A safe space for Canadian athletes and kids who participate in sport has been a long time coming.

That was part of Minister of Science and Sport Kirsty Duncan’s message in announcing both an investigation unit and a toll-free confidential helpline on Wednesday, major measures in an effort to combat harassment and abuse in sport.

“This was Week 1 my priority, as an athlete, coach, and judge all my life,” Duncan told The Canadian Press. “When you train athletes your No. 1 job is to protect their health and safety. It’s your No. 1 job.

“So when I came into the role, I wanted to put our athletes at the centre of everything we do. And I knew we needed to help our athletes from the beginning – that there be a confidential safe place where they could go.”

The investigation unit is an arm’s-length, third-party program set up through the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada, an independent organization that already functions in helping resolve disputes in the national sport community. Canadian sport organizations can access the unit for independent investigations on reports of harassment, abuse or discrimination in sport.

The helpline – 1-888-83SPORT (77678) – is for victims and witnesses of harassment, abuse or discrimination. The line, which is already up and running, will be staffed by counsellors, psychologists and psychotherapists, seven days a week, 12 hours a day.

“I have been clear there can be bystander effect. If you see a child being hurt or harmed, it’s all of our jobs to speak up,” Duncan said. “So having this confidential phone line where you can report cases, they are professionally trained people . . . who will listen. It’s safe, confidential, in both official languages, and they will say where you can go next, whether it’s to the police, whether it’s to child protection services, it’s to provincial or territorial resources, but you will actually have someone say ‘This is where you go next.”’

Wednesday’s announcement is the latest move by Duncan, who appointed a working group on gender equity to study issues such as sexual abuse and harassment after she was appointed sport minister in January of 2018. The government also recently partnered with Canadian athletes rights group AthletesCan for a study on abuse and discrimination and sport.

Duncan also unveiled a gender equity secretariat and a code of conduct – “which has never existed” – is being written that can be used in sports of all levels.

“This is so important to me that we get this right,” Duncan said. “We’ve got to do this for our athletes and our children.”

Canadian sports groups applauded Duncan’s efforts on Wednesday.

“Minister Duncan is dedicated to improving safe sport and is making serious, deliberate investments, not just words but actions,” Swimming Canada CEO Ahmed El-Awadi said in a statement. “These are impressive initiatives and the whole sport system will be safer as a result of her efforts.”

Canadian Paralympic Committee president Marc-Andre Fabien said: “These new processes are critical towards combating harassment, abuse, and discrimination in sport.”

There have been several high-profile sexual assault and harassment stories recently in Canadian sport. In June, Allison Forsyth was among several former members of Canada’s ski team who spoke publicly about the abuse suffered at the hands of former coach Bertrand Charest in the 1990s. Charest was convicted last year of 37 offences of sexual assault and exploitation.

“As a victim of sexual abuse, I am extremely encouraged by these two new programs,” Forsyth said in a statement Wednesday. “It is critical that our sport system has a safe place for athletes to report instances of abuse and an ethical and legal investigation process. These is a strong sense of urgency to take action. We are not seeking perfection; we are seeking progress to ensure a safe, healthy sport environment for all athletes in Canada.”

Safe sport had been governed through the Sport Canada Accountability Framework since it was implemented in 1996 in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal involving former junior hockey coach Graham James. National sport organizations were required to have a safe sport policy – and a designated individual to handle complaints – in place to receive government funding.

But there had been major inconsistencies in how it was applied, and in recently months, and in light of a handful of high-profile cases in Canada, athletes and administrators – including Olympic wrestling champion Erica Wiebe and Sheldon Kennedy, a retired NHL player and sex abuse victim – publicly called for an independent party to handle cases.

Story courtesy Canadian Press

Students and physical education teachers in several Saskatoon schools are getting into golf thanks to the ‘Golf in School (GIS)’ program offered by Golf Saskatchewan.

