The entire staff at Golf Canada hopes you enjoy a safe and happy holiday season and we extend our best wishes for the New Year.

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Hours of Operation

Closed beginning Monday, December 21, 2020 and will reopen at 9 a.m. on Monday January 4, 2021.

Just how busy were golf courses across Canada in 2020?

Early one morning at the beginning of the season, Stephen Jardeleza positioned himself in front of his computer at GreyHawk Golf Club. On his screen was a blank tee sheet for the Ottawa club where he is the Director of Operations.

In a few minutes, the computerized tee-times reservation system would open for members to begin booking tee times for the upcoming Saturday. Up for grabs were 130 tee times across the club’s 36 holes, which, if fully booked, would work out to 520 golfers.

At 7 a.m., the tee sheet came alive. “In 40 seconds, our tee sheet was fully booked,” Jardeleza said. “And this happened every day.”

The 2020 golf season—and the year—will go down in infamy as one of the strangest that most of us will ever experience.

Faced with a mysterious and deadly nemesis, golf provided a beacon of badly needed joy amid fear and frustration. We were smitten. We couldn’t get enough golf.

“It didn’t matter that there was a worldwide pandemic,” said Simon Bevan, General Manager of Riverbend Golf Club in London. “Golf was like a drug. We all wanted to hit the little white ball.”

Now that the season has ended, the golf club industry in Canada is celebrating a record year in which rounds skyrocketed to historic proportions. Thousands of people took up golf—some for the first time, and some came back to the game—and veteran golfers played more than they ever have.

But right out of the be-careful-what-you-wish-for playbook, the industry faced the challenge of how to mollify established golfers frustrated that they could no longer get to the first tee when they wanted.

Back in April, with cities around the world looking like ghost towns, and major league sports and the PGA TOUR shut down, golfers held on to a slender thread of hope that a golf season might be possible.

By early May, golfers in Ontario and Quebec had endured two months of a gruelling lockdown, made worse by a tantalizingly warm spring that screamed golf. Golfers ached for their game. A friend said, “Golfers can distance. I play golf with people. I don’t dance with them.”

After weeks of consultation with the golf industry on safety measures, the Ontario government said courses could open May 16. Quebec set May 20 as its opening day.

Golf clubs had only a few days to finish their preparations in order to keep golfers safe. Staff removed ball washers, water coolers, benches and outfitted flagsticks with doo-hickeys that allowed you to extricate your ball without having to touch the stick.

Held back from their usual start to the season, golfers were ravenous. On May 15—the first day that tee times could be booked—thousands of ClubLink Members went online to reserve their tee times at 7 a.m., causing the system to crash.

Many technology platforms serving the golf industry were overwhelmed. When Golf Ontario opened its online tournament registration on June 24, 17,000 people visited its site in a matter of minutes, causing it to crash for the first time in its history, according to executive director Mike Kelly.

On those first wonderful days of the 2020 golf season, golfers were over the moon to play and golf club personnel were cautiously nervous.

“We were hoping that members wouldn’t contract the virus just from touching things,” said Paul Carrothers, Director of Golf at Royal Ottawa Golf Club.

Thousands of golfers wanted to play the game—not just because they are an extremely obsessive bunch—but also to escape the same four walls at home. Without having to travel for work or commute, working from home also afforded many golfers the freedom to play when they wanted. More or less.

With offices and schools closed, and nearly every other option for having fun shut down, golf became the ‘it’ activity. Spouses, friends and kids who had not tried golf, and those who had given up the game, were playing.

“Almost all of the guys that I played slow-pitch with every Tuesday for 20 years were now playing golf,” said Kevin Thistle, CEO of the PGA of Canada. “The way we play golf, work, watch sports—it’s all changing, and forcing us to adapt.”

From the once-a-year golfer to the 100-rounds-plus player, everyone played more—and wanted more.

“Players who would normally play 30 to 40 rounds played 70 to 80 rounds,” said Adam Tobin, Director of Golf at Whistle Bear Golf Club in Cambridge.

Even with most corporate events cancelled at most clubs, tee times became a precious commodity.

