Amateur Champ Prepares For Pros

Toronto’s Rebecca Lee-Bentham is off to Australia to launch her full-time LPGA Tour career and looks ahead to some of the adjustments she’ll need to make.

How Would Tax Deductible Status Affect Your Operation?

In last week’s GNN Poll, we discussed the possibility of golf being accepted as a legitimate business expense in the eyes of the federal government. You can check our Polls Archive section to see how the industry answered that one. Let’s assume for a moment that the government goes ahead and gives golf the tax [...]

Golf 2.0 Has Good Ideals, Few Real Solutions

ORLANDO — As the story goes, Jack Nicklaus momentarily lost track of his credentials for the PGA Merchandise Show on Thursday and was told if anybody in the Orange Country Convention Center didn’t know who he was, they were in the wrong business. Never was a truer word spoken and to illustrate that fact quite [...]

Industry Needs Agreement/Action To Grow The Game

In a setting such as the PGA Merchandise Show, which gets underway Thursday morning, there is no shortage of opinion about the challenges facing golf, particularly participation. “The most important thing we can do as an industry is to grow participation,” said Nike Golf president Cindy Davis on Wednesday at Demo Day. “We’ve been told [...]

Off To Orlando

Depending on when you read this, I could be 30,000 feet over North Carolina or Georgia on my way to the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando. It’s been a tradition for years and while the show has changed dramatically since I first started going, one thing that doesn’t change is a crazy schedule.

What Are Golf’s Chances For Tax Deductible Status?

With word that some politicians are pushing to have green fees for business-related golf outings qualify as legitimate deductions, golf operators across Canada have understandably been talking up such a move favourably. My own theory is, and it’s mentioned in this Wall Street Journal story, is that golf’s image as a game for the elite [...]

Grimm’s Decision Is Precautionary

I just got off the phone with Dick Grimm, who says his decision not to attend next week’s PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando is precautionary. While he admits he’s been feeling under the weather lately, he says he feels better and is to attend a meeting later today. Grimm was to receive the inaugural George [...]

Ames Ready To Move Forward

Calgary’s Stephen Ames looked as if he was nicely shaking off the effects of a disappointing 2011 season by his standards. Going into the final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii, Ames was tied for eighth at eight under, but a five over 75 took him out of contention. He’ll need to shake that [...]

Should Golf Canada Always Hire Canadian?

I wondered if it would become an issue when Golf Canada last week announced that it had hired Tristan Mullally of Ireland as head coach of the national women’s team. You can read that story here. I didn’t receive any phone calls or e-mails, but apparently Bob Weeks and Robert Thompson did from unnamed objectors [...]

GNN Poll: Emerging Trends

The past few blogs have been devoted to how the industry sees itself through the GNN Poll and we noticed a few trends that have the potential to emerge in 2012 and beyond.   The Canadian trade shows, for example, have been the source of controversy for years, with only Alberta consistently able to keep [...]

GNN Poll: Is Golf Losing Its Passion?

One of the more poignant and well-read blogs on GNN in 2011 was this one from Kyle German. Normally lighthearted and gregarious, Kyle was seriously considering his future and the possibility of getting out of the golf industry, not an uncommon consideration among those who, all things being equal, would prefer to stay. Golf and [...]

GNN Poll: Same Concerns in 2012 as 2011

Things haven’t changed all that much compared to the beginning of 2011, especially uncertainty in the economy. This year, we’re looking at a European debt crisis that could throw the entire globe into recession and an American economy that continues to struggle. Even economic heavyweights such as China and India aren’t looking as strong as [...]

Hearn, DeLaet Kick Off 2012 Season

Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., and David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., kick off their 2012 PGA Tour seasons later this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Both are at the same points in their careers after Hearn enjoyed a solid return to the tour in 2011, a season in which DeLaet was forced to [...]

Will The Canadian Tour Become A Good PGA Tour Investment?

The PGA Tour will provide the Canadian Tour with an operating loan and lend assistance in tournament development and sponsorship in 2012. Whether the tour will continue that assistance beyond this year is anybody’s guess and the situation will be evaluated over the 2012 season.

Tough Questions Need Answers At Golf Canada AGM

There have been times in this space when I’ve taken a media colleague to task, but in this case, I agree with ScoreGolf’s Bob Weeks who says here that the upcoming Golf Canada/Royal Canadian Golf Association annual general meeting will be more than the coronation of incoming president Diane Dunlop-Hebert. It’s also expected to be [...]

Happy New Year! What Kind Of Mood Are You in?

Unless you’re lucky enough to be firmly entrenched in a southern golf destination, you’re sitting at your desk like me wondering where the holidays went and how to get the wheels turning once again. On this first business day of the year at GNN and countless other companies in the Canadian golf industry, there is [...]

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