Indoor golf kits are available for gym class teachers across Saskatchewan, the kits come with a cost but grants and sponsorships are available for interested educators. Saskatoon’s Sutherland School phys. ed. teacher Jennifer Buettner has had a GIS at every school she’s worked at over a ten year career. She said the kit is fantastic for her courses.

“Physical education teachers need to offer a variety of activities, not just the typical sport model. We need to teach our students to be life-long, active movers therefore we need to offer a variety of activities. When the GIS was in my equipment room I was quick to use it. I am a golfer so it helps with my confidence to pick up a kit and know what to do with it,” she said.

The kits include indoor based clubs and balls. Golf Saskatchewan professional Steve Ryde is delivering kits to several schools. Buettner said Ryde’s interaction is fantastic.

“Anytime somebody new comes in the students are that much more eager to learn from them and seeing what they are engaged with in their love. I’m passionate about physical education but when some can come in and is passionate about their area or passion it shines through and Steve did that,” she said.

Buettner couldn’t explain how the GIS kit was incorporated into her current school inventory but she has always had it at her disposal over a ten-year teaching career. She said teachers need to dig into the GIS program.

“Go to your principal or find a grant to try and get kids into their programs. The more that students are outside and engaged in outdoor activities in golf it’s worth it. Find the means to get these kits in schools and get kids active in outdoor activities,” she said.

Call Ryde at 306.975.0834 for more information on the GIS program.

Yorkton’s Kade Johnson has his first college golf victory.

The reigning Saskatchewan men’s amateur champion overtook fellow Saskatchewanian and Southern Arkansas University teammate Roman Timmerman on Tuesday to win the 36-hole event by four shots over Zach James of SE Oklahoma State. Johnson said the win has been a long time coming.

“It feels amazing, it’s something I’ve been working towards for a long time,” he told Golf Saskatchewan. “I’ve been close a few times and learning over the past couple years what it takes to win at this next level. To finally get it done against a really good field feels awesome.”

Timmerman was leading after round one with a one-under, 71, but Johnson battled back from third place with a final round minus-two, 70, for the win. Johnson said his familiarity with the course helped him get over the hump and collect his first win.

“I’ve played there a bunch, I’ve played home tournaments at Deer Park (in Yorkton) and I’ve learned a lot from playing home courses. Just go out there and play like it’s any other day and if I play well, I play well. I felt comfortable, it’s a tough course but I knew if I made a couple bad numbers I could turn it around but I got off to a great start. I made a few birdies early on, kept the momentum going and made a birdie on my third last hole and calmly closed it out. It was very exciting,” Johnson said.

The tournament was also the second straight team victory for Southern Arkansas. The Muleriders on the strength of Johnson’s and Timmerman’s top-three finishes held off Henderson State by three strokes. Johnson said as a team they are improving and climbing the national rankings.

“We went to Georgia two weeks ago and won, we were like, let’s go. Our home tournament, we had extra pressure to win and to go out and get it done, it was awesome. Moving from 110^th in the country, last rankings we were 29^th. Rankings come out Tuesday night so a chance to break into the top 20 is incredible,” he said.

The team will head to Oklahoma for an event Sunday. They return to Arkansas for another home state event following that. The conference championship is scheduled within the next month.

As the weather finally turns to spring-like conditions in Saskatchewan golf moves closer to the forefront of people’s minds. Part of that is looking forward to the Masters in Augusta, Georgia.

The Rotary Club of Saskatoon has added some fun to the annual major with a fundraising pool that’s been in operation for over a decade in partnership with Golf Saskatchewan. Although not the organization’s largest fundraiser the pool does bring in about $5,000 of profit per year. Past president of the Saskatoon Rotary Club, Dave Sundby said the group has used the funds to give back to several initiatives.

“We give $1,500 to SaskPolytech every year and they use it for bursaries for students,” Sundby told Golf Saskatchewan. “The other one we spend a lot of money on is a big project we call the ‘Restorative Action Program’ or ‘RAP’ which is in nine high schools in Saskatoon. We’ve put a restorative action worker in each one of those schools. The police service likes it because we keep people out of the system. We teach them how to resolve conflicts without getting into trouble with the law.”

