Saskatoon’s Alex Riggs knew as a teenager that he wanted to coach golf.

He now calls Dubia, United Arab Emirates and is one of the instructors at Trump International Golf Club Dubia. Riggs began his golf career at the Saskatoon Golf & Country Club before moving to Florida and working under the guidance of renowned coach Sean Foley.

Golf Saskatchewan sat down with Riggs to learn more about him and his journey to the UAE.

It’s taken 16 tries and some heartbreak along the way but Tyler Zaba can add his name to the legendary list of men’s Lobstick winners.

The 32-year-old Regina product defeated Brad Phelps on the 16^th hole on Friday at Waskesiu Golf Course to become the 2020 champion. The Deer Valley Golf Resort member said after the round the win is very special.

“I’ve been coming here for 16 years,” he said. “I was in the final in 2013 and we went to 22 holes. That stung a bit and I still think about it so it’s good to finally get the trophy.”

Zaba defeated Kelly Timmerman, Shawn Strelau, and Jason Galon before meeting Phelps in the final match. Zaba said walking to the 16^th green with a birdie putt he could picture getting the long-awaited win in the historical event.

“I knew Brad had a chance at birdie and I also had a chance and if he made it I had to make it just to stay 2-up. Luckily I had a good look at it, and I rolled in the putt for the win. Brad is a great player, a veteran player that’s been around a long time. I’ve known him awhile and played lots of golf with him. He’s a true champion as well and it was great to play a match with him today,” Zaba said.

The Lobstick is usually played in June every year with a field of around 200 players. With COVID uncertainty at the start of the season the club decided to wait it out and postponed the event until September. Zaba said the week turned out to be fantastic on all levels.

“We were worried about the weather, I heard it was windy and cool for the senior Lobstick, we were happy to come up, the weather turned out perfect. It worked out great,” he said.

Zaba was able to share the win with his family. His father is a long-time friend of golf in Saskatchewan and walked along for the 16 holes. His wife and daughter followed closely plus his son pushed his Riksha through the rolling hills of the course all having a front row seat.

“It means a lot, my kids have been coming up here since they were babies, my parents have always come up here, it’s really special, it means a lot,” he said.

You can see all the results from the qualifying round to the bracket breakdowns on the Waskesiu Golf Course website.

Kindersley product Brody Istace has a top-4 finish as the Columbia International University Rams kicked off their fall golf season.

Istace shot 75, 72 over the 36-hole event at the Columbia Country Club in South Carolina. His 3-over par was good enough for fourth in the tournament behind a trio of golfers from Erskine College. Istace was nine shots off the lead. He shot a CIU team low, three strokes ahead of teammate Jake Montgomery.

18 competitors were in the field from three different universities.

Next up for Istace and the Rams is the Music City Invitational in Nashville on Oct. 5 and 6.

More and more golf clubs in Saskatchewan are fielding teams and competing in inter-club matches. One of the original events was put in place a decade ago by Regina’s Tom McNall.

The 2017 Sask. Golf Hall of Fame inductee spent 22 years playing at the Royal Regina Golf Club before moving over to the Wascana Country Club in 1979. McNall reached out to a friend in Saskatoon at the Riverside Country Club regarding a Ryder Cup type event between Regina and the Bridge City. Riverside already played the Saskatoon Golf and Country Club for Saskatoon bragging rights. McNall pitched the idea of a Queen City event to Wascana CEO Greg Dukart and the Fraser Cup came to life in 2010 providing a tribute to long-time Regina golfer Dick Fraser who passed away in November 2001.

“Greg was going to do some research on what we were going to name this event,” McNall said. “I went home and was watching television, I started thinking, Dick played at both the Royal Regina and the Wascana, everybody loved him. He was a natural to name this tournament after. I called up Greg, he asked if Dick played both courses, I said yeah, and Greg said it’s done, we will call it the Fraser Cup.”

The event takes place every other year with clubs rotating being the host. Wascana had early bragging rights by winning the first two but the Royal Regina group has rebounded with the last four wins. McNall played in the first one in 2010 but hasn’t played since. He said making your club team is a serious issue and only the best players get the chance to represent their course.

“I know at the Wascana they take a lot of pride in making the team. The way they qualify they must play in the club championship and the low ten people make the team and the captains get two picks, but those picks had to play in the championship as well,” McNall explained.

When McNall and the committee were outlining the details ahead of the first event he was adamant the best amateurs made up the squads for each club.