By the end of June, Canadians had played more than 1.5 million rounds during the month, an increase of 17 per cent over June 2019. And that’s a monumental feat folks when you consider June is THE busiest and best month to play. For an industry that faced media reports a few years earlier that it was declining, business was booming.

But for avid golfers who routinely play three or more rounds a week and were used to convenient tee times, it was not all sunshine and rainbows.

“There was a lot of frustration,” said Jason Wyatt, Head Professional at Sunningdale Golf & Country Club in London, where demand shot up 52 percent over 2019 with the same number of members. “There were people who wanted an 8 a.m. time but had to settle for hours later.”

Even playing ‘executive’ or nine-hole courses was a challenge. “There were times that we had six groups lined up to play our nine-hole course,” said Dennis Firth, Head Professional at Royal Montreal which experienced a 30 percent increase in rounds over 2019. “It was unprecedented.”

As a golfer, and the fellow in charge of tracking golfers across the country for Golf Canada, Adam Helmer said he could no longer just head out to play. He had to become organized in scheduling his golf.

“A downside of golf being so popular was that not everyone was able to get the tee time they wanted,” said Helmer, senior director of Golf Services for Golf Canada.

The problem was simple. Demand for tee times appeared limitless, but every course has a finite number of holes and daylight. And to keep golfers from getting too close to one another, most clubs spaced out tee times, which meant fewer golfers on the course.

John Finlayson, Chief Operating Officer of ClubLink, says that—as a general rule of thumb—a private golf club with 18 holes carries about 400 full dues-paying members to sustain its business.

But even in June when the days are longest, there’s only enough room to accommodate about 225 golfers. “If 300 people want to play that course that day, you have a problem,” said Finlayson, whose ClubLink courses saw a 29 percent increase in rounds in 2020 compared with 2019.

Many private clubs responded by restricting the number of guests that members could bring, and restricted access for certain classes of memberships.

“To make room for our full members, we had to restrict our legacy and out-of-town members,” said Ian Leggatt, General Manager of Summit Golf Club in Richmond Hill. “We had to communicate to them that these are unusual times,” said Leggatt, who has since moved to the same position at St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto.

Initially, Leggatt and other senior club managers wondered if golfers would “drift from the game” because they couldn’t socialize in the clubhouse restaurant afterwards,

and the on-course experience was altered.

But with fewer golfers on the course, no need to rake bunkers, and single riders on carts, the speed of play improved dramatically.

“The measures were taken for safety, but it provided a better experience,” Finlayson said. “Most golfers expect to play 18 holes in 4 to 4.5 hours, but this year a 4-hour round was considered a bit slow.”

Nonetheless, many golfers were frustrated about access, and many golf clubs stepped up their communication efforts to help their members adapt.

“You couldn’t over-communicate,” Leggatt said. “This whole thing was shifting, and there was no template on how to make it work better.”

It affected everyone, including ClubLink Member and CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association of Canada, Jeff Calderwood.

“I’d jump on the computer five days in advance at 7 a.m. this fall, and there were often no times at Eagle Creek (his Home Club in Ottawa),” he said. “It illustrated the dilemma we had.”

Industry leaders such as Calderwood are thankful golf provided a silver lining during a pandemic, but they are also mindful that the industry is challenged by how it satisfies core golfers while retaining new players.

“I don’t claim to have all the answers. You could restructure and find that, perhaps with a vaccine, demand doesn’t stay so high, and then you’re not sustainable if you got it wrong.”

Mike Kelly of Golf Ontario was among the industry leaders who consulted with the Ontario government to allow clubs to open this season, and he’s grateful golfers turned a possible disaster into a banner year for golf.

As a golf administrator who represents the sport in Ontario, as well as players who want to play and have fun, Kelly says he can’t lose focus on what’s truly important.

“Our job is to provide a safe environment. That’s our No. 1 priority during this pandemic. We can’t screw this up. The game has grown and the industry will evolve, but the priority must be safety.”