Sundby said they have assistance from the school boards, provincial and municipal governments and other partners to fund the RAP program. The Rotary Club likes to be involved in other school actions as well he said.

“We bought a stove for Westmount Community School a couple years ago so they can feed children that come to school hungry. They were using a household type stove that was falling apart. We bought them a nice commercial stove and the lady who does that there says it’s so much easier. We do other things like that at schools around the city,” Sundby said.

The Saskatchewan Golf Association, at the time of the pool’s inception was called upon to help orchestrate the format and decide how the prize winners would be decided. For the Association’s efforts 20 per cent of the proceeds were distributed back into their organization. The money was allocated for junior golf programs and is this the mandate today. Executive Director Brian Lee said the partnership is fantastic and Golf Saskatchewan appreciates golf being used in fundraising efforts.

“Our association has been involved for about a decade and we are happy to partner with groups in any way to promote golf and raise money for beneficial programs. The Rotary Club of Saskatoon does great work in the city of Saskatoon and across the globe and we’re pleased to have a small involvement of their charitable work,” Lee said.

Entry forms are available at www.saskatoonrotary.org or download it from our website. Participants choose a team of 10 golfers from the list to win the most money during the April tournament. Entry forms can be downloaded then mailed with a cheque, faxed with credit card information through the Saskatchewan Lotteries secure fax machine, or via our form and submit electronically. Each entry is $25. The deadline to register your team is April 10. The grand prize is $5,000. Second place will receive $1,000, third place is worth $500, and the next five leaders will win $100.

Patrick Reed is the defending Masters champion.

For the past decade Blair Armitage has been Golf Canada’s voice of reason for member clubs and players across Western Canada.

With plenty of course management experience in both Ontario and British Columbia the national governing body of golf called upon Armitage to help rebrand their image and be the face for Golf Canada from B.C. to Manitoba. Known as the Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA) just over ten years ago, everyday Canadians didn’t understand what the organization did, or that it even existed. That’s when Armitage came on as one of Golf Canada’s regional directors. In fact, Golf Canada was more recognizable to people than the RCGA and the organization hadn’t been incorporated yet, so Armitage said a rebranding was necessary and his employment with Golf Canada began.

“We decided then and there that we would get heavily involved in starting a communication effort with our various facilities,” he said.

Armitage travels to golf clubs across the four western provinces speaking with managers providing updates on what Golf Canada memberships do for both facilities and golfers. He will be in Saskatchewan in the first week of April and will see about six member clubs and six clubs that have since left the Golf Canada membership family for various reasons. Armitage said clubs can reach out to him for more details on Golf Canada benefits.

“It usually happens when there has been an issue. Generally, the issues we experience come about because there’s been some miscommunication or the facility is having technical difficulties with our score posting or access to the score centre. If they have difficulties they go online, have a look at who’s who, up pops my name and I will get a call,” he explained.

Armitage said about 10 to 12 years ago lots of clubs left the organization, mostly due to financial reasons. He’s working hard to redevelop those relationships. He said Golf Canada has increased their value with hopes of providing more value for member clubs.

“We’ve improved the value of being involved with Golf Canada over the past decade. There are more things for both the facility and the average golfer in terms of what we call the benefit package,” he said.

When Armitage speaks to golf course management, he has a trio of items he brings to their attention. He seeks clubs that haven’t had a visit from either a Golf Canada or Golf Saskatchewan representative in some time. Armitage likes to speak with the course manager and golfers at the facility, he said he focuses on facilities left the membership and he works to get regular golfers to be members of Golf Canada. One way to do so is advertising their “incident protection plan.”

“We provide a reimbursement program for people if they lose their clubs, have them damaged or stolen or whatever anywhere in the world, not at their golf club but anywhere in the world. It could be in Africa, the airplane lost them, they can file for a reimbursement up to $2,500,” Armitage said.

