• First Tee Canada Launches With British Columbia Chapter Off First

    In 2020, Golf Canada partnered with First Tee to launch First Tee – Canada. Together, the partnership will bring First Tee’s youth development emphasis to strengthen Golf Canada’s junior golf activities – previously conducted under the Future Links brand – that reach kids in communities, schools, and golf facilities.

    Golf Canada will serve as the national headquarters of First Tee – Canada. First Tee chapters are being established in markets across Canada to deliver programs in their respective regions, with First Tee British Columbia being the first out of the gate.

  • Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Davison leads strong B.C. contingent at Forme Tour qualifier; Another week, another top 10 for Macdonald; Du Toit heads to Colombia; Stinson wins on Vancouver Golf Tour

    From Left To Right, BC's Chris Crisologo, Callum Davison And Jared du Toit Took The Top 3 Spots In The Forme Tour Q-School - Image Courtesy Forme Tour/Twitter

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    Duncan’s Callum Davison will be bringing his mom and dad along for the ride as he plays the new Forme Tour this summer after winning last week’s qualifying school in Washington state. 

    The 20-year-old former B.C. Bantam Boys champion topped the field at the Home Course in DuPont, Wash., with a 72-hole score of 13-under par. He earned a full exemption to the eight-event Forme Tour which starts later this month in Athens, Ga.

    “This is huge,” Davison said of being fully exempt. “It just frees me up. I don’t have to worry about Monday qualifiers or the reshuffle. I will be able to play and do my thing. I don’t have to worry about if I am getting in (a tournament) or not.”

  • Golf Canada Announces Revised 2021 Championship Schedule

    Due to interprovincial travel restrictions and other complexities related to COVID-19, Golf Canada has announced additional changes to its championship schedule for the 2021 season. 

    Provincial restrictions had previously forced the cancellation of U.S. Open Local and Final Qualifiers, in addition to the NextGen Pacific, NextGen Western, and NextGen Ontario Championships.

    With continued pandemic-related uncertainty, the remaining NextGen Championships – NextGen Prairie (Quarry Oaks, June 10-13), NextGen Quebec (Club de Golf Hemmingford, June 27-30), and NextGen Atlantic (Dundarave Golf Course, July 12-15) – will also be cancelled and the 2021 NextGen National Junior Orders of Merit will not be awarded.

  • Mackenzie Tour’s Eight-event Schedule Concludes With Two B.C. Tournaments

    Image Courtesy PGA TOUR

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    The Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada circuit has released an eight-event schedule for Canadian-based players that concludes with tournaments in Kelowna and Victoria in late September and early October.

    The schedule touches both coasts as it includes two tournaments in Prince Edward Island in late August and early September.

    The schedule begins July 29 - Aug. 1 with the Mackenzie Investments Open in Blainville, Que. It concludes Sept. 31 - Oct. 3 with the DCBank Open presented by Times-Colonist at Uplands Golf Club in Victoria.

    The GolfBC Championship at Gallagher’s Canyon in Kelowna goes Sept. 23-26. The tour’s regular Vancouver-area event will not be played this year.

  • Pro-D Day Proves Perfect Place For Prince George Girls Golf Camp

    Prince George Golf & Curling Club Pro Ann Holmes Put Together A Girls Only Golf Camp On A Pro-D Day That Was Well Attended - Image Courtesy CKPGTODAY.ca

    PRINCE GEORGE – The next generation of female golfers got an exclusive opportunity on Friday, June 4th as School District 57 (Prince George) had a Pro-D Day.

    Ann Holmes, one of the golf pros at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club and a British Columbia Golf coach, put on a 'girls only' golf camp with two sessions taking place that day.

  • BC Golf Women's Golf Day Scramble A Hit Across The Province

    The ' Cedar Hill Birdie Bunch' Were Just One Of The 112 Teams That Entered The BC Golf Women's Golf Day 'Cloud Scramble' - Image Courtesy Cedar Hill Birdie Bunch

    Between May 25th and Tuesday, June 1st, coinciding with International Women's Golf Day, British Columbia Golf ran a 'Cloud Scramble' for teams put together across the province. Players created their own team, played at the location of their choice and submitted results. Prizes were done on a draw basis with the focus of the event to get out, participate and have fun.

    It appears that's exactly what happened as participation was terrific with over 100 teams entering. 

  • Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Several British Columbians to play Forme Tour qualifier; Macdonald records career-best finish on Korn Ferry Tour; Taylor ties for 42nd at Memorial: Mandur impressive at NCAA Championships

    Former BC Amateur Champion Jared du Toit Is Looking To Compete On The New Forme Tour - Images Credit BC Golf

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    As a fully exempt member of the PGA Tour LatinoAmerica circuit, Kimberley’s Jared du Toit could have played in this week’s event in Florida. Instead, the former B.C. Amateur champion is joining a few other British Columbians at the new Forme Tour qualifying school at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash.

    “It was kind of a tough decision, but I felt like it was the better move for me to have something for the summer, ideally,” du Toit said. He’ll be hoping to be one of a select few to earn status at Q-School, which runs Tuesday through Friday.

  • All Systems Go As Sagebrush Prepares For Its Re-opening

    Fees Have Been Set And Reservation Requests Are Now Being Taken At Newly Refurbished And Re-Opening Sagebrush Golf Club - Image Credit Bryan Outram/British Columbia Golf

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    Its new website is up and running and Sagebrush Golf Club has begun taking reservation requests as the Merritt-area course prepares to re-open in mid-July following a seven-year hibernation. 

    Rather than tee times, Sagebrush will be offering what it is calling ‘Day Adventures.’ For $275, visitors can play as much golf as they like. They’ll also get on-course refreshments and lunch at the club’s Hideout retreat located between the 12th and 13th holes, where they can even do a little fly-fishing.

  • Super Busy: Golf Course Superintendents And Their Crews Challenged By Unprecedented Level Of Play

    Superintendent Dave Fair And His Trusty Companion Max, Have Had A Particularly Busy Time At Work At Northview GC This Season - Image Courtesy Dave Fair

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    Golf courses are busy, almost as busy as the men and women who maintain them. The current golf boom has most courses nearly fully booked from dawn to dusk. All that play means more divots in the fairways, more ball marks on greens, more overall wear and tear on courses.

    And that has presented challenges for golf course superintendents and their crews as they attempt to present their properties in the best possible condition for their guests.

  • PGA of Canada Presents The NOSWEAT Hardest Hole In Canada Contest

    Courtesy PGA of Canada

    Maybe it’s the length. Maybe it’s a few well-placed ponds. Maybe it’s a set of white stakes that seem more like a golf-ball magnet than an out-of-bounds indicator.

    For whatever reason it may be, we want to know which golf hole in Canada gives you shivers just thinking about. We’re in search of the NoSweat Hardest Hole in Canada presented by the PGA of Canada.

  • CP Women’s Open Cancelled For Second Straight Year; Shaughnessy To Play Host To Event In 2023

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    For the second straight year, the CP Women’s Open scheduled for Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver has been cancelled. 

    The LPGA event, which had been set for Aug. 26-29, is once again a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current border and quarantine restrictions.

    Golf Canada and tournament sponsor Canadian Pacific made the announcement late Wednesday afternoon.

  • Pheasant Glen Not Pulling Punches With Different Approach To Aerating Greens

    Article Reprinted Courtesy Inside Golf

    The Qualicum Beach facility takes a very controversial approach to aerating greens... they don't.

    If there is one thing golfers don't like, it is arriving at a course to find the greens have been recently aerated. But most golfers will grudgingly accept the necessity.

    That is not the case at Pheasant Glen, a course well known for good manicure and smooth putting surfaces... good enough to co-host the BC Amateur in 2018.

  • Vancouver Parks Golf New Tee Box Program, Is Very Forward Thinking

    The Following Is From The Vancouver Parks Golf Newsletter And Outlines Their New 'Tee It Forward' Program. A Very Forward Thinking Program, Indeed. 

    Courtesy Vancouver Parks Golf

    You have likely seen the construction and grow-in of a set of forward tees at all three of our Championship golf courses. These new tees are opening for play today, June 1, 2021 as part of a larger initiative to make golf welcoming, faster and enjoyable for everyone who plays the game.

    At the same time, all three of our Championship courses have also received new tee markers that are numbers instead of golf's traditional colours.

  • In Memoriam: Moe Hays

    Longtime Prince Rupert Golf Club Head Professional Moe Hays Is Seen Here Accepting The PGA of BC's 2003 Golf Professional Of The Year Award. Hays Passed Away Last Week At The Age Of 74 - Image Courtesy PGA of BC

    British Columbia Golf joins the PGA of BC and the entire golf community in offering our condolences to Moe Hays' family and friends upon learning of his passing.

