Canadian golf leaders, executives, professionals and enthusiasts were in attendance on Thursday, Nov. 2, at the Canadian golf industry expo for the state of the industry town hall conducted by the PGA of Ontario.

Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum was among the leaders who spoke from the featured panel at the Nottawasaga Inn Resort in Alliston, Ont.

With its long history and vast geography, Canada boasts many strange and spooky tales. There are haunted coal mines in Cape Breton, poltergeists in Calgary and even a pair of haunted boots in St. Vincent’s Newfoundland. It is no wonder, therefore, that golf courses across the country are rumoured to be home to some extraordinary spirits.

Haunted Lakes Golf Club

Winning the award for the Canadian golf course with the spookiest name is Haunted Lakes Golf Club in Alix, a town east of Red Deer, Alta. It is here an ancient drama plays out every winter along the third fairway, where Haunted Lake hugs the front right of the green.

Before Europeans arrived, native groups camped on the lake’s eastern shore. One winter, seven hunters camped there for the night. In the morning, they looked out across the lake and spied the magnificent head and antlers of a deer caught in the ice.

The seven headed off and upon reaching the creature, they started to chip away at the ice. The mighty animal, which was very much alive, gave a great heave and smashed through the ice. It swam for shore, breaking a path before it. The deer made it to shore and the safety of the woods, but the men were not so lucky. They plunged through the ice and all seven drowned.

It is said the seven hunters have haunted the lake ever since, giving the spot its name. Locals also claim that every winter a mysterious phenomenon can be observed as each year a huge fissure appears in the ice along the path the deer travelled to the shore.

Glen Abbey Golf Club

Several provinces east of Alberta you will find Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville, Ont.

The story says there is a house on the property which was built in 1937 by a mining engineer as his weekend retreat. The engineer, Andre Dorfman, was a leading figure in the Canadian mining industry at the time.

In 1953 Dorfman sold the house to the Jesuit Fathers of Upper Canada as a retreat. The property was sold again in 1963 to businessmen who opened a golf club. In memory of the Jesuits, the course was given the name Glen Abbey. Soon after the club opened, reports of a specter began to surface.

Within 10 years, they started talking about a ghost in the building. The story is that the ghost lives in the old mansion and walks up the back stairs and down the main hallway towards the library.

The mansion is a good example of the stately homes built in Oakville in the early twentieth century. It is constructed of stone with a red clay tile roof and features a wood-lined library on the second floor. Originally known as RayDor Estate House, the building has been designated as a heritage property. Prior to 1975 it served as the golf course’s clubhouse and currently is home to an investment company.

One of the rooms in the basement is actually made to replicate the ship in which the original builder came over from Switzerland.

The ghost in the old mansion is said to be male, and eyewitnesses agree that it resembles a Jesuit father.

Victoria Golf Club

Victoria Golf Club in Victoria, B.C., boasts both an impressive course history and a ghost or two of its own. The club is beautifully situated on a rocky point at the southern end of Vancouver Island.

The club dates back to November 1893 when local golf enthusiasts negotiated for permanent rights to play the rough fields of Pemberton Farm. Originally, golfers were prohibited from using the grounds over the summer, when cattle grazed what would become today’s fairways.

Like Haunted Lakes, the Victoria Golf Club may be haunted by early aboriginal inhabitants. One researcher suggests that some of its phantoms may be the souls of native warriors killed in battle centuries ago. However, these spirits pale beside the club’s other resident, the late Doris Gravlin, possibly Victoria’s most famous ghost.

John Adams is an expert on Doris, as she’s affectionately called by locals. A historian and author, Adams is best known as the proprietor of the “Ghostly Walks” tour, which explores historic courtyards and spooky places where spirits like Doris make their presence known.

“Doris Thomson was born in Blackburn, Lancashire in 1906 and immigrated to Canada with her parents,” recounts Adams. The Thomson family settled in Victoria where Doris’s mother worked at a private hospital. Doris became a nurse as well, until 1930 when she married Victor Gravlin.

Victor was a sports reporter for the Colonist newspaper, spending many happy hours golfing with his brother Walter, head pro at the Uplands Golf Club. The hours Victor spent with Doris would prove to be much less happy.

“When her husband began to drink heavily, Doris left him,” explains Adams, adding that Doris found work as a private live-in nurse.

“In mid-September of 1936 Victor delivered a letter to Doris,” Adams says. “Its contents were unknown, but are believed to have been a request for her to meet him to discuss reconciliation.”