“When I was competing there wasn’t many events for low handicappers. It was always handicapped, handicapped,” he said. “When I first sat down with the Regina club to coordinate this one of the fellas said to me, why don’t we make it handicapped? I said this is for the best players and that’s the way it’s going to be.”

McNall said he hasn’t heard specifically if there has been any memorable shots or matches throughout the event, but he is proud of the first decade and how the event is received by both courses and members.

“It’s a pretty simple story, it was just a matter of time before it was going to happen. A lot of people are going to formats like this with the better players. It’s a lot of fun, good clean fun,” he concluded.

Wascana is slated to host the event in 2022.

MAMARONECK, N.Y. – Mike Davis spent the last decade running the USGA, where he set up golf courses to provide an extreme test for elite players and searched for solutions to increasing distance.

Now he wants to build golf courses, a lifelong passion.

Davis announced Tuesday he will retire as CEO at the end of 2021, ending a 32-year career with the USGA that began with him overseeing ticket sales and transportation. He became the seventh executive director in 2011 and the USGA’s first CEO after an organizational shakeup in 2016.

Davis, whose love of golf course architecture dates to when he was a junior golfer and would doodle holes on a piece of paper, said he will join Tom Fazio II in a new golf architecture firm called Fazio & Davis Golf Design.

“One of the wonderful things these 32 years afforded me was I’ve gone out of my way to see most of the world’s great courses,” Davis said. “I’ve played them, studied them, read about them, taken pictures of them. I’ve read all the architecture books. I get as giddy with some architects as I do being around Jack, Arnold, Byron Nelson and Mickey Wright.”

The announcement comes two days after Bryson DeChambeau crushed the notion that accuracy is tantamount to U.S. Open success. DeChambeau said he would hit driver as often as he could, even if it went into Winged Foot’s notorious rough, and he won by six shots by becoming the only player at par or better all four rounds of a U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

The retirement, however, was in the works for several years. Davis had planned to announce it in September when the 2020 USGA championship season was over, so a successor could be found. Instead, the coronavirus pandemic forced the U.S. Open to be postponed from June until last week, with the U.S. Women’s Open in Houston still to come in December.

Davis said he told his wife when he was appointed executive director in 2011 that he would do the job for 10 years. He told the USGA board more than three years ago that he would work through 2021 so he could try his hand at building courses.

“I knew I would regret it if I didn’t try,” he said.

His one regret was not seeing through the conclusion of the “Distance Insights Project.” A summary in February suggested it was time to stop increases in distance at all levels, highlighting an average gain of 25 yards over the last 30 years for elite players. The feedback process and next step have been delayed by the pandemic.

“I think something is going to happen,” Davis said. “When is it going to be done? How is it going to be done? How will we introduce it? It’s a multiyear process. I’d have to stay many years to see this thing through. I’m just happy that for the first in over 100 years, we’re finally doing something. I pushed at it with the R&A, I pushed it with our own group.

“I will look back saying that is one thing I am very proud of, because I just know it’s in the best interest in the game.”

His last U.S. Open will be at Torrey Pines next summer. Meanwhile, Davis stays on to guide the USGA through the COVID-19 pandemic, setting up what amounts to a satellite office and a new testing centre in Pinehurst, North Carolina, advancing the distance project and working with his successor.

USGA President Stu Francis said a search would begin immediately, with hopes of having the next CEO hired by the U.S. Open next summer.

Davis first took over setting up U.S. Open courses at Winged Foot in 2006, and he introduced the concept of graduated rough that grew longer the farther away from the fairway. That was from his first U.S. Open experience at Baltusrol in 1980, which he attended with his father. Davis recalls thinking it was unfair that someone who missed the fairway by a little was punished more than someone who missed by a lot.

He has been criticized for some setup decisions, most recently at Shinnecock Hills, though that was to be expected. His predecessor, Tom Meeks, predicted in 2009 that Davis would make a mistake at some point. “It doesn’t happen by design. It happens because it’s the U.S. Open,” Meeks said.

There was so much more to the job, especially as CEO. Davis was part of the most significant overhaul of the Rules of Golf that took effect in 2019, and he signed off on a decision to ban the anchored stroke used for long putters a few years earlier. He also was executive director when the USGA signed a 12-year broadcast deal with Fox worth about $1 billion, a deal that NBC took over again earlier this year.

Part of Davis already is looking ahead. He doesn’t want to design golf courses on paper. He wants to build them, and he said he would spend time on the construction crews of architects Bill Coore and Gil Hanse to learn that end of it.

