Gallagher’s Canyon Rolls Out The Green Carpet For B.C. Junior Boy & Girls Championship Competitors
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
KELOWNA — They take their junior golf seriously at Gallagher’s Canyon. And it’s just not a one-week thing, with the B.C. Junior Boys & Girls Championships being held this week at the scenic layout located about 10 minutes from downtown Kelowna.
Peter Hopley, the longtime general manager at Gallagher’s, is a big junior golf booster and is proud his club is playing host to a tournament he has a personal history with. Hopley’s eldest son, Matt, was a regular participant a few years ago and his youngest son, Markus, is playing this week.
But beyond that personal connection, Hopley emphasizes there is a strong business case to be made for supporting junior golf.
“Golf has come out of Covid with a boom and it’s easy to say, 'Oh, we don’t want to host a junior tournament because we can sell out the tee sheet,'” said Hopley, who helps run the Zone 2 Junior Tour. “But I mean, where are the golfers going to be five, 10 or 15 years from now?
“We are so passionate about junior golf here. Every year, we host the Zone 2 junior championship which is a two-day event in June. We host a high school junior event every year. And of course, this week we have the B.C. Junior, which is the pinnacle event in this province. We have the girls and boys out here together and it’s pretty special. I have been at these events the last eight or 10 years with my own kids and I have seen really great community efforts at the golf facilities. That inspires me to make it even better.”
Hopley and his team have added some extra touches to this week’s B.C. Junior tourney that were regular features when Gallagher’s played host to the GolfBC Championship, a former stop on the PGA Tour Canada circuit. “The one piece I thought we could add is our experience with the PGA Tour Canada event and really treat these young guys and girls like they are our professionals here this week,” Hopley said.
“When they arrived, they were shuttled to registration, they are being shuttled down to the driving range. It’s pretty cool to try and run it as first-class as we can. I also think it’s great to have all these families here who have maybe never seen Gallagher’s before.”
Gallagher’s Canyon has its own Junior program, which is run out of its nine-hole Pinnacle executive course. Gallagher’s is also part of an initiative called Grow Through Golf that offers Kelowna-area juniors access to five of the top courses in the city — Gallagher’s Canyon, the Bear and Quail courses at Okanagan Golf Club, Harvest Golf Course and Black Mountain Golf Course. That program, priced at $599 for the year, sells out its 125 spots every year and has a waiting list.
Gallagher’s past history with PGA Tour Canada helped provide a keen and experienced group of volunteers for this week’s B.C. Junior Boy & Girls Championships. “In our first year of the PGA Tour Canada event we had 350 volunteers and then that abated a bit as that tournament ran its course,” Hopley said. “I know British Columbia Golf always looks for 40 or 50 volunteers and we quickly came up with more than 100 volunteers.
"And the nice thing is there was very little training to do because they were already dialled in. I feel like the 100 we have this week are the ones who were all-in, so they are super keen and amazing. Gary Griffiths is our volunteer chair and he and his team have worked so hard."
Jerome Goddard, director of rules and competition with British Columbia Golf, is delighted with the course set-up and conditions at Gallagher’s. “The course presents a perfect test for our junior boys and girls,” Goddard said. “Scoring chances are at a premium and the layout demands patience and accuracy in all facets of a player’s game. The superintendent, Jonathan Peters, has done an incredible job this spring in getting the course firm and fast and to make the course play at the quality that PGA TOUR players have come to expect.
“Gallagher’s commitment to junior golf at the high school, zone and now provincial level is second to none and we are very excited about this partnership with one of our province’s top facilities.”
Goddard added that players appreciate the way they have been treated by Gallagher’s. “Our juniors have been given the first-class treatment here at Gallagher’s Canyon. With the staff and Host Committee’s experience from the GolfBC Championships, this will be a very memorable week for everyone.”
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