The benefit package includes what Golf Canada calls “bad shot insurance” too. Up to $2,500 in damage is covered for broken windows on homes or vehicles at the course. Golf cart damage is also covered through the program. For more details see our membership page.

You can hear more from Armitage below who joined Golf Saskatchewan’s Clark Stork ahead of his first Saskatchewan visit of 2019.

Always check your yardage. Golfers who compete at the highest level, value their yardage guide as critical to performance—a roadmap for collaboration that fosters fact-based decision-making in the moments when execution matters most. Developed through meaningful consultation with our provincial, national and international partners, Golf Canada’s 2019–2022 Strategic Plan is our yardage guide—a roadmap for operational, competitive and commercial success that outlines the most critical priorities of our business.

Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum officially kicked off the Annual Meeting with a presentation on Golf Canada’s new Strategic Plan, a foundational framework built through collaboration that when executed with precision will advance the sport and drive Golf Canada’s vision to be a world leader in golf.

Starting in 1909, March 8 has been viewed as a day to honour and celebrate women. Today the date has become known as International Women’s Day.

Saskatchewan and golf have reasons to recognize the day as well, not just today but 365 days a year. Last year Golf Saskatchewan hosted the 100th Saskatchewan Amateur Women’s Championship that Carla Odnokon won. There’s only one, 100th champion.

How can the day not bring to light the accomplishments of perhaps the province’s greatest female golfer, Regina’s Joanne Goulet?

Goulet is one of a dozen women in the Golf Saskatchewan Hall of Fame inducted as individuals. The 1985 and 1990 Saskatchewan Senior Women’s teams that included Goulet are also enshrined.

Goulet joins Gayle Borthwick, Lorie Boyle, Wenda Coley, Barbara Danaher, Margaret Elliot, Nancy Harvey, Dana Kidd, Pat Lawson, Mabel Palko, Geri Street, and Barb Wilson. You can read about all of their accomplishments here.

Golf Saskatchewan also wants to celebrate, and thank our countless women volunteers, board members and staff, not only present but past and future as well.

In August in Regina the CP Women’s Open welcomed the world’s best female golfers to the Wascana Country Club for the LPGA event, the first time the tour has visited the province.

History was made when Brooke Henderson became the first Canadian to win on home soil since 1973, nearly 50,000 spectators took in the championship making the event one of the most attended in tournament history. However, none of this would be possible without the over 1,100 volunteers that gave up a week of their short Saskatchewan summer to be a part of history. Bernadette McIntyre is a long-time volunteer in the province mostly for curling events, but she wanted to be involved in the Open along with her co-chair Karen Pasterfield. The two Regina women have worked together for years chairing events including Briers, the Memorial Cup and Grey Cups. McIntyre said they had plenty of help among the different areas of volunteering.

“The co-chairs of each of the committees we had were fabulous,” she said. “Everybody stepped up and did an amazing job.”

The largest group of volunteers needed was marshaling, 500 people performed those tasks through out the event. Both scoring and transportation needed over 120 people involved and other committees varied from six to 60. Security, golf carts, hospitality, sales, practice facility, 50/50 sales, and other committees were all coordinated with rousing success for the six-day event. McIntyre said the hours were long and the work was tiring for everyone involved but the response from the volunteers was overwhelming.

“Golf Canada does a survey of the volunteers after, I believe it was a 94 per cent satisfaction rate. They said that was one of the highest they’ve had for volunteers working the CP Women’s Open,” McIntyre said.

Rounding up over 1,100 volunteers took a little longer than more familiar events the city and province have hosted. Asking residents to take a week of their already short summer is harder to do than getting people to sign up to help put on a Grey Cup in November or the Brier in March but McIntyre said Saskatchewan stepped up and once again showcased prairie pride.