“I can’t wait to get my hands dirty,” Davis said, chuckling like someone who has been wanting to do this for a long time.

This golf season will be one for the books.

But despite unprecedented schedules, navigating a global pandemic and extreme heat in the country’s two biggest provinces, golf’s superintendents were there as they’ve always been – solving problems and giving golfers an opportunity to play the sport they love.

That’s why International “Thank a Golf Course Superintendent Day” means even more in 2020.

On September 23, the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association, in concert with other global superintendent groups, will recognize those who keep the game going and enjoyable. All together the global groups represent more than 31,000 golf course management professionals. Look for a commercial to run on the Golf Channel and other media outlets, along with social media content.

Golfers and others are encouraged to join in the conversation online using the hashtag:  #ThankASuper.

“Supers aren’t just people who grow grass. They’re an integral part of a team at any golf course,” says Kathryn Wood, chief operating officer of the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association.

Just as most superintendents were gearing up for their season, that’s when COVID-19 really spread aggressively worldwide, with sports leagues – including the PGA TOUR – pressing pause. Luckily superintendents were able to maintain an essential, minimal level of maintenance at golf courses (British Columbia was different insofar as courses were not mandated to close).

Wood says she has been so impressed by the resilient, smart, group across the country.

“Looking back, there have been challenges presented for every person in the pandemic, but golf course supers are pretty ingenious, proactive and flexible and can come through any type of challenge pretty well,” says Wood. “They are very flexible and able to deal with the different challenges they’re faced with.”

At Cutten Fields in Guelph, Ont., head superintendent Bill Green tells a story of adaptability – a key for 2020, more than ever, he says.

He says he had one-person work for him this year – Ashton DeBello, a second-year chemistry student – who last summer worked in the halfway house at the club. Her bosses loved her and wanted to her back in 2020. But when the course opened, there was no halfway house due to COVID-19. She joined Green’s team – along with a chef and a clubhouse maintenance worker, who pivoted gigs to help keep the course in top shape – where DeBello learned construction skills.

Now? She’s operating an excavator, installing drainage and building bunkers.

“It’s brought the entire club, staff-wise, closer,” says Green about having people from other parts of the club’s business see what it takes for superintendents to get their jobs done. “Even if it’s just a few people, they understand what we’re doing on the golf course a little more. The members know my staff. Usually we’re in the trees and no one sees us.

“I think anybody in any business or any walk of life… everybody has had to adjust and change their life in many ways in a lot of cases and we’re no different.”

In Manitoba, Darren Kalyniuk is president of the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association and the superintendent at St. Boniface Golf Club. He, like Green, says the staffing and budget issues were the biggest challenges they had to face in 2020.

Still, superintendents did what they always do – persevere.

“A lot of superintendents put on their rally caps and really did whatever they had to do with limited resources to get the courses back up and running properly,” says Kalyniuk.

“Everyone was asked to work with limited staff because there were so many uncertainties with revenues at the beginning and it put a little bit of a challenge on the courses and supers to do more with less.”

Doing more with less has been demanded of so many across Canada. Combine that with the increased safety measures installed at workplaces, and you’ve got a challenging season – not to mention there were record-breaking numbers of people coming out and playing golf, too.

But David Hunter, the superintendent at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley’s Hoot and North Courses says he’s seen his staff embrace the challenge.

“We’ve been really excited to provide great course conditions for the whole season,” says Hunter. “It’s been a banner year for our staff and we’re incredibly proud of this group of people.”

As Canadian golfers, we should all be incredibly proud of superintendents from coast to coast.

And to them, on September 23 and every day, we say thank you.

For the last two years golfers from The Legends Golf Course in Warman and Cooke Municipal Golf Course in Prince Albert have competed in an event pitting each clubs’ top players against each other.

No big prizes are on the line but plenty of bragging rights are. Former Prince Albert resident and Cooke member Travis Jenkins now calls Warman home and came up with the idea to have an annual event between the two clubs. Jenkins said the teams are quite large but that allows more players to represent their respective clubs.

“Last year we had 18 vs. 18 and this year we did 20 vs. 20,” he told Golf Saskatchewan. “Some people say the numbers might be too high, but it makes it that much more fun because more people get to be involved.”

The Legends hosted the event in year one, Cooke played host this season. Each team has one win using home course advantage. Jenkins said the difference in venues plays a huge part of the scores.

“You couldn’t get two more completely different golf courses,” he said. “Warman is windy, it definitely benefits the long ball hitter. Cooke, you don’t need to hit the ball long to play well there.”

