You’ve heard the boilerplate reasons to maintain an accurate handicap factor.

“Level playing field.” “Track your progress.”

Blah, blah, blah.

Here’s the real reason.

Don’t be a cheater. Be a real golfer. An honest golfer.

Oh, I am sure your intentions are good. You stand on the first tee and when asked what your handicap factor is, you say, “Well, I usually shoot about xx.” Then you go and shoot xx minus 10.

There’s no polite way to say this. You cheated. And you are no doubt a little embarrassed. As an unintentional result, there will be whispers of “sandbagger” when your name is mentioned subsequently.

I have no doubt your intentions were honourable and so are you. But because you didn’t have a verifiable factor, you cheated your fellow competitors (who hopefully had a Golf Canada handicap factor) of the opportunity to compete equitably.

If anyone has a passion for this topic, it’s Craig Loughry, Golf Canada’s Director of Handicap and Course Rating. Only he would call the handicapping system “cool.”

“The obvious cool part of handicaps is allowing golfers of any ability to have either a fun, friendly match with a friend or relative or a serious competition with anyone. Look at the alternative. Otherwise, the higher-handicapped player would be slaughtered in a gross stroke-play event or worse, they enter into a heated negotiation on the first tee as to how many strokes each should get.”

Loughry points out that the Golf Canada handicap system provides for golfers who play from different tees in the same event to compete on an equitable basis.

And there are many other advantages to maintaining an accurate and official Golf Canada handicap factor over other informal and unapproved score tracking systems, including being able to observe your progress (or lack thereof) over the course of years.

Consider yourself a “real golfer”?

You’re not if you don’t maintain an accurate Golf Canada handicap factor.

And if we meet on the first tee, you’re not getting any strokes from me.

The dream of every athlete is to go out on top, to go out a winner.

It’s a feat so rarely accomplished because you only get one chance at it. You only get one last tournament.

But on Sunday at the 2017 Canadian University/College Championship Kat Kennedy did just that.

As she watched her final putt drop, Kennedy walked off the green and into the arms of her teammates after a dominating 15-stroke victory in the individual women’s division, leading her University of British Columbia Thunderbirds to its second consecutive title at the event.

And she did so at her final event at the end of her university golf career.

“It feels amazing to end my last tournament of my university career on a high note and with such a good team,” said Kennedy, after securing herself and her team at the top of the leaderboard. “It feels awesome right now.”

The 22-year-old science student from Okotoks, Alta., has hung up her Thunderbirds’ gear after successfully defending her 2016 title and plans to finish her undergrad degree next year.

Like most collegiate athletes, Kennedy’s commitment to the golf team has allowed her to pursue a higher education, but the time commitment to her sport means she must pick up a few more credits in her fifth year.

“I love golf,” she said. “I love the game. I just want to keep playing as long as I can. I still have one more year left, so I have some time to decide what I want to do next. Right now, I’m going to focus on school and keep playing and improve my game as best as I can.”

The weather was not kind to Kennedy and the other players during the championship, which was held from May 29 – June 1. Two thunder delays, constant rain and a windy, cold final round lashed out at the field. But there behind Kennedy for every shot sat her parents, Tai and Len, on tiny portable stools they carried with them as they followed her around.

The two are, of course, her biggest fans and have traveled to every Canadian tournament she has played in as well as many down south in the United States. They are so committed to their daughters play that they don’t even take a hole off – even during the six-degree, extremely windy final round on June 1.

“Never,” said Tai, when asked if she was going to warm up for a couple of holes in the clubhouse after Kennedy made the turn. “She always wants us to be there. With some kids they always want their parents to stay away, but for us she’s always like, ‘I’m glad you’re here.’”

For Tai, golf isn’t just a game that her daughter plays for a way to go to university. It’s a part of her that has contributed to her growth as a human being.

“It keeps her grounded,” she said. “I’m really happy that she’s on the golf team. She works very hard and strives for the best. That’s what she tries to do every day: become a better person.”

Follow Kennedy for a couple of holes and you can see what Tai means.

Whether she’s lining up for a shot, walking to her ball or retrieving it from the cup, there is a constant laser-like focus in the way she carries herself. Even when she was leading by over a dozen strokes heading down the final fairway, that focus never wavered.

Tai doesn’t know where that work ethic comes from. “That’s just her,” she says. But it’s a major part of the reason that she has never missed a tournament in her Thunderbirds’ career – a goal she set for herself when she first joined the team.

