends,” he said. “This time they had 200 new members of parliament, which is an unusually big turnover. You start back at ground zero with their awareness of the golf industry, but the education needs to be a perpetual thing. This gives us a chance to highlight (golf) early in the year and sync up with National Golf Day in the U.S.”

Unlike Calderwood, this was Applebaum’s first time on Parliament Hill lobbying on behalf of the golf industry.

He said the day was a positive one, and he was impressed to see how many rookie MPs play golf, along with their families. Specifically he was happy to hear from MP Roger Cuzner from Cape Breton-Canso, who has seen millions of tourism dollars flood the island thanks to the worldwide success of Cabot Links, Cabot Cliffs, and Highlands Links.

Scenes from National Golf Day on Parliament Hill ??⛳️#CanadaGolfDay#WeAreCanadianGolf pic.twitter.com/KS4VoolZwB

— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) May 29, 2018

Getting the message out about golf’s positives was key, said Applebaum, speaking specifically to its impact on Canada’s GDP ($15 billion) and employment (more than 300,000 across the country).

While in past years NAGA was on Parliament Hill lobbying for tax fairness for the golf industry – to allow people to claim a round of golf on their taxes in terms of entertainment as a bonafide business expense – that wasn’t on the agenda Tuesday.

Applebaum said that is still an “important issue” as an industry, but instead the day in Ottawa was more for “advocacy, information, and sharing.”

“We’re not here for an ask. We’re just here to let the MPs know how active their constituents are with golf, and down the road we’ll address the tax issue,” he explained.

Moving forward, Applebaum is hopeful that National Golf Day results in more awareness, and maybe even days off for people to go play golf. But he would say the first iteration was a success.

“We’ve gotten together as an industry, which we don’t always do so well, and we’ve been able to get our voice heard,” he said. “That makes for a really nice day for us.”

OTTAWA – Today, to mark Canada’s first annual National Golf Day, Canadians are invited to take a swing on Parliament Hill with a number of We Are Golf interactive golf activities. As well, PGA of Canada professionals will be on hand to provide golf tips and share their enthusiasm for the game with golfers and Ottawa-area school students.

The event is aimed at raising awareness among the public and government decision-makers on the many positive health, economic, social, environmental and charitable impacts of the golf industry across Canada.

“Golf is a game for everyone. And not only do more Canadians play golf than any other participation sport, our industry also drives more economic impact, employment and charity fundraising,” said Jeff Calderwood, We Are Golf Chair. “So we want to celebrate the golf onNational Golf Day and we invite Canadians to join us on Parliament Hill to talk golf and take a few swings.”

The conversations will include the healthy fitness benefits of the sport, with a typical 18-hole round being an eight to ten- kilometer walk that burns up to 2000 calories. And the environmental stewardship of golf preserving over 175,000 hectares of green space managed by over 2300 golf course operators, including 30,000 hectares of unmanaged wildlife habitat.

The Canadian #golf industry is excited to get underway with today’s National Golf Day on Parliament Hill! ⛳️?? #CanadaGolfDay #WeAreCanadianGolf

Read more ➡️ https://t.co/Wn3bn4DdD1 pic.twitter.com/FXPfxSpd27

— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) May 29, 2018

There will also be an emphasis on junior golf, noting that golf develops important life skills for children of all ages. Programs like Adopt A School and Take A Kid To The Course will be promoted on the front lawn during National Golf Day. Thirty-seven percent of the 126,000 Canadians employed by golf are also youth students.

Since golf is not only a great game, but also a highly developed industry, the economic impact generated is substantial and leads all other participation sports in Canada. Golf’s $14.3 billion annual direct GDP includes tourism benefits exceeding one million overnight trips by Canadian golfers, creating spending of $2.5 billion annually on golf travel within Canada. Foreign visiting golfers spend an additional $1.6 billion on golf related travel each year.

“We are looking forward to welcoming golf enthusiasts, area residents and students out to the We Are Golf activities on the front lawn of Parliament to learn about all the many ways that the golf experience contributes to life in Canada,” added Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum. “There are so many meaningful benefits that golf delivers in communities from coast to coast and it will be exciting to share those insights on National Golf Day.”

Golf activities are available on the front lawn of Parliament Hill from 9 am to 5 pm, May 29, 2018.

The Great Canadian East-West Contest is back for 2018, giving one lucky draw winner the golf trip of a lifetime to one of Canada’s most renowned golf courses. This year will include an all-expenses-paid trip for two to either Bear Mountain Golf & Country Club in B.C., or Kingswood Golf & Country Club in N.B.