Jenkins joked that home field has made for some lopsided scores over the past couple years. He said the pressure has been light but hopes scores tighten up in the future.

“It’s been a blow out both years,” he laughed. “In Warman I think we won by 13 or 14 points and at Cooke they won by 10 or 11 points. We haven’t had those final matches that it comes down to which would be amazing to have everyone watching and have someone come through for their team.”

Warman will host the event again in 2021. Jenkins said their club will be back on top of the friendly rivalry next year.

“Warman will be up 2-1 after next year,” Jenkins vowed.

MAMARONECK, N.Y. – What was supposed to be a typical U.S. Open produced a most unconventional champion.

Bryson DeChambeau was not the least bit concerned by the narrow fairways or the ankle-deep rough that shape Winged Foot into historically the toughest of all U.S. Opens. With his extra 40 pounds of muscle and mass, he wanted to pound it into submission with his driver, even if his errant shots were buried in deep grass.

That’s how he plays the game. And for skeptics who said that wouldn’t work in a U.S. Open at Winged Foot, just look at that shiny silver trophy he kissed, and the record score he posted Sunday in a six-shot victory.

This victory was as much about validating his out-of-the-box approach to the royal and ancient game.

“One hundred per cent, no doubt,” DeChambeau said. “For me, it’s about the journey of can I executive every shot more repeatable than everybody else. I was able to do that this week. That’s why I won by six.”

Part of this course’s fame is the “Massacre of Winged Foot” in 1974 when the winning score was 7-over par.

This was a massacre, all right.

DeChambeau rolled in a 7-foot par putt and thrust those powerful arms in the air when he capped off a 3-under 67 on a course that didn’t allow another round under par. Two shots behind Matthew Wolff at the start of a chilly September afternoon, he caught him in four holes, passed him in five and pulled away along the back nine.

From the fairway. From the rough. It didn’t matter.

“I don’t really know what to say because that’s just the complete opposite of what you think a U.S. Open champion does” Rory McIlroy said. “Look, he’s found a way to do it. Whether that’s good or bad for the game, I don’t know, but it’s just not the way I saw this golf course being played or this tournament being played.”

Call him a mad scientist in a tam o’shanter cap. Call him a game-changer in golf.

Any description now starts with U.S. Open champion.

Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., was the top Canadian following a 70 that left him 10 over, good for 23rd spot. Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., struggled to an 80, finishing at 19 over.

Wolff, trying to become the first player since Francis Ouimet in 1913 to win the U.S. Open in his debut, closed with a 75. He made a 10-foot eagle putt on the par-5 ninth to stay within one shot. That was his only hole under par. Wolff finished at even-par 280, a score that would have won four of the previous five U.S. Opens at Winged Foot.

It didn’t stand a chance in this one.

“You can’t take Bryson out because obviously he won, but shooting even par for four rounds at Winged Foot is pretty exceptional,” Wolff said.

That describes DeChambeau this week. It was a breathtaking performance, four rounds at par or better, the first player to manage that at Winged Foot.

His victory really began last October, when he closed out his 2019 season in Las Vegas and said with a mischievous grin, “I’m going to come back next year and look like a different person.” He added 40 pounds through intense workout and a diet of 6,000 calories a day.

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down golf for three months, leading to the U.S. Open being postponed from June to September. It also gave DeChambeau more time to execute his plan of swinging faster and harder, stretching the limits.

His work ethnic borders on insanity, and the eve of the final round was no exception. Unhappy with how he played Saturday, hitting only three fairways, DeChambeau had the lights turned on so he could stay on the range well past 8 p.m., pounding driver, searching for the right swing. Temperatures were in the 40s. He was in a short-sleeve shirt.

He didn’t find fairways, but he seemed to miss in the right spots. That was key for a player who hit only six fairways on Sunday, 23 out of 56 for the week.

Skepticism turned into admiration, with a healthy dose of disbelief.

“It’s a game we’ve never really seen before,” said Harris English, who shot 73 and finished fourth.

Louis Oosthuizen birdied the 18th to finish alone in third.

“I don’t think they can set it up for him, to be honest,” Oosthuizen said. “I don’t know what they can do really, because he’s hitting it so far. He’s so strong out of the rough. And he’s probably one of the best putters out there, which a week that he really putts well, you’re going to have a lot of trouble.”

In six U.S. Opens at Winged Foot among 894 competitors, DeChambeau is only the third to finish a tournament under par. His 6-under 274 was the lowest score, and no one saw it coming this week.