Like many student-athletes, Kennedy started to excel at golf at a very young age. It wasn’t long until she was carding better scores than her father, Len.

“She started to pass me on the course when she was about 14 or 15,” said Len, (not at eight like Tai teased). “It made me feel really proud. She taught me real early to keep my mouth shut when making a bet with her. Don’t say you’ll give her 50 bucks to make a long birdie putt because she’ll put it in.”

As for her next step, Kennedy is still unsure.

She is going to finish her science degree next year while training and working on golf by herself. When she completes her education she is going to decide if she is ready to go pro or not.

In a true testament to her character that the game of golf helped build, she was permitted to play for the team in her fifth year, but she turned down the offer because she felt that it would be unfair to take away that spot from someone else.

Now that she’s done, Tai and Len are ready to retire their trusty stools they always carry around when following her, and they can watch as their daughter takes the next step.

“Golf put her through university,” said Tai. “I’m happy she’s going to get her degree and an education. That’s the main thing. Now I guess I have put this stool on Kijiji.”

Sure, Jordan Bean would love to brag that he consistently bombs drives past his older brother, Matt.
He doesn’t though. Not many do.

“He likes to rip at the golf ball,” said 16-year-old Jordan of Matt, two years his senior. “Even now, I’m not as far as him and I probably won’t ever hit it as far as him. Growing up, he was outdriving everybody in his own age group.

“But it was good to be able to throw the chirps out if I ever did outdrive him.”

Golf is a gentleman’s game, but the occasional barb and wisecrack is, uh, par for the course in this case of sibling rivalry.

Matt and Jordan are regulars at Canmore Golf and Curling Club, a charming and community-minded hangout in the Canadian Rockies, just a few minutes from the entrance gates to Banff National Park.

But every course has its own set of Bean brothers (or sisters), siblings who never seem to tire of cranking shots on the range and stick together like the Velcro flap on a golf glove.

“If I’m going to practise, I’ll definitely ask him what he’s doing and sometimes I’ll even call him if he’s out and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to practise’ or ‘I’m going to play. Do you want to come?’” Matt said. “And he’ll always say, ‘Yeah, pick me up,’ basically wherever he is. It’s generally something that we do together.”

Puck was their early passion, but the Beans got hooked on birdie-hunting together, with both crediting Jason Schneider’s junior program at Wildwood Golf Course in Saskatoon for sparking an increased interest in tournament play.

In fact, when the family moved back to the mountain town of Canmore after five years on the prairies, Matt stuck with Schneider — still an assistant professional at Wildwood — as his coach.
The brothers improved together, too.

“They were extremely hard-working, extremely dedicated. They spent a lot of hours here,” Schneider recalled. “They always strived to be better, and they always wanted to have that belt at home.”
That’s a boxing analogy, and these matches have become slugfests.

Today, Matt’s handicap factor is +1.5. He just completed his freshman season with the men’s golf program at Minot State University in North Dakota.

Jordan, a lefty who will graduate from high school in 2018 and also hopes to tee it up at the post-secondary level, is a scratch, and he gets one or two strokes off big bro.

“We’ll go on family golf holidays, too, and that’s an opportunity for all four of us to get out and golf together,” said their proud father, Martin Bean. “Usually, (wife) Barb and I are in one golf cart and the boys in the other, because they’re playing from the same tees and we’re a little bit further forward.”

There are not many sports that can bring a family of four together in that fashion.

“We didn’t really get to play hockey together, and it was always one of us being at the rink at this time and the other being at the rink at another time,” Matt said. “So we definitely got a lot closer when we started playing 36 holes a day in the summer and you spend eight hours on the course together. It seemed like there was always something to talk about, because you get your breaks from talking when you’re hitting your shots. So it’s definitely helped bring us together.”

Echoed Jordan: “We strive off each other, to try to beat each other. And I think it’s made us way better golfers than we probably could have been alone.”

Let’s not forget though, these kids can play. Matt finished in a tie for second last summer at the Alberta Junior Boys Championship,

crafting a three-round tally of two-over 215 in crummy conditions at the weather-shortened showdown.

Jordan closed with a red number — a one-under 70 on what turned out to be the last day — and wasn’t many notches down the leaderboard, T16 at 11-over 224. He checked in fifth among juvenile-aged competitors that week.

