The staff and crew at the Melville Golf & Country Club is praising the community for the clean up efforts of volunteers this May long weekend.

A rainstorm, that brought freezing temperatures pounded the east-central Saskatchewan region last Thursday night into Friday morning littering the 18-hole golf club with busted trees and branches. Superintendent Carson Dennis said the forecast was originally very welcomed but the drop in degrees was not.

“Honestly, I was excited for the moisture, I think everybody in the province needed it,” he said to Golf Saskatchewan. “I didn’t expect to see what I saw when I got here.”

Trees and branches were scattered all over the course, so a call was put out to the community of just over 4,000 people from Proshop Manager Greg Sastaunik. The result was over 50 people, 14 trucks, eight trailers and countless chainsaws. Dennis said the response was incredible but expected.

“We put the word out to see who could come,” he added. “This is not a one off, anytime we need volunteers they are here but this one is even more special.”

Dennis is in his ninth year at the Melville course, the facility was heavily damaged in a flood in his second year. He said this latest storm was the messiest he has seen the grounds. He praised the membership and attendees for taking their time when they likely had their own concerns with their own properties or homes.

“On a long weekend, the turn out was unbelievable. To see how many people gave up a day of their long weekend to come out here after I’m sure they cleaned their own yards and put in a lot of work at their own home, everyone in town was affected by the storm. It was really special to see everyone come out,” he beamed.

Dennis said there are still a few spots on the course that needs to be tidied up, but the club is ready to welcome golfers again.

Elk Ridge Resort is back to welcoming guests at the northern Saskatchewan facility.

Golf Saskatchewan was invited to the ownerships’ Media Day on May 17 to see the upgrades, take in the gorgeous 27-hole golf course plus enjoy a dinner in the restaurant and spend a night in the lodge.

Director of Operations Ryan Danberg and Head Golf Professional Ryan Wells spoke with media during the day highlighting the newly-purchased property.

Tributes are pouring in across social media this week following the passing of longtime golf professional Bob Pollock.

Pollock was a gifted athlete growing up in Tisdale before relocating to Moose Jaw for work. In 1971 he moved to Swift Current and became the golf professional at Elmwood Golf Course where he held that position for over 20 years. Longtime Elmwood employee Dick Dunlop met Pollock that same year and has been a close friend since. He said Pollock was a huge supporter of junior golf and what is and has taken place over the last half a century in the city and southwest.

“He was very active in the golf profession,” Dunlop told Golf Saskatchewan. “A lot of the kids, like Sheldon (Reinhart) and my son worked for him. Sheldon went up the ranks and all this sort of stuff. Bob was very strong in junior golf; he admired Jeff Chambers and what he’s doing with the juniors. Over the last five or six years when we talked he was always mentioning the junior program. I don’t think a day went by where he didn’t stop by for a coffee in the proshop.”

He also built and became part-owner of the Ross Creek Par 3 Golf Course in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Dunlop added that Pollock’s legacy will live on in the entire area.

“He was very supportive of Elmwood, he headed to Cypress Hills where him and Sharon had a cabin and he was very supportive of golf out there. If you talk to anyone in the area regarding the Cypress Hills Golf Course Bob was there everyday if he wasn’t here at Elmwood,” Dunlop said.

Pollock was 76. You can see his obituary here.

There are big things happening at the Rosetown Golf Club.

Officially opened in 1916 the course has been at its present location since the 1970’s. A large irrigation project was undertaken in the 1990’s and the clubhouse was constructed in 2010 but since then not many significant upgrades have been made to facility, until now.

In 2019 the board met with several golf course design consultants including Dan Philcox and Trevor Dormer and developed a ‘master plan’ for the future of the course. Ryan Wickett is a born and raised Rosetown resident who has played at the course since his junior days. He is now the president of the golf club. He said phase one of their upgrades is complete.

“We looked at a whole bunch of different proposals but what made sense to us was to create two brand new holes on the west end of our property, we had some space down there,” he said. “We created a new par four and a new par three and while we were doing that we dug out a 1.2-million-gallon pond and redid one of our existing par threes. Last year we were down to eight holes but hopefully by mid-June when these greens come around we will be at 11 holes. We used a lot of the dirt that we extracted from the pond to shape this new par four and make sure our drainage is where it needed to be.”

Wickett said the reasoning behind 11 holes is that in future years the course will still have nine in play while upgrading the others. Redoing more holes and constructing a practice green are part of the plans at the club. Wickett added that the course is an important facility for the town and west-central region.

“We want this to be the place in the community that the young people go, the seniors go, the young professionals go hang out. We’ve got our clubhouse in a really good spot this year. The whole community is rallying around it, we’ve had really good financial support from the rural municipalities and businesses. We’ve seen a big uptake with the clubhouse renovations this year already as well,” Wicket explained.

Another positive sign from the Rosetown course is the junior golfers. The club did have a community coach working with younger golfers in the past but that individual has since moved from the town so Golf Saskatchewan’s Manager of Sport Development Steve Ryde is coaching once a week at the club.

“We were looking for someone to run a junior camp for us and Steve has knocked it out of the park,” Wickett beamed. “He’s done an awesome job and he’s really growing the game.”