Wolff, the 21-year-old Californian who can drive it past DeChambeau with a lower flight and more roll in the fairway, gave him a good run in his quest to become the youngest U.S. Open champion since Bobby Jones in 1923.

The U.S. Open was still up for grabs for a fleeting moment around the turn. DeChambeau and Wolff each got out of position on the eighth hole and made bogey. DeChambeau was at 3 under, one shot ahead of Wolff. Ahead of them, Oosthuizen and Xander Schauffele were lurking at even par.

Still to play was the back nine, where so much has gone wrong at Winged Foot over the years.

Not this time.

DeChambeau and Wolff blasted drives down the fairway on the par-5 ninth. DeChambeau rolled in a 40-foot eagle putt with perfect pace. Wolff, who had pitching wedge for his second shot, matched his eagle with a 10-foot putt.

Just like that it was a two-man race.

And then it was a one-man show.

Wolff’s tee shot on the par-3 10th rolled left into the thick collar of the bunker, a spot so precarious he had to stand in the deep bunker and grip halfway down the steel shaft of his sand wedge. He chipped 10 feet by the hole for a bogey to fall two shots behind.

From the fairway on the 11th, however, Wolff hit wedge that was chunky and went into the right rough, and he had to scramble for par instead of setting up a reasonable birdie chance. DeChambeau from the right rough came up short, but he used putter from off the green for birdie from 15 feet away.

With a three-shot lead, DeChambeau kept blasting away as if he were chasing, not leading, just like he said he would. He saved par from the left rough on the 14th and a perfect pitch from deep grass behind the green. He downed another protein shake walking down the 15th, marching along to a major title that affirms his position in the game as a pioneer.

Imagine the USGA, which has been studying the impact on distance, getting together for a debriefing after this performance. What would they say?

“He’s hitting it forever,” DeChambeau said with a laugh.

The last laugh.

Golf is both thrilling and maddening, a way to have a singular escape or meet with friends, and a game for a lifetime that can be played by both the health-conscious and those who take it as an opportunity to raise a Steamwhistle and crush a hot dog.

But, when you’re looking for something even more for your next 18 holes, we’ve got you covered with an explainer of some fun games you could play with your group.

Games played on the course can be as simple as a match against a friend or family member all the way to a complicated tracker of accomplishments (or lack thereof) resulting in, perhaps, a couple of loonies passed between hands.

While the new Golf Canada app is perfect for posting scores using regular stroke play, we know that not everyone takes to the course to play nine or 18 holes counting all his or her shots. Playing games in a group is way to spice up your usual round. Even for the most experienced golf group, there may be something new below that you’ve never tried!

Read on to learn more about some of our favourites.

1. Alternate Shot

Otherwise known as ‘foursomes’ this is a completely different kind of golf that North Americans usually only see on TV during the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Trying this out with your friends will a) make you understand why the best players in the world struggle with it and b) maybe make you try to find some new friends, depending on where your partner leaves you to hit from.

Alternate shot is, well, that. One player hits then the next player hits from where she or he ended up. It could also be modified to where each twosome hits a drive, you pick the best one, and you alternate shots from there to the hole.

Must play with four golfers.

2. Six-Six-Six

This is a simple match-play format that allows you to play with everyone else in your group and not just a single partner for the duration of the round.

The 18 holes are divided up into three six-hole matches and you can use any scoring format you choose. Even if you get defeated soundly in one of your matches, you have two others to try to redeem yourself.

Must play with four golfers. If you are riding in carts, the usual format is ‘carts’ (those in the same cart), ‘drivers’ (those who are driving), and ‘opposites’ (a driver and a passenger).  

3. Wolf 

A points-based game, this one takes a little planning and some concentration (perhaps try to find an accountant to play with?) but it’s a dramatic one that makes for some great stories by the time the day is done.

There is a ton of other ways to track points and add bonuses to your Wolf game, but here are the basics:

• The order of play is determined on the first tee. The ‘Wolf’ always tees off last. The order in which golfers tee off, regardless of score, rotates every four holes so each player becomes the Wolf on a continual basis.
• Once each player hits his or her tee shot, the Wolf decides to either take a partner (based on the locations of the tee shots) or go as the ‘Lone Wolf’ and try to beat the other three players on his or her own ball.
  • Variation: You could also be the ‘Blind Wolf’ and declare, before any of the tee shots are hit, that you are going to go at it alone
• Points are collected as follows
  • Wolf and partner win the hole: two points
  • Non-Wolf partners win the hole: three points
  • Lone Wolf wins: four points
  • Lone Wolf defeated by any player: The other three get one point

Must play with four golfers.