“Lots of them took holidays, gave up a week of their summer time to be part of this, that’s phenomenal. In the winter we need something to do to get us through, we have beautiful summers here in Saskatchewan and these people came and worked their hearts out and really had a good time,” she said.

Aside from McIntyre’s relatively minimal experience in the game of golf, she admitted there was some nervousness leading up to the opening round of competition. She said once the gate opened on the first day of competition the sight took the nerves away.

“When the gates opened on Thursday morning and people started streaming in, we were like, they are going to come, they are going to come. You do all that that work, and you hope people will come,” she beamed.

Volunteers are the heart & soul of any event!

Today (Wed., Dec. 5th) is #InternationalVolunteerDay – and we'd like to celebrate and thank our #CPWO volunteers. Our event would not be possible without you.

Learn more about joining our volunteer team at https://t.co/K2NFOMncxZ pic.twitter.com/2jfgchmRmp

— CPKC Women's Open (@cpkcwomensopen) December 5, 2018

McIntyre focused her efforts towards the areas of the volunteers that all events need such as security, transportation, communications, and safety. Pasterfield is a member of the Wascana Country Club and an avid golfer. Her role was focused more on golf and the tournament play including looking over the 500 marshals and 150 people at scoring tents across the grounds. Giving back to the Wascana was part of her mandate but she said being part of any major event is a special feeling.

“When something of this magnitude came with golf it was a no-brainer,” Pasterfield said. “We wanted to get involved and not only show off the Wascana and Regina but Saskatchewan. As a volunteer that’s always your main focus.”

Pasterfield has experience volunteering at PGA Champions Tour events in Hawaii where she spends parts of the year, so her expertise was a great fit during the LPGA event. One worry with a golf tournament rather than a football game or a curling bonspiel is dealing with weather. Pasterfield said they needed cooperation for about a year leading up to the event and the Wascana didn’t get it.

“We depended on Mother Nature to behave for a year, not just the week of the event and she didn’t,” she said. “We had to almost rebuild the Wascana as a result of a ridiculous winter. It was much more challenging when you have no control of the conditions.”

The players did play “preferred lies” during the tournament but overall the course conditions did rebound. Prairie winds rolled in through out the 72-hole tournament as well providing a challenge to the professionals.

Pasterfield said the course will always have the history behind it now that Henderson was the winner, but a new generation of golfers could spawn through both the volunteers and the spectators, especially kids.

“We had a wonderful program, ‘Brooke’s Brigade’ that was sponsored by Golf Town that brought junior golfers out in droves. You’d see these little monkeys walking around the course following Brooke in their t-shirts. The pros during the Pro-Am had the juniors play with them on a hole and they got to putt out, so it really opened the eyes to junior golfers for sure. It introduced golf of that caliber to certainly the citizens of Regina and the province,” she said.

Souvenir sales were three times higher during the Regina based event, the $2 million charitable goal set by CP was reached before the event was over, the cheque presentation was made on championship Sunday. Pasterfield said those highlights perked the ears of Golf Canada and the event could very well make its way back to our province.

“They just didn’t understand how big an event like this is supported by the local people. It all spoke volumes about them coming back to Saskatchewan. They will be back,” Pasterfield vowed.

The volunteers were not only Saskatchewan and Regina based. Pasterfield credited other southern Saskatchewan golf clubs for stepping up, she said people from all the western provinces volunteered, yearly volunteers from across Canada were involved and people from both the Dakotas traveled north of the border to lend a hand. Much like McIntyre, the lasting memory Pasterfield said she has is the Thursday morning although she saw it from a television screen.

“We were in a meeting and the Golf Channel came on the TV, not only were we seeing the Wascana featured on the Golf Channel internationally, but the shot was the people coming. It was mind blowing, it was very moving,” she said.

DORVAL, Qué. – Golf Canada’s 2019 Annual Meeting culminated on Saturday, March 2 with the election of Charlie Beaulieu of Lorraine, Qué., to serve as the National Sport Federation’s President.

