Regina’s Kirk McGregor was inducted into the Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame in 2018 commemorating a distinguished amateur career.

McGregor was a member of six Saskatchewan teams at national events including three Willingdon Cup teams. His 1994 showing in Montreal in the Canadian Mid-Amateur Championship where he lost to eventual champion Graham Cooke in the semifinal goes down as his career highlight.

McGregor is still playing today and a member of the Royal Regina Golf Club where he was enshrined in 2018. He sat down with Golf Saskatchewan’s Director of Communications Clark Stork to talk about his career and the the game itself.

TaylorMade Golf has three new drivers on the market for the 2021 season.

In January Saskatchewan Territory Sales and Marketing Manager Mike Langin broke down the clubs’ designs and showcased the features new for the year with Golf Saskatchewan Manager of Sport and Championships Steve Ryde.

TaylorMade Golf has three new drivers on the market for the 2021 season.

In January Saskatchewan Territory Sales and Marketing Manager Mike Langin broke down the clubs’ designs and showcased the features new for the year with Golf Saskatchewan Manager of Sport and Championships Steve Ryde.

Inducted into the Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame in 2017, Tom McNall has had a lengthy amateur golf career.

Beginning in 1957 at the age of eight, the Regina resident is still playing at the Wascana Country Club. McNall is a three-time member of Willngdon Cup teams and also a two-time Saskatchewan Mid-Amateur champion.

He spent some time on the Saskatchewan Golf Association in the 1980’s and was also inducted into the Wascana Hall of Fame in 2010.

He sat down with Golf Saskatchewan’s Director of Communications Clark Stork at the Royal Regina Golf Club this week to discuss his great career.

Kindersley’s Brody Istace improved on 55th place finish a week ago on his spring collegiate circuit by placing in a tie for sixth place in the Columbia International University (CIU) Invitational.

Istace, on the Rams home course shot rounds of 76 and 77 to finish with a 9-over, 153. Istace’s performance helped the Rams team place second overall in their home event.

CIU travels to Cleveland, Georgia for the TMU Invitational on March 15 and 16.

Reigning Saskatchewan amateur champion Ty Campbell competed in his first college event of the spring with Southern Wesleyan University.

The Saskatoon product fired rounds of 76, 68, and 73 for a 54-hole total of 217 and a tie for 10th place at the Hurricane Invitational in Albany, Georgia.

Next up for Campbell and the rest of the Warriors in his final year of college is the Lander University’s tournament on March 8 and 9.

A beginner golf program launched by New York Professional Kate Tempesta has flown north of the border to Estevan’s S&M Woodlawn Golf Club.

No one actually travelled to the south Saskatchewan city this past weekend, but Woodlawn Pro Amanda Minchin conducted her own “Birdie Basics” Camp over the weekend.

“It’s geared towards just play, fun, and storytelling, there’s a mascot name Birdie,” Minchin explained. “It’s just geared towards that. We still do golf stuff but it’s almost like we’re teaching them about golf skills without really talking to them about golf if that makes sense.”

The program focuses on kids aged 3 to 6. The kids are given a “playbook” that involves various activities including colouring. Everything is geared towards birdies and their safety. Minchin said keeping younger kids needs to be fin and engageable.

“It’s a young, young age, at first there is a few kids that didn’t want mom and dad to leave, others were like, ‘I’m fine’ and took off their jacket and shoes and ran were like ‘hi Amanda.’ By the end of the first 35 minutes the few in tears didn’t even notice if mom and dad were there.”

On the ‘Birdie Basic’ website they state their goal is to “empower children as young as three, via golf-and, by extension, grow the game.” Minchin said growth of the game at the local level is important but not her end goal.

“If a kid leaves with a great memory, maybe they never come back to the golf course, of course we want them to. If they don’t at least we want them to say that was fun and just a super positive environment,” she said.

Long-time Estevan resident and former Woodlawn junior Anthony Melle has two boys, age 3 and 2. His kids both participated and had a great time.

“It was awesome,” Melle said. “I think kids at this age need structure and just to get out of the house. It killed some time of the day on the weekend to just run around. Once they were home they were pooped and ready for naptime. It was great.”

Melle has had his boys at the clubhouse and course regularly so they aren’t strangers to the sport, but he was pleasantly surprised they way they took up Minchin’s instruction.

“I was really impressed with my oldest, I still think he’s in troubles twos a little bit with listening, but we stressed you have to listen to your teacher. He sat there and listened. It was awesome, it was greatly run,” Melle added.

Still too young for other organized sports and COVID-19 creating some other sport restrictions Melle also said it was important for his kids to have a chance to interact with other kids while in a safe environment.

“I made great relationships at the golf course, I take my kids there every Saturday and we go for breakfast. I will be on the putting green and for the most part they are playing with their tractors or fetching my ball out of the hole. I just can’t wait for my kids to get a little bit older and get involved in the game,” he said.

Minchin has another weekend of the “Birdie Basics” planned for the upcoming weekend.

The Eddy Golf Club may be a small town, nine-hole sand green course but the local volunteers and over 200 members have big dreams.

Opened in the 1960’s as a six-hole course near Earl Grey, the 2,000-yard long club is now nine holes and very busy. Decade long board member Cam Fischer, who retired in the Earl Grey area after a career in Saskatoon said the course is a summer hub for golfers from as far as Assiniboia and Regina.

“People come from a long way away,” Fischer told Golf Saskatchewan. “Last year COVID-19 created a spike for us because people who had courses closed came here to just whack the ball around in a safe manner. It was surprising how many of them took out memberships because they realized it was a fun place to be.”