4. Bingo, Bango, Bongo

Another fun one that doesn’t need to involve four players, and it’s perfect for golfers who have a higher handicap but still want to get in on the action during a round. It’s another game of points but one that’s wrapped in being ‘first’ to do something.

The first player to hit his or her shot onto the green gets a point (Bingo!), the player whose ball is closest to the pin when all balls are on the green gets a point (Bango!), and the first person to hole out gets a point (Bongo!).

At the end of the round whomever has the most points wins.

Can be played with two, three, or four golfers. 

5. Vegas

Another team game, this one can get out of hand if you’re applying a monetary value to each point – but it’s a unique twist on a usual ‘scoring’ game.

Teams are decided on the first tee and scores are not added, but combined. If Player A makes a 4 and Player B makes a 5 then their score is 45. If Player C makes a 5 and Player D makes a 7, their score is 57 and Team AB wins the hole by 12 points.

The lower score always goes to the front of the combined score.

Must play with four golfers. 

6. Best Ball

A Best Ball match is just that, and can be combined to any number of other team matchups on the course. Teams of two play straight up, but as the name suggests, the ‘best’ score on the hole counts as the team score.

‘Best Ball’ is not to be confused with a ‘Scramble’ (very popular for family or corporate tournaments) where all four members of a team hit a tee shot and they continue on to hole out by choosing the ‘best ball’ out of the bunch every time.

Must play with four golfers.

7. Skins

Golfers apply points (or dollar amounts) to each hole and the lowest score wins the pot.

If any two golfers tie the hole then the point or dollar amount carries over to the following hole. Things can add up quick and make the holes later in the round even more exciting!

Can play with two, three, or four golfers.

8. Stableford

Another opportunity for the higher handicap golfers to earn points against their lower-handicap friends, the Stableford system of scoring is so popular even the PGA Tour uses it for one of their events.

Points are applied to scores and the higher the better, in this instance.

For example: Three points for an eagle, two points for a birdie, one point for a par, no points for a bogey, and minus-1 point for a double-bogey or worse is a good way to start.

Can play with two, three, or four golfers. 

9. Nassau

Playing a Nassau is the most popular of golf games and the one with the most variations, too.

At its simplest, a Nassau is broken out in to three games: low front-nine score, low back-nine score, and low 18-hole score. Dollar amounts or points are applied to each match. Say you were going to play a $5 Nassau, the most you can lose is $15. If you win all three, you win $45 ($15 from the other three players).

A popular move when playing Nassau’s is to ‘press’ (basically double-or-nothing on the original bet), which you could do if you were down a few strokes and wanted to try for a late-round charge.

Fun add-ons, called ‘junk’ can be added to the original Nassau game.

Hit it in the water but still made par? You could add a ‘Fishy’ to your Nassau. Knocked it off a tree but still made par? Congratulations, you made a ‘Barky.’ Chipped in? Well done, you earned a ‘Chippie.’

Golf is a fun enough game as it stands, but over 18 holes and with the same group round after round, there is no shortage of little games you can bring to the course the next time you tee it up.

In late July, Golf Canada and the Golf Canada Foundation joined together to launch the COVID-19 GOLF RELIEF FUND, an initiative aimed at supporting golf courses in helping employees and golfers stay safe while also thanking front-line workers through encouraging additional play and welcoming juniors to further experience the game.

As part of the RELIEF FUND, golfers and golf fans across the country were able to participate in a digital sweepstakes campaign featuring significant prizing across Canada and the U.S. in 2021.

Golf Canada and the Golf Canada Foundation would like to thank everyone who participated in the sweepstakes and supported the COVID-19 Golf Relief Fund thus far.

We are excited to announce and congratulate our sweepstakes prize winners below:

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We are not done yet… You can still help by getting behind the COVID-19 Golf Relief Fund!

Donations to the RELIEF FUND will be accepted throughout the season.

Click here to learn more about the COVID-19 Golf Relief Fund

Despite the challenges of the pandemic in the communities where we live, work and play, golf has seen a strong increase in rounds played across the country. Interest in the game and the golf experience among avid players, new enthusiasts, and juniors has been encouraging with golf’s re-emergence through COVID-19. Golf is well positioned for continued success moving forward and as the season begins to wind down, take a moment to be proud of the industry’s collective efforts to keep golfers and course staff safe in 2020.