Beaulieu succeeds 2018 President Leslie Dunning in leading Golf Canada’s Board of Directors. Liz Hoffman of Thornhill, Ont., becomes 1^st Vice-President and Dale Jackson of Victoria assumes the role of 2^nd Vice-President.

“I am honoured to assume this post as the 115^th president of Golf Canada,” said Beaulieu. “There is a great enthusiasm in the game right now and I believe we have a real opportunity to be innovative in how we advance the sport and make the game more accessible. Together with the Board of Directors, I am looking forward to working closely with CEO Laurence Applebaum and our committed staff, volunteers and partners for the betterment of golf in Canada.”

Charlie Beaulieu joined Golf Canada’s Board of Directors in 2011 and has  served the organization on a variety of committees during his tenure. Formerly the President of the Fédération québécoise de golf, he chaired a special taskforce which led to the amalgamation of the Fédération québécoise de golf and Golf Québec. The Québec Golf Federation includes representatives from the golf course owner’s association, the provincial professional golf association, the regional golf associations and amateur golfers, all aligned in promoting the development of the game.

A member of Le Mirage Golf Club, Beaulieu brings more than 30 years of corporate, real estate and entrepreneurial experience across a variety of businesses. Together with his family—through an annual golf tournament held in honour of their late father—he has helped the Roland Beaulieu Foundation, raise over $1.2 M over the past 20 years for various charitable causes in Québec.

Left to right: Leslie Dunning, Charlie Beaulieu, Laurence Applebaum

Beaulieu, Hoffman and Jackson will lead Golf Canada’s 2019 Board of Directors which also includes Rob MacDonald of Winnipeg, Man., David Atkinson of Vancouver, B.C. Susan MacKinnon of Calgary, David McCarthy of Toronto and Adam Daifallah of Montreal as well as new Directors Jean Stone-Seguin of Ottawa and Patrick Kelly of Vancouver. Also remaining on the Board is past President Leslie Dunning of Calgary.

Golf Canada Releases Strategic Plan (2019-2022)

During the Annual Meeting, CEO Laurence Applebaum also presented Golf Canada’s three-year Strategic Plan (2019-2022) to increase Canadian participation and excellence in golf.

Annual Report & Financial Statements

Click here to read Golf Canada’s 2018 Annual Report, which includes a recap of the past season, as well as the organization’s 2018 Financial Statements, which were both released during Golf Canada’s Annual General Meeting.

Raymonde Michaud Honoured with Volunteer of the Year Award
Raymonde Michaud of Rivière-du-Loup, Qué. was recognized as Golf Canada’s 2018 recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award. This marks the 13^th year in which the association has honoured volunteers for their efforts and commitment to grow the game in their community. Click here for more on Volunteer of the Year honouree Raymonde Michaud.

Raymond Gaudet, Daniel Caza and Jean-Claude Gagné honoured as Recipients of Golf Canada’s Distinguished Service Award:
Created in 1993, Golf Canada’s Distinguished Service Award has been presented annually to recognize individuals for their outstanding contributions to the game of golf in Canada. This year’s recipients  respected Québec golf club owner and industry advocate Raymond Gaudet, veteran golf journalist Daniel Caza and long-time volunteer Jean-Claude Gagné. Gaudet, Caza and Gagné were recognized during Golf Canada’s Annual Meeting dinner on Saturday, March 2. Click here for more information on the 2019 Distinguished Service Award honourees.

Images, Panel Sessions & Presentations from Golf Canada’s 2019 Annual Meeting:

A snapshot of photos from Golf Canada’s 2019 Annual Meeting is available here while a link to the various panel sessions and presentations that took place is available here.

Golf Canada’s 2019 Annual Meeting took place February 28 to March 2 at the Montreal Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel in Dorval, Québec.

Leslie Dunning might be expected, as she leaves the presidency of Golf Canada after an eventful year, to focus just on the milestones.

