• Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Whatcom County courses thrive without British Columbia visitors; du Toit, Ko fail to advance at Q-School; Hadwin, Taylor, Svensson Bermuda bound; Ewart runner-up at college event

    It Remains To Be Seen How Busy The Border May Get With Golfers Heading South - Larry LarRose Image

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    When the Canada-U.S border was closed to non-essential traffic back in March of 2020, Nathan Vickers feared the worst. 

    Vickers, the longtime head professional at North Bellingham Golf Course, wondered how his course would survive without the steady flow of British Columbia players who accounted for more than 30 per cent of the rounds played at North Bellingham.

    But Vickers has been pleasantly surprised. Just like it has on this side of the border, golf has boomed in Washington state.

  • Les Bordes Takes Its Place On World Golf Stage

    The Addition Of A New Gil Hanse Course And A Planned Residential Community Mark A Rebirth Of Sorts For This Upscale Club In France’s Loire Valley - All Images Courtesy Les Bordes

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    SAINT-LAURENT-NOUAN, France -- The fact they are called the Old Course and the New Course and are located in France, not Scotland, could be considered chutzpah of the highest order.

    But no offence was intended to the home of golf in St. Andrews when Les Bordes Golf Club placed those monikers on its two layouts. It just made sense in a simple but elegant sort of way.

    Its Old Course, which opened in 1986, is a Robert von Hagge design that has long been regarded as one of continental Europe’s finest tracks. Its New Course is really new, opening this past summer and designed by highly regarded American architect Gil Hanse.

  • ModGolf Podcast: Swing Your Swing And Play Your Game

    In the latest episode of the ModGolf Podcast, show creator and host Colin Weston talks to Chris Noble, PGA Of America Manager for Nextgengolf's National High School Golf Association.

    "We love the fact that there are players who are different races, different nationalities, different cultures, backgrounds, sexual orientation, and gender identities too. I identify as a gay male, but I'm much more than that."

    - Chris Noble

  • Ziemer's B.C. Notes: Ewart draws Svensson comparisons from coach; Hadwin ties for 6th in Vegas; UBC sweeps team titles at Canada West tourney; Pagoda Ridge in Langley sold; du Toit off to New Mexico for second stage of Q-School

    Coquitlam, BC's A.J. Ewart - image courtesy Golf Canada

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    Coquitlam’s A.J. Ewart keeps winning at Barry University in south Florida and his game is reminding his college coach of another British Columbia recruit. 

    That would be PGA TOUR regular Adam Svensson of Surrey, who honed his game at Barry before turning pro. Svensson won nine tournaments -- seven in his sophomore year -- before leaving Barry part way through his junior year to chase his pro golf dream.

    Ewart, just starting his junior year at Barry, won his fourth event last week.

  • The R&A and USGA Announce New Model Local Rule Option For Limiting Club Length

    The R&A

    LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. and ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – The R&A and the USGA have announced that a new Model Local Rule (MLR G-10) will be available beginning on 1 January 2022 to provide those running professional or elite amateur golf competitions with the option of limiting the maximum length of a golf club (excluding putters) to 46 inches.

    The proposal was announced in February 2021, which opened a notice-and-comment period to allow the industry the opportunity to provide feedback as part of the equipment rulemaking procedures. The comments received from the golf industry, including players, professional tours and equipment manufacturers, were carefully considered before the decision to proceed with the new MLR was reached.

  • Alabama Run Lots Of Fun For BC's Shelly Stouffer

    Nanoose Bay Resident Shelly Stouffer (L) Has No Regrets After She Dropped A Close Semi-final Match To Ellen Port (R) At The U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship - Image Courtesy Judith Kyrinis/Twitter

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    Disappointed? Of course she is. But Shelly Stouffer is also justifiably proud of the run she made at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship in Clear Point, Alabama. 

    That run took the Nanoose Bay resident all the way to the semi-finals where she lost a hard-fought match on the 18th hole at The Lakewood Club to a woman who is something of a United States Golf Association legend.