The winner is drawn from all score entries posted by Golf Canada members from April 1 – Oct. 31, 2018. Each additional score posted counts for an additional entry. In addition to the golf, the winner will receive:

• Two nights accommodation at hotel near chosen golf course
• Round trip airfare (with either Delta or WestJet)
• Three-day car rental (with National/Enterprise)
• One hour lesson and one round of golf with the PGA of Canada professional
• $500 spending money

In 2017, the Great Canadian East-West Contest came to an end Oct. 31, with North Vancouver’s Patrick Lloyd winning the draw amongst over 7 million scores posted by Golf Canada members.

As the winner, Lloyd was given the choice of a golf vacation for two in 2018 to the Fairmont Chateau Whistler Golf Club (also in B.C.) or The Links at Crowbush Cove in Morell, P.E.I.

Lloyd, a member of Seymour Golf & Country Club in North Vancouver, B.C., will head east to Crowbush Cove alongside wife Linda this summer.

Click here for contest details.

OTTAWA – Today, Canada’s national golf industry associations announced the first annual National Golf Day, May 29, an event aimed at raising awareness to the public and government decision makers on the many positive impacts of the golf industry.

“More Canadians play golf than any other participation sport and our industry is #1 in driving economic impact, employment and charity fundraising,” said Jeff Calderwood, National Allied Golf Associations (NAGA) and We Are Golf Chair. “Combined with golf’s diversity, healthy fitness benefits and environmental stewardship, we really do have such a positive message to communicate.”

National Golf Day provides the opportunity for Canada’s golf industry leaders to discuss these wide-reaching benefits of the sport directly with MPs, Senators and policy advisors at Parliament Hill. A May 28 evening reception will also be held in Centre Block, and NAGA will be hosting a day of interactive golf activities on the front lawn where MPs and visitors will be able to participate. This day of outdoor golf activities will include a focus on junior golf.

“We are really looking forward to our time in Ottawa and expect that government officials from all parties will be impressed to learn about all the ways golf contributes in virtually every riding throughout Canada,” added Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum. “There are so many meaningful benefits that golf delivers in communities from coast to coast and it will be great to share all those insights on National Golf Day.”

Golf courses and all related stakeholders throughout Canada are encouraged to promote the same positive messages. NAGA will provide shareable social content.

NAGA is also announcing a rebranding of its public facing name to We Are Golf. This aligns with the same brand name used by the American golf industry for allied association activities such as National Golf Day. NAGA does carry on as the administrative body but will use the We Are Golf brand for all public communications.

Please watch for additional We Are Golf and National Golf Day communications over the coming weeks as we lead up to the May 29 event itself.

For more information on We Are Golf, visit wearegolf.ca  

Due to extenuating circumstances, the U.S. Open Local Qualifier previously scheduled at Beacon Hall Golf Club will be changing courses. The US Open Local Qualifier will now take place at Weston Golf & Country Club in Toronto, Ontario, on Monday, May 7.

Beacon Hall has experienced winter damage to several of their greens. The cold and windy conditions over the winter, coupled with the extended snow and ice that accumulated in recent weeks, has jeopardized the world-class playing conditions we are accustomed to at Beacon Hall.

This decision was not taken lightly as Beacon Hall has been a great partner to Golf Canada and we look forward to the club hosting another competition in the future.  We feel that this is the right decision to alleviate any pressure on Beacon Hall and maintain the integrity of the Local Qualifier for the U.S. Open.

We are fortunate to have the storied Weston Golf & Country Club accommodate this year’s U.S. Open Local Qualifier on short notice. Weston is consistently recognized as one of the premier courses in Canada and has hosted many prominent events including the RBC Canadian Open in 1955 which was Arnold Palmer’s first career PGA Tour victory. Recently they hosted the 111th Canadian Men’s Amateur and later this summer they will be hosting a U.S. Women’s Amateur Qualifier.

We hope that competitors can appreciate this decision and we apologize for any related inconvenience. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Adam Helmer at ahelmer@golfcanada.ca or by phone at (416) 450-6374.

Please contact the Weston Golf & Country Club Pro Shop at (416) 241-8538 to book a practice round between Wednesday, May 2 and Sunday, May 6.

Kris Jonasson is many things. All of them good, although I can’t speak to his golf game.

Blunt is one of those admirable qualities.

When asked about the push for inclusivity in golf, he summarized it thusly:

“Golf has bucked a bad reputation forever. Some of it is justified. We need to be a game for all of the people, not just rich white men.”

