Expect To Hear About “Golf Canada”

This year was the focus when the Royal Canadian Golf Association launched its first rolling, three-year plan with the introduction of Vision 2010.

One of the stated objectives when the RCGA introduced that plan in 2008 was to eliminate the deficit under which it was working at the time.

“That was the goal to balance it by the end of ’10. I don’t think we’ll get there. We’re trying,” admitted RCGA executive director Scott Simmons, who believes investment using funds from the sale of Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont., a decade ago will help balance the books.

“The main focus still has to be to balance the budget,” he added. “We’re still running a deficit, which we planned for because we don’t want to discontinue or cut any of our programs. We strongly believe in everything that we’re doing.”

Not cutting back on programs means raising revenues in order to balance the books and the RCGA plans to do that through the introduction of a new membership program under its new Golf Canada banner.

“It’s like investing in a stock,” said Simmons. “We hope that by investing in this new membership program, it will reap huge benefits. That’s why you make investments.”

The program will first be unveiled at the association’s annual general meeting in Vancouver on Jan. 23 and introduced to the general public in the early spring with the objective of luring new members to an association that has over the years been accused of being irrelevant to most golfers.

“It’s really looking at our customers as customers from a consumer packaging point of view,” said Simmons.

“We’re actually going to be calling on our customers, talking to our customers, having both the clubs and their members understand the value proposition that Golf Canada brings, what we’re trying to do to grow the game and where their dollars are going,” he added.

The Golf Canada branding push, which will also including merchandising of its golfer/maple leaf logo, will be carried out by western director Blair Armitage and former Canadian PGA executive director Steve Carroll, who will work in Ontario and Atlantic Canada.

“For the average golfer in Canada who really has no idea what or who the RCGA is, hopefully with this relaunch of our membership program under the Golf Canada banner, they’ll look at Golf Canada as a new entity that they can identify with and put their support behind,” said Simmons.

In player development, Simmons says a revamped elite junior performance program is underway and will fit in with established programs such as Golf In Schools, Learn To Play and the national team program.

With the emergence of outstanding amateurs such as Matt Hill, Nick Taylor, Jennifer Kirby and Stephanie Sherlock, as well as promising professional players such as Graham DeLaet, Chris Baryla, Samantha Richdale and Lisa Meldrum, the stars have also aligned for a program that could help developing pros.

“We’re starting to look into the young pro gap,” said Simmons. “We delved into that last year and we’ve got a task force working on that right now. We’ve got to figure out exactly who we should be supporting and how?”

Besides financial aid, young Canadian professionals also need a place to play and one of those development grounds is the Canadian Tour, which has sent several players, including DeLaet, on to the PGA Tour. There has been talk about the tour joining forces with the RCGA to offer a bridge for rising Canadian males.

“(Canadian Tour commissioner Rick Janes) and I certainly have an excellent relationship. Obviously, they’ve played an important part of development of the game in this country,” said Simmons.
“Between them and the CPGA and the RCGA, we’re trying to make sure that we’re working collaboratively and I think we are,” he added. “If something more formal happens down the road, so be it, but we’re not pushing that right now.”

On the women’s side, the RCGA is already involved in the CN Canadian Women’s Tour for developing professionals. That tour is part of what has been an excellent working relationship with CN, which also includes title sponsorship of this country’s only LPGA Tour event.

However, CN’s agreement with the RCGA expires after this year’s CN Canadian Women’s Open at Winnipeg’s St. Charles Country Club.

“I feel very positive about the future of the event and renewing our agreement with both the LPGA and CN,” said Simmons, admitting that his optimism is contrary to some media reports.

“It’s totally unfounded,” he said of those reports. “Nothing in life is guaranteed, but everything that I’ve been participating in to date has been nothing but positive.”

Ideally, Simmons says he is hoping to have that deal done in the first three months of this year, allowing the RCGA to move quickly in order to land a 2011 venue for the tournament, something that isn’t possible until the agreement with CN is finalized.

The RCGA is also looking for a site for the 2012 RBC Canadian Open, which will be played this year at Toronto’s St. George’s and in 2011 at Shaughnessy in Vancouver.

The recent sale of the Terrebonne project in Quebec, which had been set as an Open venue but never made it due to delays, opens some options for the tournament.

“I don’t think we’re close. We certainly know where we want to be, but I wouldn’t say a deal is imminent because we’re just beginning discussions with a number of venues right now,” said Simmons.

“With that (Terrebonne) deal done, we now have the ability to speak to other clubs in the province of Quebec, so it opens a whole new province for us in 2012. Being in Ontario in `10 and B.C. in `11, Quebec would be a spot that ideally we’d like be in `12, but we don’t have to be.”

Besides the professional championships, the RCGA is also looking to upgrade its national amateur tournaments, beginning with the Canadian Amateur men’s event which will be played at London Hunt and Redtail in Southwestern Ontario with 240 players this year.

“We’re going to be recruiting more highly-ranked international players and have a better on-site presence,” said Simmons. “I guess to put it simply, trying to give the feel of a RBC Canadian Open or CN Canadian Women’s Open to these young athletes.”

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