And there were some notable moments, including trophy presentations to the likes of the world’s top-ranked male golfer, Dustin Johnson, at the RBC Canadian Open and, even more memorable, the presentation to Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., who became just the second Canadian to win the CP Women’s Open.

How about the announcement of a new, more preferable date for the 2019 RBC Canadian Open? Seeing a historic modernization of the Rules of Golf come into effect? Or travelling to iconic tournaments such as The Masters and the U.S. Open?

While Dunning acknowledges those were wonderful experiences, she chooses to highlight themes, rather than events. And that should come as no surprise, if you recall her “mantra” when she was elected a year ago.

“I’m trying to make sure that I’m doing something every day to grow the game in Canada,” she told me at that time.

Leslie Dunning looks on during the inaugural CP Women’s Leadership Summit at Hotel Saskatchewan during the week of the 2018 CP Women’s Open

As a result, she harks back to attending historic events such as the inaugural CP Women’s Leadership Summit, the first Women’s Summit hosted by the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada, and others, such as when Golf Canada invited some long-overdue guests to the RBC Canadian Open.

In an effort to “walk the talk” expressed in Golf Canada’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy (the outcome of a task force Dunning spearheaded), representatives of about a dozen golf organizations were invited to Glen Abbey to share information about their organizations and learn about Golf Canada..

“These diverse groups are well-functioning organizations; some have been around for decades,” said Dunning. “They are just a small sample of the many groups of golfers across the country who love the game; but few of them have been engaged as part of Golf Canada.”

“We learned from those first meetings that, just like traditional golf associations and clubs, these groups want to grow their membership, grow the game, have fun and educate players about the Rules so they can maintain good pace of play and accurate handicaps for net competitions.”

Once learning about the benefits of Golf Canada membership, some groups, not already members, committed to join Golf Canada.  As well, a few new governance volunteers were recruited, including one for Golf Canada’s Investment Committee and another for its Human Resources Committee.  Some groups have expressed interest to “adopt” a hole for the RBC Canadian Open or CP Women’s Open.  “It has been an encouraging start and we will continue to work with these groups, and others, to involve them and their members as part of Golf Canada.”

While perhaps not as exciting as meeting DJ and Brooke or walking the hallowed grounds of Augusta National, Dunning’s dedication to staying true to her “mantra” is undoubtedly more impressive and impactful.

To say her calendar was full is an understatement and many of the occasions were focused on expanding diversity and inclusion in golf in Canada. It started with hosting last year’s Golf Canada annual general meeting on the Tsuutina Nation near her home in Calgary where Golf in Schools kits were gifted to the Nation’s elementary and high schools. And the pace seldom slowed.

“I tried my best to do something every day whether it was meeting with organizations, reading to expand my knowledge and understanding, attending events, speaking with people or exchanging information..”

She is optimistic about the commitment to diversity and inclusion by everyone involved in golf in Canada. “We are seeing diversity and inclusion on conference agendas, in magazine articles and in policy and program development.”  Not only did she write an article on equity, diversity and inclusion for the Canadian Society of Club Managers magazine, she also gave a number of interviews and presentations focusing on the topic.

Dunning was gratified, by an article on diversity in golf in a major magazine.  “The writer did a terrific job researching the true diversity that already exists in golf.  It is now up to Golf Canada, other organizations and clubs to ensure that we are as diverse as the golfing public.”

Sandwiched between all this were Golf Canada Board of Directors meetings and other governance responsibilities, something Dunning takes very seriously, especially as she was working with the association’s new CEO, Laurence Applebaum, though his first full year on the job.

“As president, my primary responsibility has been to provide leadership to the Board and to work in partnership with the CEO to prepare for and follow up after Board meetings.”

She says working with Applebaum has been “a real pleasure” and credits “a great and hard-working Board, committed volunteers and talented staff” for their invaluable contributions.

Dunning will hand over the reins to Charlie Beaulieu of Montreal at Golf Canada’s annual general meeting on March 2, 2019 in Montreal.