Friday Thoughts: Golf Runs in the Family

This past Monday, I found myself enjoying an amazing holiday that my home province of Ontario is fortunate enough to celebrate.

It is a holiday without Hallmark cards, huge feasts, mountains of presents and an even bigger mountain of frenzy and stress.

It was Family Day and although the icy winds were threatening to topple me over and snow stretched as far as the eye could see, my mind turned to golf.

Golf has always meant family time to me, even as a young child. 

From that first time my dad took my two brothers and I to club wiffle balls at the high school football field to taking golf lessons with my sister and going, as a family, to watch the Canadian Open some years, golf has always had a strong connection to family.

And focusing on families is helping to grow the game to new levels.

Parents have often been the ones tasked with introducing their child to the game, but they are now being helped out by a growing number of programs.

Programs like CN Future Links and She Swings, She Scores! aim to teach youth how to play golf and more importantly, how to have fun playing the game.

If drawing families in is a key component of growing the game in Canada, then making courses family-friendly is also crucial. 

However, building and maintaining a course that is short enough and an appropriate skill level for youth, but challenging enough for adults is no easy task.

But there are models out there. An article in the Globe and Mail last year recommended P.E.I as an ideal locale for family golf where there are courses with a wide variety of lengths and skill levels. The province also boasts the Canadian Golf Academy, which runs out of Fox Meadow Golf Course, a course maintained by CGSA member Paul McCormack.

  

Ted Logan, manager of youth development for Golf Canada, pointed to five of the most family friendly courses in Canada in a recent CAA Magazine article. The list features The Meadows at East St. Paul Golf Course in Winnipeg, where CGSA member Vic Peters is superintendent. 

Appealing to families may be the next step in growing the game of golf in Canada and there are models and programs in place to achieve it. There are other ways in which courses around Canada are working to draw all members of the family in and that is a big step to keep the industry thriving and growing.            

The Study Hall: How Golf Makes the World Happier

Playing golf could be one of the most important activities in the world right now and that's because of one very simple reason.

It makes people happy.

More specifically, being around nature makes people happy, according to a study out of Carleton University in Ottawa.

The study says that being around nature and in the great outdoors is the key to well-being in humans. Taking a walk, admiring animals and feeling the grass under your feet creates an innate feeling of joy in people.

But in today's age of urban living, you're more likely to see fields of concrete instead of grass and parking lots instead of parks.

That's where golf courses come in. They offer a rather large slice of nature in the middle of many cities, large and small.

Where else can you walk through hundreds of acres of greenery? Where else can you see wildlife like foxes, herons, muskrats and deer? Where else are there trees, marshes, meadows, ponds and dirt paths?

The answer: not many places that aren't a couple hours drive away from the closest city. The exceptions are golf courses.

And if people can become happier from spending a couple hours with friends in such a natural environment, ten minutes from home and playing such an active sport it means that their happiness will flow to other parts of their lives and society.   

That is why well managed golf courses are vital not only to the health of the environment and the economy, but also communities as a whole, all across Canada.

That is why golf course superintendents and their teams are crucial. They provide health and happiness to communities big and small. They give people a place to enjoy nature without having to travel far or trek through the urban jungle. They are a safe haven for habitats, eco-systems and nature of all sorts. 

So here's to golf course management professionals everywhere. You are making the world a happier place, one round of golf at a time. 

Behind the Scenes: How GreenMaster is Made

You've probably heard the news; the CGSA has taken over the publication of GreenMaster Magazine.

But what does that mean?

Well, let’s look at it in simple and quite honestly more appealing terms than bland numbers and jargon. What it means is the CGSA is doing some home cooking.

We’re making the magazine from scratch, with original articles that will make our industry and our members strong and thrive.

We’re making it at home, with all the recipes for success passed down from generations. GreenMaster is being written, edited and put together by staff and members who know the business inside and out with decades of combined experience.

And we’re always looking to add more flavour to the pages of GreenMaster with innovative ideas and features that will keep members up to date and ahead of the curve.

So that’s the end product, a magazine of the members, by the members and for the members.

But how does it go from lonely, blank paper in the cupboard to your course’s lunch room table?

Well, it all starts in two places.

The first is in the offices of the CGSA in Mississauga, where editors and directors get together to brainstorm for the coming editions, taking into account the issues facing golf course management professionals across Canada.

But it also begins in the minds of members just like you.

Every time we talk to the Communications, Marketing and Public Relations Committee, great ideas spring up. Every time a member wants to share new information or an innovative approach, an article starts to grow. Every time someone goes above and beyond or writes about an experience they must share with their colleagues, a feature is born.

GreenMaster starts with its members, because they are the inspiration for the magazine and the fuel behind it.

Once we have decided on the theme for the issue and the topics we would like to cover, we reach out to members and other experts, like professors, architects, lawyers, etc, and ask them to contribute with an article, a picture or an interview.

After the ideas come alive on paper, we get down to editing and polishing them for the magazine.

Next we place them in the best order to educate and entertain our readers, putting them amongst our other features such as the President’s Address and the Back Nine.

Meanwhile, we are working tirelessly to collect ads to put in the magazine for two reasons: to finance the printing of the magazine and to present to our members the people and companies they can trust to provide them with the best services and equipment.

If the members are the backbone of GreenMaster, the advertisers are the lifeblood.

Once we have gathered the articles, features, pictures and ads, determined the look of the magazine and made everything shine, we send it to the great folks at Blenheim INK, where GreenMaster is printed. It is here that the PDFs, Word documents and mock ups turn into the real-life, page turner that we ship out and deliver to your door.

This is a process that never stops. We are always looking for stories and ways to improve the magazine to provide the most benefit for our members and that includes hearing your great ideas for content. If you have any ideas for articles or stories that you would like to write or see in GreenMaster, please contact us. We always look forward to your feedback and input.

So there you have it, the making of GreenMaster, from floating ideas to solid content.

If you have any other questions about the publication please do not hesitate to contact us at the CGSA and we’ll be happy to answer them.

We’re keeping the tradition of GreenMaster going and we’re always striving to make it stronger than the issue before.