Tim O’Connor is a golf and performance coach, writer and author of four books, co-host of the Swing Thoughts podcast, and webinar presenter. He is the 2020 winner of the Lorne Rubenstein Media Award given by Golf Ontario. tim@oconnorgolf.ca

The COVID-19 pandemic has infected millions and killed hundreds of thousands around the world. Almost without exception, everyone was affected in some way. Its effects extended beyond the physical toll, causing emotional, psychological and economic impact. We were hard-pressed to find ways to stay positive and active. Many turned to golf as an outlet, even therapy of sorts.

“What an incredibly strange and challenging year,” Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “Golf has been a silver lining, a bright light, call it what you may, in giving people a bit of a break from the pandemic.”

Record rounds were registered across the country consistently throughout the year, played under strict precautionary COVID-19 protocols.

 

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While participation grew across the country, most tournaments and social gatherings at golf clubs were cancelled or postponed, including the RBC Canadian Open and the CP Women’s Open. The Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada cancelled its season. All Golf Canada’s national championships and many provincial association tournaments were shelved.

“We’re going to look back on 2020 and say, ‘amongst all the challenges, amongst a lot of really difficult situations for so many people, golf was a bright light that we built from,’” Applebaum said.

For example, the COVID-19 Golf Relief Fund initiated by Golf Canada and the Canadian Golf Foundation raised more than $400,000. The fund subsidizes non-medical personal protective equipment for golf course employees as well as sanitization, hygiene and protective material expenses. It also subsidizes rounds of golf for front-line workers as well as juniors.

What follows are some of the top golf-related stories from 2020, a very different year. These are just some of the headlines. Details on these stories and many others are available under News on the Golf Canada website.

January

The new World Handicap System came into effect with the goal of making the game more enjoyable by providing a consistent means of measuring performance and progress and to enable golfers of differing abilities to compete or play a casual round with anyone else on a fair and equal basis.

Jared du Toit, a member of Golf Canada’s Young Pro Squad, won the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica Qualifying Tournament Mexico.

#TeamCanada’s @Jareddutoit finishes at 22 under to claim medalist honours at @PGATOURLA Q-School, earning fully exempt status ? pic.twitter.com/UOWNokr13U

— Golf Canada (@GolfCanada) January 18, 2020

Grace McCann of Windsor, Ont., a past president of the former Canadian Ladies’ Golf Association, passed away at the age of 85.

The Golf Journalists Association of Canada named Brooke Henderson (female professional), Corey Conners (male professional), Garrett Rank (male amateur) and Brigitte Thibault (female amateur) as players of the year for 2019.

February

Charlie Beaulieu of Lorraine, Que., was elected for a second term at Golf Canada’s annual meeting. Liz Hoffman of Thornhill, Ont., and Dale Jackson of Victoria remain as first and second vice-president respectively. Bill MacMillan of Eastern Passage, N.S., received the Bruce Mitchell Volunteer of the Year Award. Volunteer Richard Smith of Regina and golf journalist Ian Hutchison of Newmarket, Ont., received Golf Canada’s Distinguished Service Award.

Celeste Dao of Notre-Dame-de-L’lle-Perrot, Que., a graduate of Team Canada’s National Junior Squad, won the NCAA’s Gold Rush tournament in California.

Nick Taylor shot a final-round 2-under-par 70 to claim a wire-to-wire four-stroke victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California. Taylor overcame 40 mph gusts of winds and finished at 19-under to become the first Canadian to win the event.

Golf Canada named the 2020 Young Pro Squads: Hugo Bernard, Jared du Toit, Stuart Macdonald, Taylor Pendrith, Chris Crisologo and Joey Savoie for the men and Jaclyn Lee, Brittany Marchand and Maddie Szeryk for the women.

 

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March

As the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic enveloped not only Canada but the world, governments ordered the shutdown of non-essential businesses, which in most provinces included golf courses.

The Summer Olympics, scheduled to begin in July in Tokyo, are postponed until 2021 due to the pandemic. They will still be called the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, however.

April

Canadian Scott Pritchard, previously vice-president of the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, is promoted to executive director.

May

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, most golf courses across Canada did not open on schedule this spring. Although those in British Columbia were never ordered to close, those in other provinces were shuttered until they were allowed to open when stringent anti-COVID safeguards were in place. New Brunswick courses opened April 24 with the balance of the provinces following suit throughout the month of May.