Ryde travels to Rosetown on Mondays to run the instruction with a couple local volunteers assisting.

Overall Wickett is pleased with the progress at the course. The club will continue to fundraise and phase in upgrades over the next 10 to 12 years. He said with busy weekly leagues and several tournaments planned for the season big things are in the future.

“We’re shooting for the future here and we’ve got a good, strong group that is in it for the long haul. It is a big project and a big endeavor that we’re doing here but we’re trying to get all parts involved and the junior golf is part of that. We feel we have a lot of momentum in Rosetown right now,” Wickett concluded.

TORONTO – Golf Canada and title sponsor RBC in partnership with the PGA TOUR have announced that Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Toronto will join the celebrated host venue rotation for the RBC Canadian Open, with the Stanley Thompson classic confirmed to host Canada’s National Men’s Open Championship in 2023 and 2026.

A 27-hole facility quietly located near the centre of the Greater Toronto Area, Oakdale will challenge the stars of the PGA TOUR as a 7,460-yard composite championship routing that integrates elements from each of the course’s three nines (Thompson, Homenuik, Knudson). 

“Together with our partners at RBC and the PGA TOUR, I am extremely pleased that the membership of Oakdale Golf and Country Club has accepted our invitation to join us in hosting the 2023 and 2026 RBC Canadian Open,” said Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum. “The property is ideally situated in the heart of the GTA and presents the competitive challenge and operational capacity to stage an incredible championship. This is a special moment in Canadian golf as a classic venue emerges to challenge the world’s best golfers and share its history on the global golfing stage.”

When it welcomes the first of two RBC Canadian Opens in 2023, Oakdale will become the 37^th golf course in the 117-year history of the event (and only the seventh since 1977) to host Canada’s National Men’s Open Golf Championship. 

“RBC is proud to be title sponsor of the RBC Canadian Open and it is a special honour to see Oakdale Golf and Country Club take its place alongside the rotation of celebrated venues to host Canada’s National Men’s Open Championship,” said Matt McGlynn, Vice President, Brand Marketing, RBC. “The momentum behind this tournament continues to grow, and there is tremendous enthusiasm to introduce Canadian golf fans and the stars of the PGA TOUR including Team RBC to a great golf course and an exceptional tournament experience.” 

The 2026 RBC Canadian Open will take on additional significance as the championship will coincide with the celebration of Oakdale’s centennial anniversary.

“Oakdale is honoured to be hosting the RBC Canadian Open in 2023, as well as in 2026, a year in which we will celebrate our 100th anniversary,” said Mark Sadowski, President of Oakdale Golf & Country Club. ” We are proud to be opening our doors to the world’s best golfers so they can test themselves against our recently renovated composite golf course designed by Stanley Thompson and Robbie Robinson, two Canadian Golf Hall of Fame members. Working alongside Golf Canada, the PGA TOUR, and RBC, our membership is committed to delivering an incredible tournament experience, engaging the community surrounding the club, as well as welcoming Canada and the world to Oakdale!”

The golf club also holds a unique connection to the PGA TOUR as eight-time PGA TOUR winner George Knudson was a former Oakdale club professional. Fellow Canadian Golf Hall of Fame honoured member Wilf Homenuik has also enjoyed a 30-year teaching tenure as an Oakdale club professional. 

“We’re excited about partnering with RBC, Golf Canada and Oakdale Golf and Country Club for the RBC Canadian Open in 2023 and 2026,” said PGA TOUR President Tyler Dennis. “Oakdale is a hidden gem and players will greatly enjoy the challenge of the facility. And with its centralized location, it will prove to be a perfect venue for the RBC Canadian Open rotation and one that fans of Toronto and Canada will embrace.” 

Next June, Oakdale Golf and Country Club will also play host to the Monday Final Qualifier for the 2022 RBC Canadian Open, which will be contested at St. George’s Golf and Country Club with nearby Islington Golf Club as the official practice facility. 

OAKDALE GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB – A CLASSIC EMERGES….

Oakdale Golf and Country Club is a traditional tree-lined classic parkland style course over tumbling land, quietly situated in a populated urban setting. Formed by members of Toronto’s Jewish community, the golf course was originally designed in 1926 by renowned course architect and Canadian Golf Hall of Fame honoured member Stanley Thompson. An additional nine holes were built soon after and a third nine holes opened in 1957 under the vision of Thompson’s protégé and fellow Canadian Golf Hall of Fame honoured member, Robbie Robinson. In 2018, the golf course underwent a major restoration under the guidance of Ian Andrew to bring consistency across the three nines. The facility is currently in the final stages of its multi-million-dollar renovation and revitalization project to the golf course and clubhouse. 

The Thompson and Homenuik nines make up the original 18 holes created by Stanley Thompson while the Knudson nine reflects the additional work of Robbie Robinson. Smallish greens dominate the Thompson-Homenuik 18, while slightly larger greens are found on the Robinson 9. The ninth hole on Knudson course will be the historic finishing hole for the championship.A practice facility will be built using two existing holes on the property (#1 and #6 on the Thompson nine) while the existing practice range is expected to host a number of event activations. The practice range will be constructed by Ian Andrew who similarly constructed the temporary practice facility at Islington Golf Club which will be part of the 2022 RBC Canadian Open hosted at nearby St. George’s Golf and Country Club.