Doris stepped out for a walk at about 7:45 pm on September 22, 1936; Victor left his parents’ house shortly thereafter. One observer saw them together on Runnymede Avenue, but after that, neither was seen alive.

Doris and Victor were reported missing. A search ensued and days later, Doris’s corpse was discovered. Her body was later discovered amid the driftwood on the beach near the 7th green by a caddy looking for lost balls. She had been strangled and her shoes, belt and felt hat were missing.

Gossips maintained that Victor had escaped. But they were wrong.

“One month later a fisherman found Victor’s body floating in the kelp beds off the ninth fairway,” describes Adams. “A length of rope was found in his coat pocket, along with Doris’s missing attire. The police concluded he had murdered his wife then committed suicide by walking into the water.”

The discovery of two bodies on the grounds gave rise to the notion the club was haunted, and many sightings have been reported since.

“Typical manifestations are a fast-moving figure in white, a feeling of doom, a cold wind and a globe of spectral light,” says Adams. “Doris also plays havoc with motorists along Beach Drive, sometimes flying through open windows and even penetrating windshields as a cold mist.”

MURRIETA, Calif. – Five Canadians are set to tee-it-up in stage II of Web.com Tour Q-School from Oct. 31 – Nov. 3 at Bear Creek Golf in one of five qualifying events held across the United States.

The Canadian contingent is made up by Jared du Toit (Kimberley, B.C.), Riley Wheeldon (Comox, B.C.), Seann Harlingten (Vancouver), Ryan Yip (Calgary) and Aaron Cockerill (Gunton, Man.)

The tournament is a 72-hole stroke play event with no cut – the number of qualifying positions to advance will be announced during the tournament.

Click here for full scoring.

Play it again, Tiger Woods.

For the second straight year, Woods will return from back surgery at his holiday tournament in the Bahamas the week after Thanksgiving.

Woods has not played since he withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic on Feb. 3 with back spasms. Two months later, he had his fourth back surgery in just over two years.

Woods will be part of the 18-man field at the Hero World Challenge, which starts Nov. 30 at Albany Golf Club. While sponsor exemptions are limited to the top 50 in the world, Woods is exempt as the tournament host.

His latest procedure was a fusion surgery — the previous three were microdiscectomy surgeries — and Woods reported instant relief. He also said just one month ago at the Presidents Cup that he had no idea what his future held.

Doctors gave him clearance to practice without limitations about a week later, and Woods had been posting video on Twitter of a full swing with an iron, a driver and then his signature stinger shot with the driver.

“I am excited to return to competitive golf at the Hero World Challenge,” Woods said in a story on his website. “Albany is the perfect setting and it will be great to join this outstanding field.”

The tournament has no cut.

A year ago, Woods returned after 15 months recovering from two back surgeries. He made 24 birdies, but finished 15th out of 18 players. The tournament is not official on any tour, although it does award world ranking points.

He made his first PGA Tour start at Torrey Pines and missed the cut, and then went to Dubai and didn’t make it past the first round before his back began acting up.

Woods made the announcement just three days after he pleaded guilty to reckless driving in a deal that allows him to avoid jail time if he doesn’t violate terms of his probation.

The deal stems from a Memorial Day arrest on a DUI charge when Woods was found asleep at the wheel of his car, which was still running and parked at an awkward angle about 15 minutes from his home in Florida.

Woods attributed it to a bad combination of prescription medicine.

According to a toxicology report, Woods had the active ingredient for marijuana, two painkillers, the sleep drug Ambien and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in his system.

He completed a drug treatment program in July.

Woods has 79 PGA Tour victories and 14 majors, both second all-time, though he has not won since the Bridgestone Invitational in August 2013 for his record 18th World Golf Championships title.

The Canadian Seniors Golf Association (CSGA) generously donated $34,775 to the Golf Canada Foundation this year to help with grow the game initiatives and scholarships. In 2017, the funds helped create a matching program for the Golf in Schools Adopt a School Week, which translated to 26 new schools across Canada delivering the program.

Read the full story by Jeffrey Reed at LondonOntarioGolf.com

MEN’S AMATEUR TOP 10

Joey Savoie made the biggest gain among the Top-10 as the Golf Canada National Team member and No. 4 ranked amateur in Canada climbed 14 places in the world rankings.