If one Bean has signed his scorecard and the other is still on the course in a tournament lap, they’ll often loop back with buddies to offer encouragement. It’s telling that one of Jordan’s favourite golf memories is a match that he lost, and not to his big bro.

“We were playing in a match-play tournament in Waskesiu and were paired up together, but we weren’t playing each other,” Jordan said. “I was dormie on No. 18 and knew I wasn’t going to win after I hit my drive a million miles off to the side. Matt was trying to come back in his match. If he lost, I would have to play him the next day, so I was cheering for him to come back, I’ll tell you that much.

“He managed to win by winning the last four straight, and it was one of my favourite moments to watch him play. It was just fun to cheer him on and see him succeed in that tournament aspect. “That’s one that I remember the most.”

Without a doubt, there will be many more memories. Realizing the PGA Tour is “far-fetched,” Matt will major in elementary education, a background that will also come in handy if he pursues a career as a teaching pro.

Jordan has time to ponder his options, but he’s leaning toward business or engineering.

“And being an elementary school teacher,” Matt pointed out, “I’d have my summers off to play golf.”

As long as Jordan lives nearby, he’ll never have trouble finding a game.

“I guess the rounds have become a little bit more serious. We tend to be a bit more focused than we were when we were little,” Jordan said. “But even then, it’s very similar to when we were smaller. We play for a milkshake or something now. But honestly, it’s just us two kids going to the course and having fun and playing together.”

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

With the 2017 season in full swing, Alberta Golf has already conducted its Scott Venturo Alberta Open Championship and Alberta Junior & Juvenile Championship U19 & U17 qualifier events. Starting today, and extending to the end of the week, over 250 competitors will compete in qualifiers, across five zones, in order to claim their spot into the Sun Life Financial Alberta Men’s Amateur Championship to be held at the Ponoka Golf Club, July 18th to 21st.

2017 Men’s Amateur Qualifier hosts include: Heather Glen Golf Club (Calgary), Whitecourt Golf & Country Club (North), Old Golf Club (Central) and Vulcan Golf Club (South).

Evan Holmes has been competing in the Men’s Amateur event for a few years now, and is the defending Champion.

“Just a big exhale of relief, really,” Holmes said of his reaction after winning the 2016 Sun Life Financial Alberta Men’s Amateur Championship at Innisfail Golf & Country Club. “It was a lot of hard work paying off. Probably since Sundre (2013 Amateur), it’s been the tournament that I’m always looking forward to every year, to work a little bit harder to get.”

Evan Holmes of Calgary captured the 2016 Sun Life Financial Alberta Men’s Amateur Championship in 2016 at Innisfail.

Ah yes, Sundre, site of the Alberta Men’s Amateur in 2013.

If you’re not familiar with the gut-wrenching details, Holmes owned a commanding nine-shot lead after three days at that event, only to be leapfrogged in the final round and lose by one.

At Innisfail, he fired four straight rounds in the 60s, finishing three shots up at 15-under 273.

“I would obviously rather have two Alberta Ams than one,” Holmes said. “But now that I have won one, it’s definitely a monkey off my back.”

All of this month’s qualifiers including, the Senior Men’s, will finish on June 13th. The deadline to register for the Senior’s competition is June 5th.

View all of the leaderboard results to see who will be competing in the various Alberta Golf Championships this season starting on June 20th. The Alberta Men’s Amateur Qualifying Calgary begins today.

Dustin Risdon captured the PGA of Alberta Championship at the Edmonton Petroleum G&CC. He continues to play extremely well, winning the PGA of Alberta’s first Players’ Tour event of the season on May 24, 2017. 

Junior champion.

Professional golfer.

Caddie.

PGA of Canada assistant.

Teacher.

Dustin Risdon has been there, done that … is doing that. And somewhere along the lines, he’s still finding time to do what he does best— win golf tournaments.

But these days, golf is paying dividends for him in more ways than with just prize money.

These days, the Strathmore native is stress-free and having fun golfing.

Again.

Finally again.

“I definitely lost the fun on a number of occasions,” said the 35-year-old two-time Alberta junior kingpin and 1997 Canadian junior champ, who eventually swung his way to success on the Nationwide Tour, now the Web.com Tour, during a roller-coaster pro golf career. “I wanted to quit the game countless times.”