Golf Canada announced the formation of the Golf Industry Advisory Council, a volunteer group of experienced professionals to support Golf Canada’s Board of Directors and management team. The council will include course owners, operators, general managers, superintendents and professionals as well as executives from the golf equipment, apparel and footwear industry.

Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame announced Lorie Kane of Charlottetown was among six athletes and five builders who will receive the Order of Sports award, Canada’s highest sporting honour.

BIG round of applause for @loriekanelpga, who was announced as an inductee into @sportshall class of 2020/21 ????

Congrats to all inductees! ??https://t.co/WDFgBToJg1

— Golf Canada (@GolfCanada) May 27, 2020

The Prince Edward Island Golf Association named Alison Griffin as its new executive director.

The PGA TOUR announced that it would resume without spectators in June. The Tour had suspended play since The Players Championship was cancelled in March.

June

Despite months of planning, the celebration of the 125^th anniversary of the founding of Golf Canada on June 6, 1895, also fell victim to the pandemic. Nevertheless, the historic occasion was commemorated virtually with pivotal moments in Canadian golf being recalled on social media platforms using the hashtag #GolfCanada125.

Golf Canada announces that St. George’s Golf and Country Club will play host to the 2021 RBC Canadian Open. The 2020 championship, scheduled for St. George’s, was cancelled due to the pandemic.

July

Team Canada’s Brigitte Thibault of Rosemere, Que., won the Women’s Western Amateur in Illinois.

The LPGA Tour announced it would resume July 31 without spectators after having suspended play in February.

August

Golf Canada and Canadian Pacific announced that Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club will play host to the 2022 CP Women’s Open.

 

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The Golf Canada Women in Coaching Program, a partnership between Golf Canada and the PGA of Canada with the goal of putting the sport on the path to further balance between the sexes at a high level, was announced.

The new and free Golf Canada app was launched, allowing golfers nationwide to record and track their scores, trace where they have played and provide detailed game statistics as a game improvement tool.

🚨NEW FEATURE🚨

The Golf Canada app now includes free GPS distances 👀

Download: https://t.co/7WhwEb7Cyc pic.twitter.com/SlG7eEnewQ

— Golf Canada (@GolfCanada) September 18, 2020

The PGA TOUR announced that the 2024 Presidents Cup will return to The Royal Montreal Golf Club. The event, which pits the top male pros from the U.S. against the best from the rest of the world (except Britain and Europe), was held there in 2007.

Golf Canada and U.S.-based First Tee announced the launch of First Tee-Canada. The partnership will bring First Tee’s youth development emphasis to strengthen Golf Canada’s junior golf activities —previously conducted under the Future Links brand — that reach kids in schools and at golf facilities. The innovative First Tee curriculum will focus on empowering young people to build strength of character through the game of golf.

 

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September

The third annual CP Women’s Leadership Summit, held virtually due to the pandemic, provided inspiring stories and a networking opportunity along with accepting donations for the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation. Hosted by TSN anchor Lindsay Hamilton, speakers included golfers Lorie Kane and Brooke Henderson, Olympians Marnie McBean and Perdita Felicien and other prominent women in leadership positions. “It was a success story for us,” said Mary Beth McKenna, assistant RBC Canadian Open tournament director who has co-led the event since it began.

The Golf Journalists Association of Canada announced that Kim Locke of Toronto, founder and president of SCOREGolf, was the 2020 recipient of the Dick Grimm Award. The association’s highest honour is awarded in memory of the late Richard Grimm whose legendary service to the RBC Canadian Open and the Canadian golf industry remains unparalleled.

Laurent Desmarchais of Bromont, Que., a member of Team Canada’s junior squad, went wire-to-wire to win the season-ending Canada Life Series Championship at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley.

October

PGA TOUR Champions rookie Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont., had victory in sight leading by three strokes heading into the final round of the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Virginia but fellow rookie Phil Mickelson denied him the win. It was Weir’s third top-10 finish in eight starts on the tour.