Charles Corner, Emmett Oh and Lawren Rowe all moved up one spot in the Canadian rankings, gaining five, five and three spots respectively due to Matt Williams’ slide down the rankings.

Biggest move: Thomas Demarco gained 539 spots in the world rankings after finishing in a tie for eighth at the Pinetree Intercollegiate. It was the second top 10 result for the golfer from Lasalle, Ont., who is a junior at Northern Illinois University.

Complete World Amateur Golf Rankings can be found here.

WOMEN’S AMATEUR TOP 10

Top ranked Maddie Szeryk gained three places in the world rankings after finishing runner-up at the Maryb S. Kauth Invitational. The Golf Canada National Team member has finished in the top 10 in all four events this fall, including a pair of second place results. Since September 3, Szeryk is a combined 23 shots below par over the span of 10 rounds. The result moved her up to No. 28 in the world and she is likely to improve upon that ranking following her results at the final fall tournament, which should be factored into next week’s rankings.

Michelle Kim made the biggest move among the Top-10, picking up 15 places in the world rankings after finishing in a tie for 16th at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown. It was the third top 20 result for Kim who moves up to No. 9 in the Canadian rankings.

Biggest Move: Brigitte Thibault gained 411 spots in the world rankings after finishing in a tie for 13th at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown. The freshman from Rosemère, Que. has also posted a tie for sixth in four tournaments at Fresno State.

Complete World Amateur Golf Rankings can be found here.

MEN’S TOP 10

Benjamin Silverman gained 31 spots in the world rankings after finishing in a tie for seventh at the Sanderson Farms Championship. It was his first top 10 result on the PGA tour since earning his card for the 2018 season. The result was worth 3.92 world ranking points, the third best points-paying finish of his career. The result also helped him move up to No. 6 in the Canadian rankings.

Only one other change in the Top-10 saw Richard T Lee move past Roger Sloan into the No. 8 spot in the Canadian rankings.

Other notable results: No. 1 Adam Hadwin finished tied for 65th at WGC-HSBC Champions; No. 7 David Hearn finished tied for 59th at PGA Sanderson Farms Championship; No. 10 Corey Conners finished tied for 65th at the Sanderson Farms Championship;

Click here for Men’s Official World Golf Rankings.

WOMEN’S TOP 10

Brooke Henderson actually lost ground in the world rankings despite finishing in a tie for fifth at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia event. While the result saw Henderson’s total world ranking point total grow 4.78 points, she slipped down to No. 13 in the world rankings, having been passed by tournament winner Cristie Kerr and slipping behind Sei Young Kim, who also posted a top 10 result. The result was Henderson’s eighth top 10 result of the season on the LPGA Tour. The last time she was ranked this low outside the top 10 was back on June 19th

Other Notable Results: No. 2 Alena Sharp finished tied for 62nd at Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia;

Click here for full Women’s Rolex World Rankings.

It was a repatriation of sorts when I received an unexpected phone call from 11-time PGA Tour winner Andy Bean.

“Meggan, have I got something for you,” he said, as we got to the reason for his call. “Would you (the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame & Museum) like the very first Vokey wedge ever used on the PGA Tour?”

My heart leapt. Not only was I getting a call from a noted PGA Tour winner but he was offering to donate an incredible artifact that has since rewritten the way manufacturers and professionals craft wedges. Currently, Vokey Design products are used by players all over the world — including major champions Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Justin Thomas — and at every level of the game.

“Yes!” I emphatically replied. “Did you win any tournaments with it?”

“Unfortunately,” Bean continued, “I did not win any tournaments with that wedge. But it certainly was not the wedge’s fault! And you can quote me on that.”

Bean then proceeded to tell me the amazing story of how he essentially stole the club from legendary designer and Canadian Golf Hall of Famer Bob Vokey and continued using it until the wedge was too worn down to play with.

When he was moving towards the design of wedges for Titleist, it was a new endeavour not only for Bob Vokey but for Titleist as well. The company had been aiming to make a push in the wedge market.  Vokey had primarily been focused on designing woods but he was always fascinated by the intricacies of wedges and their vast needs by amateurs and professionals.

Tinkering in his workshop, he would eventually produce a prototype that he was comfortable enough to try out on the range. In 1997, Vokey was attending an event in which Bean was playing and approached him on the range. As Bean recalls, Vokey was humble in his approach and asked if he could spend five minutes swinging his prototype. Bean obliged and after swinging the Vokey wedge, he said that he loved the club and he was going to play with it for the weekend.