Good thing he didn’t, in retrospect.

While they may not be events on the Nationwide Tour, of which he played in 46 events from 2003-10, or the Canadian Open, of which he’s played in three over the years, Risdon found his way to a run of wins — and a ton of fun — during the 2016 PGA of Alberta golf season.

First, it was victory at the PGA of Alberta Assistants’ Championship with a two-day 16-under 128 at Mill Woods Golf Club.

Second, it was the PGA of Alberta Championship that saw him shoot a field-best 1-under 71 at Edmonton Petroleum Golf & Country Club.

Then, it was the SunIce Tour Championship at which he carded a two-day 11-under 133 to beat runner-up Wes Heffernan by eight strokes and set a new course record at Sundre Golf Club.

Along the way, he won seven of the eight PGA of Alberta events he entered and finished runner-up in the other.

And in the end, he was tops on the PGA of Alberta’s order of merit and grabbed — of course — its player-of-the-year honour.

It was definitely good times for the oft-reserved Risdon.

“I was having fun most of the time,” said Risdon of the key to his golf success. “When I was travelling, I kind of got the old feelings back staying in the hotel rooms by myself, thinking ‘I don’t want to be doing this anymore.’ Quebec was a real tough one (for a third-place finish at the Quebec Canadian Circuit Pro Tour), because we were way out in the middle of nowhere — I was pretty much isolated by myself, it was a four-day event, and by the end of the week, I was pretty much begging to come home.”

But his crowning achievement of the schedule was yet to come on the shores of Georgian Bay at the Lora Bay Golf Club just outside Thornbury, Ont., where he trounced the field last September to triumph at the PGA Assistant’s Championship of Canada.

“It was relaxing staying at a house instead of being stuck alone in a hotel room — and that helped,” said Risdon of bunking with a friend in a huge home by Georgian Bay. “It’s a different feeling when you’ve got someone there with you there all the time, so that made life easier.”

Indeed, Risdon rode a stress-free week to a three-day, 18-under 198, beating the nearest competition by an event-record 11 strokes to collect a $9,000 paycheque. The first two rounds of his 67-67-64 effort helped Alberta win the 36-hole inter-zone competition — again in record fashion — at the national tournament.

“I was kinda building up to that — won a few tournaments going in,” Risdon said. “The year before, I had a bad first round. I felt like I could’ve won that tournament, but I actually felt a little nervous playing at a national championship again, even though it wasn’t the Canadian Open.

“So I went in last year thinking I can play with these guys and shoot 6-under each round. I shot 5-under the first round, and I told (the PGA of Canada reporter), ‘I’m one shot behind my goal — I want to shoot 6-under every day and finish 18-under’ — and his eyes went wide open. I birdied the last three holes to finish 18-under, and he was the first guy to say, ‘Holy, you did it!’

“So just the mind was right. I had a place to stay, and I had a buddy caddying for me — I was comfortable.”

These days, he’s most comfortable teaching the game to others as an associate teaching professional at National Golf Academy in Calgary.

Risdon brings, of course, a wealth of not just knowledge but the experience of having played high-pressure golf in the top ranks of the sport. It all makes him the perfect teacher.

“The first thing I teach in a lesson is we’re going to keep this as simple as possible, so you can go out and have some fun,” Risdon said. “They’re not going out on tour, so let’s get a golf-swing groove that you can go out and rely on. And I teach them how to self-diagnose, so they don’t have 18 different thoughts in their head before they hit the ball.”

He’s especially keen on mentoring those young talents with a chance, perhaps, to follow in his footsteps.

“You can’t perfect this game — you lose 99% of the time,” said Risdon, who’s also spent time working in the much-ballyhooed junior program at Collicutt Siding Golf Club in Carstairs. “It’s hard to explain the mental side. That’s why I go out and play a lot of lesson holes with the juniors. I’ll go out and show them how to play the course and offer course management and the mental experience.”

“You never say never when it comes to playing again — but for now, it’s teaching,” added Risdon, who can be reached at dustin@nationalgolfacademy.ca. “I’d like to become more of a coach — my ultimate goal is to help juniors along that are getting ready to go to college and help them get their scholarship. I didn’t have too much of that growing up. I had a lot of offers, but I didn’t have a lot of guidance. I want to re-do what I did with other kids and get them on the right track.

“If I can get them there and get them on their way, that would be gratifying to me.”