PGA of Canada member Jennifer Greggain of Chilliwack, B.C., was named coach of the National Junior Squads by Golf Canada, working with head coach Robert Ratliffe.

Findlay Young of Prince George, B.C., a former Golf Canada president and honourary life governor, passed away at the age of 92.

November

Twenty-nine athletes, male and female, were named by Golf Canada to represent Team Canada as part of the 2021 national Amateur and Junior Squads. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all athletes from the 2020 squad were able to return in 2021, provided they met team eligibility criteria.

Aaron Cockerill of Stone Mountain, Man., finished T4 at the JoBurg Open in South Africa, his best career finish on the European Tour.

The Economic Impact of Golf in Canada (2019) report, conducted on behalf of the national Allied Golf Associations (We Are Golf), was released. Among its findings were that the Canadian golf industry generated $18.2 billion in economic benefits, employs the equivalent of nearly 249,000 people through direct and spin-off effects and contributed to $10.6 billion in household income.

⛳️ Accounts for an estimated $18.2B of Canada’s GDP
⛳️ Directly employed nearly 150,000 full-time positions
⛳️ Contributed $4.8B in household income

More on the 2019 Economic Impact of Golf in Canada
➡️ https://t.co/aTfPBoHUp3 pic.twitter.com/fg7f0Z2LAy

— Golf Canada (@GolfCanada) November 2, 2020

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., finished in a tie for 10^th at the Masters, which was postponed from its traditional April date due to the pandemic. That finish guaranteed him a spot in the 2021 Masters.

 

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Golf Genius Software, the leading worldwide provider of tournament management solutions, announced that Golf Canada and the provincial golf associations will begin using Golf Genius Tournament Management for their competitions in 2021.

So while what lies ahead for 2021 remains unclear, we can only hope that when we compile next year’s “Year in Review,” life as we know it will have returned to a semblance of normality, on the course and off.

Elk Ridge Resort is proud to announce the hiring of Ryan Wells as the newest team member and role of Resort Golf Professional.

Managing Partner Ryan Danberg stated “We have acquired Ryan to take our golfing experience to a new level! We are overly excited to have him join our team, and I look forward to working with him.”

Ryan is originally from Prince Edward Island and it’s where he fell in love with the game of golf playing at an elite level as a junior and college career. This great game has taken Ryan Coast to Coast. He turned pro in 2006 and worked at Eagle Ranch Resort, Invermere, BC. Ryan spent 6 years at Eagle Ranch honing their customer service platform before making the move to Prince Albert, SK. He worked as the Associate Professional at Cooke Municipal Golf Course for 8 years. Over his 8 years in Prince Albert, he grew the junior and lesson programs with the help of the local community and his driven passion for the game. He was awarded with the 2017 & 2019 Assistant Class “A” PGA of Canada/Saskatchewan as well as the 2019 Peter Cushner Order of Merit Award. Ryan spent the last year as the Head Professional at The Dunes Golf & Winter Club in Grand Prairie, AB.

Our Routes2SK group is excited for Ryan’s arrival. His love and passion for the game of golf, along with his overall leadership with exemplary customer service standards, will be a great asset to the Elk Ridge clientele. We look forward to Ryan joining our team on March 1st, 2021. Please join us in welcoming Ryan and his wife, Megan and their 2 year old daughter, Palmer to the Elk Ridge Resort and community.

We are also please to announce that our new Restaurant The Wyld @ Elk Ridge is now open for the public Friday, Dec. 18 at 3p.m. Visit our web page to get any resort updates.

Release courtesy Elk Ridge Resort.

(Golf Saskatchewan will be reaching out to Ryan for an interview to discuss his return to northern Saskatchewan.)

Tom Kinsman is a long-time Manitoba based golf professional but for the last couple years has called Lloydminster home.

Kinsman assists Marty Wheaton at the Lloydminster Golf & Curling Centre after a lengthy career at Southwood Golf & Country Club in Winnipeg.

Last week he was announced as one of the 2020 Manitoba Golf Hall of Fame inductees. Golf Saskatchewan spoke with Kinsman via Zoom to discuss his career and the honour.