The club has expanded their cart shed from eight stalls to 32 to accommodate their growing membership over the recent years, the club has also built a covered community centre, firepit area and clubhouse over the last several years. Now the volunteers and board of directors are focusing on an irrigation project that will cost an estimated $70,000. Fischer said despite doing well for the area upgrades need to be done.

“If we have drought years like we’ve had for the last three or four years the grass is green in May but brown in June. We had enough money last year and put in a well. We have a pond that now holds 2.7 million gallons so it’s enough to act as our irrigation pond. Due to lack of water we needed a well and thankfully we hit a goldmine that produces 65 gallons a minute,” Fischer said.

The club, that sees upwards of 80 players a week for their men’s league in the summer said improving conditions will make a round of golf more enjoyable, especially at $10 a day on the honour system.

“We have brown grass, it would be nice to have a striped, 150 yards wide fairway that is actually green. That’s what we are trying to accomplish,” he said.

The club has raised about $7,500 of their goal for the upgrades. Work will start in the spring. They’ve already constructed a pumphouse and will finalize the well work. Fischer said the renovations have already showed progress in the conditions of the course.

“We have about eight water hazards, four of them have been dry for the last three years but we’re going to fill all those and part of our irrigation system is keeping them full all year,” Fischer added.

The club is establishing a donor Wall of Fame for anyone willing to assist in the fundraising initiative. For anyone interested in helping out, they can contact Fischer at 306-230-0548 or via email at eddygolfcourse@gmail.com.

After a busy season of golf on the course the need for more indoor facilities was apparent across Saskatchewan.

In Rosthern, Li Han used the COVID-19 shutdown in March to undergo renovations at his bowling alley and install a golf simulator. Han, who hails from China has played on simulators for over a decade before moving to Canada and said he was familiar with the GolfZon brand and after extensive research his business was the first in Saskatchewan to use the brand.

“I played simulators over ten years and this is the same brand and equipment, so I knew this equipment very well,” he said.

Han had extra room at his bowling alley that has been in operation in the town for over 50 years and he saw a need for allowing residents a chance to play indoor golf closer to home. He said lots of work went into choosing a simulator.

“Before I made the decision I compared lots of simulator brands in Canada,” he said. “Compared to the price and other options GolfZon was the best option for my business.”

The simulator offers over 190 courses and was named Golf Digest Editor’s Choice award winner for best simulator in 2020. Han said the software includes over 150 courses in China, Japan, and South Korea but also has about 30 North American courses. He added that the reality on the play is what sets GolfZon apart from other simulator brands.

“In other facilities there timing gaps when you play, you hit the ball and you need to wait for the sensors to do their job. GolfZon is very quick and that is important. The other point is the environment, you can hear the birds chirp, the wind blow or when you play Pebble Beach you can hear the sea on the shore,” he said.

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LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. (Feb. 17, 2021) – The USGA announced today that Mike Whan will join the organization this summer as CEO, and will become the eighth top executive in USGA history.

Last month, Whan announced his intention to step down as LPGA Commissioner in 2021, after his organization completes a search for the next Commissioner. His transition follows an impressive 11 years at the helm of the LPGA, during which the organization experienced historic growth in virtually every aspect of the business.

As USGA CEO, Whan will be responsible for leading all aspects of the association’s operations, including its core functions, essential programs, and human and financial resources. He will also represent the USGA on a variety of national and international boards.

Laurence Applebaum and Mike Whan at 2019 CP Women’s Open

“Mike Whan is a proven, successful and transformative leader, not only in the golf industry but throughout his entire career,” said USGA President Stu Francis, who oversaw the CEO search process. “He has shown a unique ability to understand how the environment is changing in global golf and how to quickly and thoughtfully adapt an organization to meet those changes. Importantly, Mike is already a trusted peer for so many key stakeholders in the industry, and his existing relationships will not only help the USGA, but will also help advance the game.”

Whan started his career at the Procter & Gamble Company in 1987, where he rose to Director of Marketing for Oral Care before leaving to pursue a passion for sports. Whan’s sports business career began at Wilson Sporting Goods as a Vice President and General Manager in the golf division. He joined the TaylorMade Golf Company as Vice President of Marketing in 1995 and later served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing and Executive Vice President/General Manager for Taylormade-adidas Golf. In 2002, Whan became the President and CEO of Mission Hockey, a hockey equipment company.

Since joining the Ladies Professional Golf Association in 2010, Whan increased the number of tournaments on the LPGA Tour’s schedule to 34 from 24, increased purses from $41.4 million to $76.5 million, and grew television hours from 125 hours per season, to over 500 hours. Under his leadership, the LPGA became a truly global business – with players, tournaments, sponsors and fans coming from all over the world. Currently, the LPGA Tour is televised in over 170 countries each week. Whan’s leadership resulted in the expansion of the LPGA to now include both the Symetra Tour, the recently announced joint venture with the Ladies European Tour, as well as a nearly 50% increase in LPGA’s teaching division. Whan’s focus on growing the game for junior girls has led to a significant expansion of the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Program, which had 5,000 members when he joined the organization to 90,000 girls now engaged in the program.“As someone who grew up loving this game, I have always had huge respect for the USGA and its role in leading our sport,” said Whan. “The game has given me so much throughout my life, both personally and professionally. I know I have a lot to learn, but I’m truly excited about this role, as it gives me the opportunity to not only give back to the game, but to also work hard to leave it stronger.”

Current USGA CEO Mike Davis, who joined the USGA in 1990 and became the Association’s seventh executive director in 2011 and first CEO in 2016, will depart later this year to team with Tom Fazio II in a new course design venture, Fazio & Davis Golf Design.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mike Whan for many years and I view him as a trusted, strategic leader who has a proven track record of building collaborative partnerships,” said Davis. “I know the USGA will be in great hands, and I look forward to partnering with Mike to ensure a smooth and successful transition for the USGA.”