Dustin being Dustin

This article was originally published in the 2017 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.

Ken Darlington shot a 100 a couple of weeks ago at Riverside. Then he shot a 99.

So what’s so interesting about that? Well, how about this: Darlington is 100 years old and those two rounds were the 339th and 340th time he has shot his age.

“It’s miraculous that a guy is still playing golf at 100 let alone still shooting his age,” said Dunc Mills, a rules official of the Alberta Golf Association.

“That’s incredible.”

“Good heavens. I had no idea I had shot my age that many times,” replied Darlington. “I’ve been lucky.”

Lucky? Hardly. A guy who shoots his age 340 times is not lucky; he’s just that good.

While Darlington, who seemed to shoot his age just about every round when he was approaching his 90s, didn’t know the extent of his achievements, it was Stu Orr, president of the Riverside Senior Men’s League where Darlington plays, who uncovered all of the numbers.

“At Riverside alone Ken played 1,367 rounds and shot his age 280 times. That means every time Ken tees up his ball he shoots his age or better more than 20 per cent of the time.

“Amazing. Absolutely amazing,” said Orr, who said he saw somewhere on the internet that the percentage of golfers that shoot their age is just 0.0000089.

“I’m not sure how to say this but near as I can figure it means not many,” laughed Orr, who believes that the reason Darlington shoots his age so often is because of his chipping.

“He chips it to five feet from the pin and then he putts it in. And here I am four-putting.

“And he can still hit his driver 200 yards. And straight.

“Ken is my hero. He’s also a fantastic person. He’s as easy going as anyone you’ve ever met.”

Jim Dove, 90, who regularly picks up Darlington and then plays with him, believes Darlington’s success is his lob wedge.

“He’s deadly from 60 yards. He doesn’t get to most par 4s in two so he has to rely on his lob wedge.

“Ken and I hit our tee shots about the same distance and our second shots are usually within 10-12 feet of each other too.

“But then Ken gets out his lob wedge and it’s all over.”

Orr and Dove and several other friends of Darlington were going to hold a surprise 100th birthday party for Darlington a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, Darlington’s health prevented him from attending.

“My heart has been acting up and I’m short of breath,” said Darlington, who was born in Essex, England and came to Canada with his family in 1928. “I also get so tired. What can I say? I’m getting old.”

Working for the government in the agricultural department, Darlington said he never really took up the game until he retired in 1985.

“Before that I might have played one or two rounds a year.

“But then I met Jim Dove and some of his friends and Jimmy asked if I would come out golfing with them. I guess I must have liked it because we used to play about four times a week,” said Darlington, who has had a heart attack, quadruple bypass surgery, a detached retina and has an artificial aorta.

“Lucky,” he said again.

“I’ve had a lot of fun.”

Originally published in the Edmonton Journal – May 28th, 2017 

Marilyn O’Connor with her husband Don (photo credit Kamloops This Week)

Marilyn (Palmer) O’Connor was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame on May 26th in Red Deere, AB. The Induction Banquet welcomed over 600 people from across North America to celebrate the provinces iconic athletic contributors. It not only focused on those that have made a lasting impact, but it also highlighted the importance of community sport. 

Growing up with a golf course as her backyard, how could Marilyn (Palmer) O’Connor be anything other than a golfer? And with talent, positivity and an amazing work ethic, how could she be anything other than a champion?

O’Connor learned the game at the hip of her father, the golf professional at the Kamloops Golf and Country Club. From a young age, she was out on the course working hard to perfect her game, and that hard work paid off. The teenager won her first BC junior championship in 1963 and never looked back.

“It’s often that first prize that you win as a kid that motivates you to keep playing,” says Marilyn O’Connor. “What it comes down to is I just always really loved the sport. That’s what motivated me over the years.”

O’Connor has turned that love into an impressive resumé over the past several decades. She has 26 provincial championship titles in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan, five Alberta senior titles, and a Canadian senior championship. O’Connor is a two-time Vancouver city champion, fourteen-time Calgary city champion and an eight-time Calgary senior champion.  She has also been part of provincial or Canadian teams 52 times and competed in the World Cup six times and the Commonwealth Games four times, winning in 1979.

O’Connor’s success inspired many young girls learning the game, but it was her generous nature, talent, and encouragement of fellow golfers on and off the links that colleagues remember.