Golf administrators from across Saskatchewan had a chance to meet, and converse virtually with members of the government’s Business Response Team (BRT) on Friday morning.

The BRT is the group designated to outline Saskatchewan’s re-open plan since the COVID-19 pandemic started last March.

Course operators on the Zoom call asked for clarification on shotgun start formats, restaurant numbers and rules, the future plans for the loosening of restrictions this summer and more.

If you missed the session you can view it below.

The Royal Regina Golf Club (RRGC) has a new general manager. Born-and-raised Reginan Ryan Pollock was announced as the replacement for Brian Dueck this week.

Pollock, 41, has been involved with all sports through out his life in the Queen City and has a Kinesiology degree from the University of Regina with specialization in sports and recreation administration. He started his working career in the Alberta Junior Hockey League where he learned all sides of the sports management platform.

“I ran our sales and marketing, prepped for game days, I did all our social media and website, you wear so many different hats at that level. It was my first opportunity to put those skills to use, learn some different methods and some different ways of going about a lot of things essentially learning to run an organization or a business,” he said to Golf Saskatchewan.

After a five-year stint in Alberta Pollock returned home to Regina taking on a position with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a tenure he would have for nine years in several roles. He said the decision to chase the head job at the Royal was a strenuous choice.

“I was really motivated and excited to apply and investigate it a little bit,” Pollock explained. “I put my name forward and went through the process and through the process I got more enamored by the way things were operating. The process was so smooth and well communicated that it made me feel so comfortable and confident in being able to make the decision. It’s an opportunity for me to put a lot of things I’ve learned to use.”

Pollock was a member at the RRGC for five years, so he understands the mystique of the “home of golf” in the province. He said the correlation between the legendary status of the Riders in Saskatchewan and the century-plus history of the Royal there are similarities between the two iconic institutions.

“There are definitely some natural connections there,” he added. “I’m a big brand person, I believe in everything we do and conduct ourselves as leaders in the club is all about representing that Royal brand. It’s an exciting chance and I’m looking forward to being an integral part of it.”

Pollock will begin the job on June 1.

Golf courses across Saskatchewan are seeking some assistance from Mother Nature in the form of moisture to spruce up their facility during a busy start.

Down in Estevan at TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club the dry conditions are some of the worst superintendent Bob Currie has seen in his 15 years at the course. The club has produced a promotional video asking golfers to “do your part, take care of your cart” to help the grounds crew keep the course intact.

“We’ve talked about this for some years about the amount of cart traffic that happens,” Currie said. “Now that golf is so popular courses are very busy and we are very low on water. That takes away a lot of the tools away from me to manage some of the traffic that happens. We’re basically just trying to not go backwards in forms of establishing turf.”

Currie said a common mistake made by golfers, likely not by fault is spreading out the usage with carts.

“This probably sounds kind of funny to a lot of people but drive on the best-looking grass you can find,” he explained. “It’s the strongest, it can handle the traffic where the stuff that’s already tired can’t handle a lot more.”

Currie encouraged walkers on the course to have the same mindset, if an area looks troubled due to lack of moisture avoid the location if possible.

Golf Canada has dropped an app update that is sure to get golfers pumping their fists!

Just in time for the 2021 golf season, the latest version of Golf Canada’s app now features the ability to set up Match Play, Skins of Stroke Play games against friends using Gross or Net scoring.

Put the pencil down and forget about dotting the scorecard. You no longer need to worry about who gets strokes on what hole. The Golf Canada app has you covered.

Plus, users can discover new places to play using a revamped course finder tool. The new look-up functionality allows golfers to search for courses using criteria like number of holes, type of facility (private, public, semi-private) and ease of walking, among many others.

The app is also helping golfers get better connected with their favourite facilities – users can look up clubs who are specifically offering promotions. 

Save time and the hassle of setting up matches with your buddies and get the newest version of the Golf Canada app, available starting April 5, 2021.

These new Golf Canada App features are in addition to those users already enjoy, like real-time course GPS data and game tracking.

Don’t play another round until you download the latest version of this app.

The spring golf season is now complete for Kade Johnson and Roman Timmerman.

The pair competed in the 2021 Men’s NCAA Division II Midwest/Central Regionals from May 6 to 8 at the Shoal Creek Golf Club in Kansas City, Missouri.

Johnson, the Great American Conference Player of the Year finished his final college event in a tie for 63rd at 19-over par. The Yorkton product started with an 81 in round one followed by scores of 73 and 78.

Timmerman, a junior who will return to Southern Arkansas University for his senior season next year finished regionals in a tie for 17th place. The Saskatoon student-athlete carded back-to-back rounds of 71 before closing with a 75 to finish plus-4.

Timmerman also earned All-GAC Second Team honours this season.

The Saskatchewan duo became the first players in the Mulerider program since they entered the NCAA in 1996 to compete in multiple postseason tournaments.