Since 1996, Jonasson has run British Columbia Golf, that province’s amateur association. In 2004, he led the successful movement to meld the separate men’s and women’s amateur associations into one entity.

Men and women were one thing. But the new reality of cultural diversity is another altogether.

“A few years ago, we looked at who was playing in our provincial competitions. There were Asians, South Asians, Aboriginals, athletes from all different backgrounds,” Jonasson recalled.

“And then we looked at our Board of Directors. No way did that reflect that diversity.”

After a period of adjustment, the executive of British Columbia Golf embraced that cultural diversity, most recently exemplified by the election of President Patrick Kelly, an Aboriginal. Other current Board members include a golf professional of Korean heritage and a Chinese golf facility operator.

“The continued future of the game depends on how we share it with every community,” said Jonasson.

Eventually, he hopes, “it would be great if through this outreach we see young people of all backgrounds fall in love with the game, play it forever, and maybe even make it their career, and then pass it on to the next generation.”

Echoing that reality, Leslie Dunning, named Golf Canada president last month, headed an industry-wide working group that established a ground-breaking initiative, the “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy.”

Revealed in December, the preamble to the document says the association “embraces an environment where equity, diversity and inclusion are cultural norms and where all individuals, regardless of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, record of offences, marital status, family status, or disability, are respected and valued.

“Golf Canada seeks to create welcoming environments that encourage and support engagement in the sport of golf so that Golf Canada better reflects the rich diversity of Canada in all aspects of our organization.”

The 12-person group that Dunning headed included men and women, volunteers and staff, Golf Canada and provincial association representatives, PGA of Canada professionals and golf course owners.

“The members worked in duos, each researching one of the priority groups that we wanted to learn about with regards to existing golf initiatives with women, visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, LGTBQ2+, golfers with a disability, socio-economic and juniors,” said Dunning.

In addition to this research, three of the group’s members, Dunning, Liz Hoffman and Sue Vail, focussed on the development of Golf Canada’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy. The rigorous process involved researching what golf, sport and other organizations had in place.

Oftentimes, a policy is no more than a piece of paper, a wish list, at worst politically correct pap.

But Dunning is determined that this will be the exception.

“We’ve asked the provincial associations to adopt, adapt or develop a similar policy. We will be monitoring this in the months ahead.”

When accepting the Golf Canada presidency last month, Dunning voiced her commitment.

“There is tremendous diversity among golfers and there are numerous diverse groups that have organized themselves to play golf. We want to engage with these groups, learn what they are doing, how we might support them and what we might do together.”

“As we identify these groups, we will reach out to build relationships with them, helping us to understand their needs and interests.  It is our aim to create greater relevancy to more golfers and ensure welcoming environments for all.”

If you’re writing off the World Scientific Congress of Golf (WSCG) as a biennial conclave of pointy-headed boffins, don’t be too hasty.

While the “trickle-down theory” may be controversial in economics, it is incontrovertible when it comes to the impact of high-level research on all aspects of the sport as we now know it.

“Much of what we do as golfers, from how we swing to the equipment we use to the training and practice habits we employ and so on, has been born from great research,” says Glenn Cundari.

Cundari, the PGA of Canada’s Technical Director, is the chair of this year’s World Scientific Congress of Golf to be held July 11-13 at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C. He attended his first WSCG in Australia in 2014 and two years later at St Andrews, Scotland, he got approval to bring the prestigious gathering to Canada for the first time.

The first WSGC was held at St Andrews in 1990 with the goal of bringing together “researchers, professionals and interested golfers in the areas of The Golfer, The Golf Course, and Equipment and Technology,” according to the organization’s website www.golfscience.org.

“The research, keynote and invited presentations, workshops and distinguished speakers’ forum are designed to represent innovative and diverse topics in the game of golf… Presenters come from all over the world to share their expertise and provide a platform for discussion to further our knowledge in the game of golf.”

While acknowledging that research into all aspects of golf is widespread, Cundari speaks of the WSCG as the Super Bowl of golf research. The committee reviewing prospective presenters received scores of research abstracts to winnow through. The successful applicants will be announced shortly as will the event’s agenda.

Cundari is optimistic that the result will be a tremendous learning opportunity not just for those involved in golf research but for PGA and LPGA professionals, especially those involved in teaching and coaching. “Much of the emphasis is on teaching and learning so we hope that this Congress will have a wide appeal to the overall golf community.”

For more information or to register, visit the website or contact Cundari at 705-492-2152 or email wscg2018@gmail.com.