    Another wonderful ambassador for the game gone too soon.

  • Jessica Wallace Now Crunching Some Different Numbers At The Golf Course

    Two-Time B.C. Junior Girls Champion And Former Symetra Tour Regular, Jessica Wallace, Is Now The Controller At Pitt Meadows Golf Club - (Photo/Jurgen Kaminski of JKam Photos)

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    For much of her life, the only accounting Jessica Wallace did was adding up her score at the end of a round. That usually didn’t take too long. Wallace became a very good golfer at a young age, winning two B.C. Junior Girls Championships before playing collegiate golf at Pepperdine University and the University of Colorado.

    She turned pro and played on the Symetra Tour for four and half years. Wallace called it quits after her most successful season in 2016 and decided to put her business degree to work. She landed a job with Deloitte and became a chartered public accountant. Little did she know that her new career path would take her back to a very familiar place.

  • Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Svensson, Macdonald, Hadwin enjoy big weekends; Mandur inside top 20 at NCAA Championships; Four British Columbians to tee it up at Reno Open; Osland ready for her Olympic experience

    Three From BC, Adam Svensson, Adam Hadwin And Stuart Macdonald, All Had Nice Finishes This Weekend - File Photo Images

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    A trio of British Columbia pros all made big moves with top-10 finishes on their respective tours on the weekend.

    Surrey’s Adam Svensson moved one huge step closer to locking up his PGA TOUR card for next season with a solo second at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Evans Scholars Invitational in suburban Chicago.

    Svensson jumped seven spots on the Korn Ferry Tour points list to 11th. The 300 points he earned gives him 1,576 points on the season. The Korn Ferry Tour considers 1,700 points its ‘fail-safe threshold’ for finishing inside the top 25 and earning PGA TOUR status for the 2021-22 season.

  • Women's Golf Day Set To Go Across BC

    The International Women's Golf Day goes Tuesday, June 1st and facilities across the province are getting involved...

  • Solid Play Has BC's Stuart Macdonald Climbing Points Ladder On Korn Ferry Tour

    Stuart Macdonald Is A Proud Member Of Point Grey Golf Club In Vancouver - Image Courtesy Stuart Macdonald/Twitter @stuart_mac_golf

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    Golf is a numbers game and on the Korn Ferry Tour two very important numbers are 25 and 75.

    Finish inside the top 25 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list, where Surrey’s Adam Svensson currently resides, and you earn yourself a promotion to the PGA TOUR. 

    Right now, Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald is focused on that other number: 75.

    Players finishing the season inside the top 75 are guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour status for the following year. And they also get to participate in three post-season events where 25 more PGA TOUR cards are up for grabs.

  • The Right Place, The Right Time

    Victoria's Dale Jackson Has Gone From Making A Rules Inquiry Playing In An Event To Becoming This Country's Pre-eminent Rules Official - Image Courtesy Dale Jackson 

    By Jeff Sutherland / iG

    When Dale Jackson asked a rules question 20 years ago, it would have been hard to imagine what that would lead to.

    The member at Royal Colwood Golf Club on Vancouver Island may modestly say that his rise to the upper echelons of Canadian golf may be about being in the “right place at the right time,” but, other than the original incident that sparked his interest, chance really has had little to do with it.

    It all started when Jackson was playing in the Colwood Amateur in 2001 and was unable to get a clear answer to a rules question.

  • B.C. Amateur Champion Tristan Mandur Qualifies To Play In NCAA Championships Tourney

    Duncan, BC's Tristan Mandur Is Off To The NCAA National Championships - BC Golf File Photo/Jurgen Kaminski

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    Tristan Mandur is going where very few University of Utah Utes have been. The reigning B.C. Amateur champion from Duncan will compete at the upcoming NCAA Championships as an individual after some terrific play at the recent NCAA Regionals in Cle Elum, Wash.

    Mandur, a junior at Utah, tied for fourth at the West Regional tourney, which was played at Tumble Creek Golf Club at the Suncadia Resort about 90 minutes east of Seattle. 

    And while the Utes just missed finishing in the top five to advance as a team to the nationals, Mandur was the low individual on a non-qualifying team and earned a spot to nationals.