Anyone who knows me knows I love Christmas. Heck, I even own a Santa suit and still think my grandson believes I’m the real thing when I show up at his house on Christmas morning.

So, as you read on, please don’t label me the Golfing Grinch.

With that disclaimer, and I am sure I speak on behalf of avid golfers everywhere, spare us the trinkets and trash when buying a gift for us this year.

I don’t want another plastic clicker to count my strokes or a gopher headcover or a tee shaped like a martini glass or … You get the picture.

Actually, I didn’t know what I wanted until I read a tweet from Listowel Golf Club. “Merry Golfmas!” I shouted.

Gift card to a big box store? OK. You can buy stuff. Gift card to a Golf Club? WAYYY BETTER. You can buy stuff, play golf, rent a cart, buy lunch, buy refreshments, use them towards memberships, enter events….etc…etc… Buy them online at https://t.co/DXeg1f7AsN

— Listowel Golf Club (@lgc1920) November 23, 2020

“Golf clubs have the answer to the eternal question of what to buy the golfer,” says the tweet’s author, Brenden Parsons. Parsons, the club’s director of operations, says your local golf facility most likely offers a variety of gift options that will make for a very special Christmas for the golfer on your list — or yourself.

Here are a few examples. Check with your local golf facility to see what they offer.

Online Shopping

Listowel GC offers an online store featuring gift cards of various denominations, golf clubs, footwear and apparel. One unique option is the Christmas Date Night Box which, depending on which level you select, offers a variety of appetizers and even wine. Share it with your partner or even arrange a Zoom party where everyone enjoys their own “Date Night” selection at home. Call it a virtual office Christmas party. “Our food and beverage team came up with the concept,” says Parsons. “It somewhat offsets the fact that there will be no Christmas or New Year’s parties this year.”

Visit the Golf Canada online shop to select logoed gear ranging from apparel, footwear, bags and balls to mementoes of the association’s 125^th Many items are discounted for holiday shopping.

There’s a selection of top-level golf garb in FootJoy’s online Holiday Gift Guide and a dozen personalized Titleist balls is a perfect stocking stuffer.

Check out your provincial association’s website for golfy gifts. For example, a couple offer 2-for-1 cards for green fees and Golf Ontario hosts a “12 Days of Christmas” auction. Worth a look!

The wait is over – 12 Days of Golf is live‼️?

In support of @TheFirstTee and Junior Golf initiatives, the first wave featuring 28 items is now live on EBay! These items will be up for 5 days, with 2 more waves of items until the 18th.

Stay tuned⛳️?https://t.co/ecsjAlmAQo pic.twitter.com/eIPPVsnlbT

— Golf Ontario (@TheGolfOntario) December 7, 2020

Gift Cards

The ubiquitous gift card is put to good use by many golf clubs. The options range from cash value redeemable at the course to paying part or all of a membership and/or a cart package, packs of green fees, lessons, club fittings and other services. “This reinforces the value of the club professional,” says Adam Frederick, communications manager for the PGA of Canada. “They are great retailers and experts in instruction and club fitting. This is especially important if you are looking for a gift for a new or junior golfer. Get them started on the right track.”

Donations

Make a donation to the Golf Canada Foundation in the name of the gift’s recipient. The Foundation, a registered Canadian Amateur Athletic Association, raises and grants funds for the advancement of golf in Canada in five main areas: junior golf, collegiate golf, women’s golf, high-performance golf and heritage.

Members at Cataraqui Golf and Country Club in Kingston, Ont., get a chance at an additional 20 per cent off their holiday purchase if they drop off a non-perishable food item at the pro shop.

Cataraqui in your Community! In the Spirit of Giving, @Catgandcc is accepting non-perishable food and personal care items or monetary gifts for the Kingston Partners in Mission Food Bank. @FoodBankKtown #catspiritofgiving #ygkhttps://t.co/6gCudLyqJb pic.twitter.com/NaiVdGvsJ9

— Cataraqui Golf & CC (@Catgandcc) December 6, 2020

Lessons

If you live in the Greater Toronto Region, how about a gift certificate for a one- or two-hour fitting session at the Titleist National Fitting Centre located at Eagle’s Nest Golf Club? (Call 905-553-8555 for details.) Specialty shops like Modern Golf, TXG, GolfTEC and others offer winter specials for club fittings, lessons and more.

