In 2025, there are plenty of courses celebrating milestones, but none are bigger than the 100-year anniversary being celebrated by Lacombe Golf & Country Club. As part of this celebration, Alberta Golf is pleased to announce them as the host of the 2025 Men’s Mid-Master Championship.

The Men’s Mid-Master Championship started in 2015 but separated into its own event in 2020 and has become one of Alberta Golf’s most popular events. In 2023, the event format was changed from a two-day to a three-day competition. Last year, Trestle Creek Golf Resort played host to the event, which saw Chris Thayer win the event, beating Brian Laubman by 6 strokes. The Men’s Mid-Master Championship is open to male players aged 40 and above, as of the first day of the Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

Lacombe Golf & Country Club is one of the top courses in central Alberta, but has only hosted the U19 Girls Championship, first in 1989 won by Brenda Wigord, and then in 2004 which was won by Susan Nam. Lacombe’s storied history began in the early 1900’s with golfers bashing balls around sheep pastures. In 1914, these golfers moved to the McCauley sheep pasture, which is the current site of LGCC. After the First World War, a club was formed with a permanent nine-hole course established. In March 1925, Lacombe Golf & Country Club became a registered joint stock company. It wasn’t until 1958 when the second nine holes were approved and in 1960 the 18-hole track was officially opened. The next 65 years saw the course and clubhouse continually improve and is now set to host the 2025 Men’s Mid-Master Championship.

Weston Gillett, head professional at Lacombe Golf & Country Club, is excited to have Alberta Golf as part of their celebrations, and so are the members with many of them showing interest in playing in the event already. “The club’s history is one of great pride for our members with many of them being here a long time and making this place their second home” remarked Weston. In addition to the Mid-Master Championship, the course has lots planned at the course and within the community this summer to celebrate.

“We have plans to host a public only community day where we will be hosting a shotgun to outside players only with a green fee of $19.25 to showcase our facility to our great community of Lacombe and Central AB. We will also be hosting the following weekend a gala and golf day for our members to commemorate our anniversary. Last summer we participated in the Lacombe Days Parade to bring awareness of our 100-year anniversary and plan to participate this year as well. We have a committee that has been working very hard on all these projects as well as funding towards a centennial project that is still to be determined. Also, we are currently just starting an extensive renovation to our restaurant and lounge that will be completed towards the start of the golf season that is in line with our celebrations!” – Weston Gillett

 Registration for the 2025 Men’s Mid-Master opens on April 1^st and Lacombe Golf & Country Club patiently awaits to write another chapter in their history books with the 2025 Men’s Mid-Master Championship on the horizon.

Sundre Golf Club, a hidden gem in Central Alberta will once again play host to the Alberta Best Ball Championship in 2025. The Best Ball Championship will be played on May 19^th this year. With two successful years in the books, this event has become a fan favourite as a great way to open the season and get an early competitive round under players’ belts. In 2023, the field was only 100 players, and in 2024 registration grew to a full filed event of 120 with a great mix of players of different ages.

The format will remain the same to years previous, with players competing as a two-person team and each player playing their own ball. The team will then take the better score of the two balls played on each hole. The upside of this format early in the season allows for a partner to pick up their ball and not finish the hole if they don’t intend to use that ball on the scorecard. The two-person team can be any gender or any age, with males and females playing from different tees. Additionally, there is a net and gross division that teams are competing in.

In 2024, the gross division was decided by a sudden-death playoff in the rain between Team McKinlay and Team Graf, with Carter and Logan Graf of the Red Deer Golf & Country Club emerging victorious. The net division was won by Matt Clark and Tyler Kirk of the Leduc Golf & Country Club.

Sundre Golf Club is a great partner of Alberta Golf, and along with hosting the Best Ball recently hosted the rain shortened Alberta Open in 2022 which was won by Ethan Choi, and low professional honours going to Stefan Cox. The course offers a variety of unique challenges with exquisite water features, speedy greens, and tree-lined fairways. This, combined with their wide range yardages lends itself to nearly any championship Alberta Golf has to offer.

Scott Shouldice, Director of Golf at Sundre Golf Club, has hosted plenty of events in his time at Sundre including a U.S. Women’s Amateur Qualifier and in 2025 will have a Canadian Open qualifier. The reviews of the course are always positive, and he’s seen how versatile the course can be in terms of hosting with its central location, difficult tee shots, undulating greens, and the pace of play. The Best Ball is no different in his eyes.

“For hosting the best ball championship, I believe the reason our course is perfect for this event is the layout of the course.  As I said earlier, it is a very challenging course, and any mistakes punish you severely.  With a best ball format though, even if one player makes a mistake and is out of the hole, the other player can bail them out.  If both players don’t make a mistake on the same hole, then they will score well.” – Scott Shouldice

Registration opens for all 2025 events on April 1^st and Alberta Golf looks forward to another successful championship season.