    Stouffer had a blast. “It was amazing,” she said over the phone from Alabama. “I can’t complain about anything. I had a fabulous time, the people were amazing, the course is awesome. It was just lots of fun.”

  • Ruby and Pals: A Children’s Book Series All About Golf

    via Press Release

    Vancouver, BC – Par Fairwood Publishing Inc. is excited to announce the official release of Ruby and Pals: Tee Off with Manners.

    The first in a series, this book is now available on Amazon Kindle in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Punjabi.

    Children’s storybooks about golf are a rare sight to behold, but that is about to change with the release of the Ruby and Pals series by Par Fairwood Publishing Inc.

  • PGA TOUR Card Tantalizingly Close For BC's Stuart Macdonald

    Vancouver Native Stuart Macdonald Has A Lot On The Line At This Week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship - Image Courtesy Korn Ferry Tour

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    Stuart Macdonald hopes to treat it like any other week, but of course it is not.

    This week’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Newburgh, Ind., has life-changing implications for Macdonald and so many others who will tee it up in the final event of the season.

    Twenty-five PGA TOUR cards will be handed out to the top-performing players in the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Macdonald is in the hunt as the 26-year-old Vancouver native sits 30th heading into the Tour Championship.

  • ModGolf Podcast: Inspiring Women To Build A Career In The Golf Industry

    To open Season 10 of The ModGolf Podcast, show creator and host Colin Weston decided to shake things up by doing something he'd been planning for awhile. And that thing is to have Colin step aside from the microphone so that a guest host can take over the controls of the ship.

    In this episode former guest Dr. Greta Anderson takes over the hosting duties for an engaging conversation with GolfHers Founder Kelly Hunt to learn about her golf entrepreneurship journey to inspire women to build a career in the golf industry.

  • Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes: Hadwin comes up clutch at 3M Open; Bradley to defend Seniors title at Bootleg Gap; Former owners regain control of Morningstar

    Abbotsford, BC's Adam Hadwin - Image via YouTube

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin needed a big week and he got it at the 3M Open in Minnesota, where he tied for sixth and all but locked up his exempt status for next season and secured a berth in the lucrative FedEx Cup playoffs. 

    Hadwin began the week in Minnesota at 120th on the FedEx Cup points list, dangerously close to falling out of the top 125. But his clutch performance at the 3M moved him up 13 spots to 107th with just two regular-season events remaining. 

    Hadwin closed with a birdie on the tough par 5 18th hole at TPC Twin Cities to fire a three-under 68 and finish at 11-under par, four shots behind winner Cameron Champ. That’s the same hole where Hadwin took a costly double-bogey on Saturday. Hadwin earned $208,230 for his T6 finish.

  • Chambers Bay Set To Host 54th Pacific Coast Amateur Championship

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    University Place, Wash. – Chambers Bay, the 7,375 yard, par-71 golf course in University Place, Wash., will host many of the best amateur golfers in the world this week for the 54th Pacific Coast Amateur Championship. The championship, hosted by Washington Golf (WA Golf), will be played July 20-23, 2021.

    This will be the second time Chambers Bay has hosted the championship, with it previously being held there in 2017.

    Click here to visit the championship portal for tee times, player information, photos and to follow along with live scoring.

    This year’s championship had been scheduled to be held at historic Royal Colwood Golf Club in Victoria, B.C., but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary to find a venue in the U.S.

  • Former Province Sports Columnist Kent Gilchrist, A Friend To Golf And So Many Others, Dies At Age 72

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    Kent Gilchrist covered just about everything in a sportswriting career that spanned more than 40 years, but he had a particular affinity for golf. Not just the game, but the people who played it. 

    Gilchrist, known as Cookie to his countless friends, died at his New Westminster home Wednesday night after a lengthy illness. He was 72. Cookie was larger than life. He could light up a room and fill it with laughter. He seemed to know everyone.