Ladies’ Golf Club of Toronto offers a variety of services including a holiday cooking class and their own label honey and chutney. Glencoe Golf and Country Club in Calgary has an online holiday marketplace.

Aside from providing great value, patronizing your golf club helps support the industry which, like us all, has suffered due to the economic downturn caused by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Another aspect of giving a gift certificate for future golf-related activities or purchases is that it provides a much-needed sense of optimism for a 2021 golf season full of promise, good health and lots of time outside on the course.

Merry Golfmas!

Garth Goodbrandson may have been employed by Golf Manitoba but his tutelage and knowledge of the game stretched across borders.

After 23 years with the Manitoba amateur association, the Winnipeg resident is calling it a career. As a coach of Western Canada Summer Games teams and the manager of the Maple Leaf Junior Tour in Manitoba Goodbrandson has crossed paths with many Saskatchewan juniors over the years.

Goodbrandson spoke with Golf Saskatchewan and recounted his time in the game, interaction with Saskatchewan players, the state of our game in the province and more.

The dates have been set for the 2021 individual provincial golf championships.

Leading off the season will be the amateur championships (women’s and men’s) as well as the mid-amateur (25 +) at Swift Current’s Elmwood Golf Club. The Men’s Saskatchewan Amateur Championship will be a 72-hole event once again next year with a cut after 54 holes. The Saskatchewan Women’s Amateur Championship and Mid-Am Amateur Championship are three-day tournaments. Golf Saskatchewan Director of Sport and Championships Steve Ryde said Elmwood was a great host for the juniors this past season and wanted to have the marquee event at their club.

“The Elmwood hosted our girl’s and boy’s championships last year in a difficult season with fantastic success,” Ryde said. “The course, along with Sheldon (Reinhart) and Brennan (Rumancik) showed interest as early as last year wanting to bring the amateurs to their club as soon as possible and with the operation of the juniors we are excited to be heading back and know the course will be a tough test for the week.”

The championships begin July 6, the women’s and mid-am winner will be declared on July 8, the men’s amateur champion will be decided on the 9^th.

The Hillcrest Golf Club in Moose Jaw will play host to the 71^st Saskatchewan Junior Girl’s Championship and the 95^th Saskatchewan Junior Boy’s Championship from July 13 – 15. The Hillcrest last hosted a Golf Saskatchewan event in 2015 when hometown product Ken Bradley won the senior championship. The Hillcrest has a brand-new clubhouse built this past year that will accommodate the participants nicely.

Much like the Elmwood Golf Course, The Legends in Warman hosted an event this year with the amateurs being played at the Warman course. From July 27 – 29 the best senior golfers in the province will compete for the 58^th Senior Women’s Championship and 102^nd Senior Men’s Championship. The 16^th Mid-Masters (40+) Championship will also be played during the week. Ryde said The Legends and General Manager Davidson Matyczuk wanted to play host to an event once again.

“We always have great support from courses across the province when it comes to be hosts for our events and the negotiations are mostly seamless. When you have a course like The Legends come forward and offer their facility for four days in peak time of the summer we’re ecstatic to work with them and the golfers will be happy too as The Legends is a top of the line course in Saskatchewan,” Ryde said.

The 50^th Rosebowl and 22^nd Mixed Team Championship was left on the driving range in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shotgun format style of the events. Golf Saskatchewan is working with the board of directors on a decision for the tournaments in 2021. As of today, shotgun events would still be prohibited under public health guidelines. The season is months away and many things can change. The organization is discussing the potential of holding the events as tee time formats and hosting them in the new year.

Last season Katepwa Beach Golf Club and Candle Lake Golf Resort were slated to host the events. More details on those events will be released in the future. Overall Ryde said the line up looks engaging for the new year.

“We’re heading back to some familiar courses to our regular players and venturing outside the major centres so we’re hoping to potentially see some new faces in 2021. Golf is red hot right now and we expect to see some unreal golf and crown some very deserving champions,” he said.