Vokey was shocked, as much by the player’s reaction as the reality that he had only made that club as a single prototype. It was never meant to be used in a tournament.

“If you are as good a clubmaker as I know you are, you can make another one,” Bean responded.  “I’m playing with this one for the week.”

The prototype wedge arrived by mail two weeks after the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Vokey and Judy Darling Evans at Glen Abbey GC, which took place during the 2017 RBC Canadian Open.

A note was attached:

Dear Meggan and RCGA (Golf Canada)

With the greatest of pleasure, I send the first Titleist, Vokey wedge, especially after Canadian Golf has inducted him into the Hall of Fame.

Bob Vokey has been a great part of golf and it has been an honour knowing him and using his equipment.

Best wishes,

Andy Bean

I sent Andy a note letting him know that I received the club and thanked him very much for the incredible donation to the museum’s collection of artifacts.  “Did you want a tax receipt?” I asked.

“No, that’s okay,” Bean replied. “I only ask that if for any reason you ever get rid of the club, that it is donated to the World Golf Hall of Fame.”

I laughed at the thought, and affirmed my intentions.

“You don’t have to worry about that, Andy. It’s now home.”

This article was originally published in the Fall Issue of Golf Canada Magazine. Click here to view the full magazine.

A year ago, Bob Thompson and his wife, Lynn, began discussing a 2017 trip to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Living in Sundre, Alta., travelling to Atlantic Canada was something the couple had been eager to cross off their bucket list. It was a long way from home but for pure pleasure and personal reasons they always dreamed of getting to St. John’s, N.L., Halifax and Pictou, N.S., among other places.

Then last fall, Thompson was alerted that he was the lucky winner of Golf Canada’s inaugural East/West Contest, for which he received a grand prize package that included four nights of accommodation, air travel and car rental. And, of course, golf.

His choice of a round at either Banff Springs Golf Course in Banff, Alta., or Cabot Links or Cabot Cliffs in Inverness, N.S., was an easy one. With Fairmont Banff Springs just a couple hours southwest from Sundre, and having already played the Stanley Thompson gem a handful of times, the retired IT worker mapped out a dream vacation to Canada’s east coast.

“Cabot is so far away from here that, other than looking at the Canadian golf course rankings, you don’t think too much of places like that,” Thompson explained.

From late August to early September, the Thompsons’ eastern escape finally came to fruition. They bookended their trip as desired with stops in Newfoundland and around Nova Scotia but, for a golfer who typically plays his home track of Sundre Golf Club three to four times a week, Bob was anxious to get on the tee at the two Cape Breton beauties.

“It was breathtaking,” he said. “As far as the views from some of the fairways, I had a hard time keeping my mind on the task of golfing. The scenery was just outstanding, and that’s probably because if you’re landlocked like we are (in Sundre), you don’t get to see the ocean.”

Though the contest prizing included just one round at either the Links or Cliffs course, Thompson wasn’t going to venture across the country without experiencing both acclaimed tracks, which are ranked Nos. 1 (Cabot Cliffs) and 3 (Cabot Links) on SCOREGolf’s list of Canada’s Top 59 Public Golf Courses. Despite the slightly lower ranking Thompson found the Links layout, with its firm and fast greens and rugged fescue, to be a little more challenging and enjoyable. Meanwhile, the incomparable views and stunning scenery of the Cliffs course were not enough to offset the 72-year-old’s fatigue from walking up and down the imposing fairways.

Not even Mother Nature could spoil the memorable outing for the Thompsons, who got rained out halfway through their first day at the Links before getting back out a couple hours later. Instead, they were treated to the vacation of a lifetime simply by inputting scores into Golf Canada’s Score Centre. Each round logged this season, up until October 31, counts as a contest entry for this year’s draw, which takes place November 10, 2017.

Up for grabs is a once-in-a-lifetime retreat to either The Links at Crowbush Cove in Morell, P.E.I., or Fairmont Chateau Whistler in Whistler, B.C., with the prize trip to be fulfilled in the 2018 season. Bob Thompson wasted no time making his choice and has no regrets about the decision either.

“Seeing Peggy’s Cove would rank No. 2 to seeing both the Links and Cliffs. Being a golfer, nothing compares to being there and golfing there,” he concluded.

This article was originally published in the Fall Issue of Golf Canada Magazine. Click here to view the full magazine.

SHANGHAI – Justin Rose posed with the trophy from the balcony high above the 18th green at Sheshan International, a moment that didn’t seem possible.