  • Vancouver’s Victoria Liu Tops Field At U.S. Women’s Amateur Qualifier; Vanessa Zhang Of Vancouver Claims Second Spot Into Prestigious Tournament

    Vancouver's Victoria Liu En Route To Taking Medallist Honours In The U.S. Women's Amateur Qualifier At Seymour GC In North Vancouver - Image Credit: Blair Shier/@blairshier

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    August was already shaping up to be a special month for Victoria Liu. Now it’s even better. The 18-year-old left-hander from Vancouver earned medalist honours at a U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship qualifier Tuesday at Seymour Golf & Country Club in North Vancouver.

    She’ll be in the field at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y., where many of the world’s top amateur players will gather for the 121st playing of the championship Aug. 2-8. Liu, who plays out of Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club, is off to Princeton University later in August to begin her studies and play collegiate golf at the Ivy League school.

  • Victoria Residents Claim All Three Spots At U.S. Amateur Qualifier At Victoria Golf Club

    Medallist Jack Rothwell (Centre) Is Joined By Craig Doell (R) And James Swan (L) As U.S. Amateur Qualifiers - Image Credit: Jerome Goddard/BC Golf

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    A pair of Victoria Golf Club members made good use of their home-course advantage to earn spots in next month’s U.S. Amateur Championship. 

    Jack Rothwell, the 2019 B.C. Amateur champion, and Craig Doell, for many years one of this province’s top amateurs, punched their tickets to what will be the 121st playing of the U.S. Amateur Aug. 9-15 at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania.

    Another Victoria resident, James Swan, claimed the third spot that was available for the 77 players who teed it up Monday.

  • Canada's Tokyo 2020 Golf Team Announced

    Brooke Henderson & Alena Sharp Will compete In Their Second Olympic Golf Competition And Will Be Joined In Tokyo By Corey Conners And Mackenzie Hughes - Golf Canada Image

    via Press Release/Golf Canada

    OAKVILLE (June 29, 2021) – Golf Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee have announced Canada’s golf team nominated to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

    Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont. and Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont. will comprise the women’s team competing in their second Olympic Games, while Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont. and Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont. will represent Canada in the men’s Olympic golf competition.

  • PGA of Canada's Kylie Frederick Says Diversity And Inclusion Starts With A Conversation

    PGA of Canada Class A Professional Kylie Frederick - image courtesy PGA of Canada

    By Shelby Dechant (reprinted with permission from the PGA of Canada)

    “I am an athlete, but I am also gay. At the end of the day if I’m not talking about that part of me, I am doing a disservice,” says PGA of Canada Class “A” Professional Kylie Frederick.

    Frederick says that this has been her mindset during the most recent years of her 19-year golf career.

    Frederick started golfing at seven years old with her family on Vancouver Island. Her dad would take her out to the course, which helped her find her passion for the game. At 13-years old, all of Frederick’s attention was put towards becoming a golf professional.

    At this young age, Frederick had not yet come out as gay. She was a golfer and that was that.

  • Appreciative Of The Past, Coquitlam’s Henry Lee Excited About The Future After Completing Collegiate Golf Career

    Coquitlam, BC's Henry Lee Had A Very Solid Collegiate Career At The University Of Washington - Image Courtesy @UW_MGolf

    By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

    His collegiate golf career is over, but Henry Lee will never forget the five years he spent playing for the University of Washington Huskies. “I will always remember how much fun we had as a team,” Lee says.

    “Golf is a very individual sport, but college is an exception because you play as a team. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything and I just gained so much as a person, as a player. They taught me so much along the way in terms of helping make me the best version of myself. They really transformed me.”

  • ModGolf Podcast Talks To 'The Director Of Fun'

    In the latest episode of the ModGolf Podcast, show creator and host Colin Weston talks to ESPN 920 Radio Show Host, writer and media personality Keith Stewart in a high-energy conversation that spans the spectrum from humourous storytelling and community building to an approach to life that shapes his business methodology.

  • 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. 

  • 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...