Barbara Danahar is arguably the most decorated golfer in Saskatchewan history and potentially one of the nation’s most successful amateur players.

Danahar, formally known as Barbara Turnbull is a 10-time Saskatchewan amateur women’s champion and a five-time winner of the senior women’s five times. In total she was part of 40 Saskatchewan teams over her career.

Danahar was inducted into the Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 2010.

Golf Saskatchewan’s Clark Stork sat down with her at her home course of Riverside earlier in November.

Golf Canada is pleased to announce that Kevin Blue has joined the National Sport Federation as its new Chief Sport Officer.

A dynamic and accomplished executive, coach, and high-performance golfer, Blue joins the Executive Team of the National Sport Federation after serving nearly five years as Director of Athletics for the University of California, Davis, an NCAA Division I institute.

His responsibilities with Golf Canada as Chief Sport Officer include the oversight, management and strategic development of key functional areas including golf services with a focus on membership; high-performance player development; sport and junior programs including First Tee – Canada; amateur competitions; and governing body activities across the Rules of Golf, Handicapping, Course Rating and Amateur Status. Blue will be a lead contact with numerous provincial, national, and international stakeholders.

“Kevin brings a depth of executive leadership experience across business, education, coaching and high-performance sport, and we are thrilled to have him elevate our sport, golf services and player development activities,” said Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum. “He is a transformative leader and passionate advocate for Canadian golf who will bring tremendous energy and enthusiasm to improving the golfer, facility and athlete experience at all levels.”

For Blue, born in Montreal and raised in Toronto, the opportunity to return to Canada to champion the growth of golf was an opportunity to apply his executive leadership experiences across the sport that has been a lifelong passion.

“Golf has impacted my life in extraordinary ways,” said Blue. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to return home and help to extend the reach of our sport to more Canadians. I’m also very excited to partner with our athletes, coaches, and many others in the golf community nation-wide to continue building Canada’s global prominence in the sport we love.”

As Director of Athletics for the University of California, Davis, Blue oversaw a $41M athletic department featuring 25 collegiate teams. He led record-setting fundraising campaigns at UC Davis that supported coaching endowments, athlete scholarships, and the construction of multi-million-dollar facilities including a $52M student-athlete performance centre currently under construction. In addition to facilitating all-time academic results for student-athletes and competitive success on the field of play, he implemented a formal diversity, equity and inclusion strategy for coaches and senior-level hires as well as mandatory implicit bias training for all employees.

Prior to joining UC Davis, Blue honed his executive management skills over three years as the Senior Associate Athletic Director, External Relations with Stanford University where he had oversight of key external business units including ticket sales, sponsorships, marketing, communications, business strategy, ticket operations, fan experience, and video. As a key member of the athletic department senior executive team, he contributed to strategic planning, policy, personnel, sponsor relations, and university integration in addition to launching the Pac-12 Network at Stanford. As a Lecturer at Stanford, he taught an introductory Sport Psychology course and constructed a curriculum that surveyed topics related to peak performance, talent development and mental health. He also taught a graduate level course on Strategic Management for Sport Business at the University of San Francisco.

Other leadership roles during his time at Stanford included three years as Associate Athletic Director and two years as an Athletics Department Fellow. Prior to Stanford, Blue was involved in high-performance golf, providing sport psychology and short game coaching to professional and elite amateur golfers.

An accomplished amateur golfer growing up in Toronto, Blue played in numerous provincial and national amateur competitions and spent time with Golf Canada’s National Junior Golf Team (prior to the formation of the Team Canada program) and represented Canada at the 2001 Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan. He attended Stanford University on a varsity golf scholarship where he earned his B.A. in Psychology, was a captain on the golf team, and was an NCAA Academic All-American.

He went on to attend Michigan State University where earned his Ph.D. in Sport Psychology and then completed an executive education program at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Blue has authored a multitude of articles on topics related to sport, education, and business.

Blue will be returning to Canada with his wife Betsy and their four children and is set to begin his role as Golf Canada’s Chief Sport Officer in early January 2021.

NOTE: pictures of Kevin Blue are available here.