He started the final round eight shots behind Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world.

“The beginning of the day, I was playing for second,” Rose said.

The HSBC Champions turned into a shocker in Shanghai when Johnson went into the PGA Tour record books for all the wrong reasons.

Instead of becoming the first player to win three World Golf Championships in one year, he tied a record for losing the largest lead in the final round. Six shots clear of the field, Johnson didn’t make a single birdie on a wild, wind-blown Sunday for a collapse that even Rose didn’t see coming.

Only when he saw a leaderboard behind the 14th green and realized he was three shots behind did Rose think he might have a chance. He got up-and-down with a tough bunker shot for birdie. He made a 10-foot par save at the 15th to stay in the game. He birdied the next two holes.

As Rose was signing for a 5-under 67, he looked up and saw Johnson’s last hope for eagle on the 18th tumble off the side of the green and into the water.

“It’s the kind of day you certainly don’t expect,” Rose said after his two-shot victory. “It’s the kind of a day you hope for – dream for – but a lot of things need to go your way in order for a day like today to happen, coming from eight shots behind, especially going against a player like DJ.”

He overcame an EIGHT-shot deficit for his 8th win on the PGA TOUR! ?@JustinRose99 claims the WGC-HSBC Champions! #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/eo32mFc7OB

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 29, 2017

Johnson certainly did his part. He shot 77, his highest final round with the lead since an 82 at Pebble Beach in the 2010 U.S. Open.

“I just could never get anything going and didn’t hole any putts,” Johnson said. “It was pretty simple.”

It was simply stunning.

Johnson matched the record for losing a six-shot lead, most recently by Sergio Garcia at Quail Hollow in 2005, most famously by Greg Norman in the 1996 Masters.

The one-man show turned into a four-man race in the final hour, and Rose seized on it with a 31 on the back nine. He finished at 14-under 274. Johnson tied for second with Henrik Stenson (70) and Brooks Koepka (71), who also had their chances.

Only two other players in PGA Tour history have come from more than eight shots behind on the final day to win – Paul Lawrie (10 shots) in the 1999 British Open and Stewart Cink (nine shots) at Hilton Head in 2004.

“It was the perfect type of weather conditions to make a comeback,” Rose said. “This is the type of day when you are playing with a lead, every hole seems difficult. Obviously, someone is still capable of playing a special round of golf. And my back nine was just amazing today.”

The signature shot was a 5-iron he purposely threw up into the wind on the par-3 17th and watched it land some 3 feet behind the hole. That gave him the lead over Stenson, and no one caught him.

Stenson, who tied for the lead with a two-putt birdie from just short of the 16th green, ballooned his tee shot on the 17th and was well short and to the right, leading to a bogey. Koepka was within one shot of the lead until the wind switched on him at the 15th and deposited his shot into a plugged lie in the bunker. He blasted out to the fringe and took three putts from 30 feet for double bogey.

Rose won for the first time since capturing the gold medal at the Olympics last summer in Rio de Janeiro. He now has won every year since 2010.

The HSBC Champions sure didn’t look like a tournament where he would keep that streak going, not when he was eight shots behind going into the final round against Johnson, who has been No. 1 in the world since running off three straight victories against strong fields in the spring.

Nothing went right for Johnson.

He made bogey on No. 1. He drove into the water on the par-5 second and had to scramble for bogey. Still, he made the turn at 15 under and had a three-shot lead, and he was driving it down the middle and long on every shot. He fell apart on the par-5 14th, when he chunked a short iron for his second shot and had to get up-and-down for par, bogeyed the 15th from the bunker, and then hooked an iron into deep rough on the 16th.

His flop shot was a yard short of being perfect. Instead, it went into a bunker and he made another bogey.

“That wind was blowing hard,” Stenson said. “On this golf course, if you hit the wrong shot at the wrong time, it’s going to penalize you. Certainly it penalized DJ a number of times today. That’s why he came back to the rest of us. I played pretty strong, and then I hit one bad shot with possible the wrong club on 17. That kind of ended my chances to win the golf tournament.”

Rose won his second World Golf Championships title – the other was at Doral in 2012 – and moved to No. 6 in the world. Johnson gets a month off to consider one that got away from him in an ugly manner.

SCOREGolf’s Jason Logan sat down with Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum to discuss Canadian golf championships, the sport’s accessibility for kids and the future of golf in Canada. Watch their interview below.