“You could not find a nicer person, a more talented player, and I really believe she raised the bar for golfers in this province,” says Judy Forshner, head golf professional at the Glencoe Golf and Country Club. “She’s a phenomenal individual. I feel fortunate to have met her and watched her play.”

After O’Connor married Don O’Connor in 1978, she moved to Alberta and continued golfing in Calgary. However, her golf career changed after starting a family. She still played high-level tournaments but she didn’t compete internationally as much.

“We had a fifth wheel and we’d go to tournaments and I’d play golf while my husband, who was so great, would take the kids and do the camping things,” she says. “My golf in Alberta has been a family affair.”

Today she continues to golf with her family, not for titles but for pure enjoyment of the game. After all, that’s what it has always been about for O’Connor.

“I’ve never played the game for recognition. I’ve played because I love to play. But when you are recognized, it’s very nice,” she says.

She has been recognized for her impressive accomplishments with inductions into the Kamloops, Canadian Golf, BC Golf, Alberta Golf, and the Pacific North Golf Association Halls of Fame. And this May, she will be inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.

“It takes in all sports and athletes who have been exceptional in a multitude of endeavours, so to be included is very special for me,” she says.

With a career spanning over 40 years and provincial, national and international championships, Marilyn O’Connor will be right at home at the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.

Marilyn O’Connor – For the Love of the Game

This article was originally published in the 2017 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.

Assembled media, sponsors and junior golfers at the annual McLennan Ross Junior Golf Tour Media Day on May 23rd at Wolf Creek Golf Resort. Juniors on hand included Brooke Brezovski of Sturgeon Valley, Ethan deGraaf of Royal Mayfair, Kaiden Nicholson of the Edmonton CC, and Chase Broderson of Lacombe. With 24 other events scheduled, the Tour kicks into high gear this week for the first tournament happening on May 27th in Drayton Valley. Entries are open. Visit the Tour’s website for more information and register. 

Tour talk – A message from the Tour’s Executive Director Dunc Mills on this season:

It has been over twenty years now; twenty-two to be exact, since we started the McLennan Ross Junior Golf Tour, Presented by Crowe MacKay.  What a treat it has been to see the thousands of young Alberta junior golfers compete on the Tour over that time as they launched their competitive golf careers.

While we have seen the best of the best Alberta juniors come through the program over the last two decades, we have also seen thousands of other youngsters who were just getting their first taste of what it takes to play in competition.

I can easily remember first seeing players like Jaclyn Lee, Brett Hogan, Jennifer Ha, Andrew Harrison and others when they were barely into their teens or even younger, and look at all they have accomplished now. Did the McLennan Ross Junior Golf Tour instantly turn these kids into great players?  Of course not; their hard work and dedication and talent turned them into great players. But one of the objectives of the Tour from the very start has been to help provide an environment where junior golfers of all abilities in Alberta have a platform where they can grow and develop their golf games, and have a ton of fun at the same time.

We would like to think that we have been very successful in that facet of what we have tried to achieve with these young people.

None of this of course would be possible without the support of so many others.  The host sites at courses around the province provide their golf courses to help grow the game and develop these kids into good players, and more importantly, into becoming good people.  Junior golf is so important in the personal growth and character development of young people.

Parents provide the moral and financial support to get their kids into golf and hopefully stay with the sport for a lifetime. Volunteers and professional staff at the host clubs provide their time and support to help make the tournaments run smoothly.

The financial support and encouragement from our corporate partners has been incredible.  Loyalty from sponsors such as the law firm of McLennan Ross as our Title Sponsor, and our Presenting Sponsor Crowe MacKay, makes the Tour possible in the first place.

The Koch Ford Edge all decked out at the McLennan Ross Junior Tour Media Day.

We couldn’t get around the province to the events without the Koch Ford Lincoln tour vehicle. Srixon Canada supports the annual Order of Merit so that the kids can track their progress and achievements. Dairyland supplies nutritious milk products for the players at every event.

We have 25 events around Alberta this summer at many of the best golf courses in the province, culminating in the Tour Championship at Wolf Creek Golf Resort on August 28^th, where Director of Golf Ryan Vold has hosted the tour final event since the Tour’s inception in 1996.  The tournaments are fun, affordable and great competition.  See you on Tour!

Tour Talk

This article was originally published in the 2017 edition of The Alberta Golfer Magazine. To view the full magazine, click here.