Summer’s Here (well, sort of) …

Summer’s here and I’d like to take a minute to talk about two important things on golfers’ minds today – the weather and The Canadian Open.

The weather seems to be a hot topic (pardon the sarcastic pun) for both golfers and course owners alike as May and June have not been good months, but hopefully July and the rest of our climate shortened golf season will be better (my fingers are crossed).

by the way, there’s a 40% chance of rain tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day

It’s no wonder the golf courses are all crying poor. Every day in May it seemed and most days in June have had some rain. Our own Tour for juniors and amateurs has been hit the hardest ever in the nine years we have been in operation. Thunder. Lightning. Rain. More thunder, more lightning and more rain. Two events had to be shortened to nine-holes and another event had to be re-scheduled completely.

My discussions with course owners indicates that we were not the only ones being affected by weather. In addition to poor conditions, dreary forecasts are making most golfers wait until the last minute to book. Guess everyone just wants to be sure the sun is shining before they commit and even at that, there is no guarantee that the weather won’t change. Remember that saying, if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. Well that’s just how it has seemed to be the past couple of months.

George Tidd, an owner at the popular Hidden Lakes Golf Club in Burlington told me recently that “in the thirty years I have been involved in golf, weather and weather forecasts have been more of a factor this year than ever.”
He added, “We used to be booked for the weekends by Monday or Tuesday of each week. This year its Friday before we get the phone calls for weekend tee times. Golfers are simply waiting to see what the weather will be that day.”

Another interesting response comes from Don Mackay, a golf course owner in Muskoka, who had this say about environment Canada’s too often dreary outlooks when asked about environmental issues for an upcoming feature in our summer magazine. “Forecasts for three and four days with rain each day and then little or no rain are misleading. I can’t even convince the local radio stations that their forecasts are also inaccurate. They get their back up and tell me they are simply relaying Environment Canada information. Instead of relaying questionable weather data, I suggest to them to simply look out the window. They might be more accurate”.

By the way, it’s a very interesting and informative article about the real environmental issues / initiatives going on within the golf industry. It’s a good read if you can find a copy – they’ll be out next week.

By the way, it’s a green issue (literally) and there are a few different articles on the things the industry is doing and needs to do to get ‘greener’.

Enough about weather, let’s really hope the sun shines down on The Canadian Open, scheduled for later this month at Glen Abbey.

The RCGA is certainly making some moves to make this event bigger and better and kudos to them. The event needs some new life and perhaps we can get the focus off of who’s coming and who’s not.

July 21 to July 27 are dates that you need to set aside. The Canadian Open returns to Glen Abbey this year and the folks at the RCGA are making some strides to ‘modernize’ this great golf event. With RBC as the new title sponsor, The Canadian Open is certainly making every effort to move back to centre stage. And its nice to see the RCGA moving away from some of the ‘stuffiness’ that has plagued the organization over the years and is making a concerted effort to attract a younger audience. These changes are certainly a move in the right direction.

Check out our feature on 10 things to do during Open week.

A field that already includes a number of our up and coming young Canadians will help make this year’s event a worth a visit.
Along with PGA members Mike Weir, Stephen Ames and Jon Mills this year’s Open will see the likes of Guelph’s Bryan DeCorso, Aurora’s David Moreland IV, Brantford’s David Hearn and Cambridge’s Ian Leggatt, all golfers from our local area. In addition Brad Fritsch, Jim Rutledge and Eric Landreville will compete. Two amateurs are also already confirmed in the field. They are Nick Taylor and Michael Knight. Add to that a few yet to be determined from orders of merit on the Canadian Tour, the Men’s Amateur, qualifying and hopefully we’ll have some red & white to follow come Sunday.

And speaking of confirmed players, (unfortunately he’s not Canadian) red hot Anthony Kim will be there. And the word is already out that he may just be the next in line to compete with Tiger.

Those dates again are July 21-27. See you there (rain or shine).

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SUMMER MAGAZINE IS OUT GETTING INK

IN THE ISSUE:
A look at environmental issues as golf gets ‘greener’
What some golf courses are doing to be proactive
Canadian Open Preview : Canadian Content
New Course : Turtle Creek
Reviews Otter Creek / Tarandowah
Charity is at the Heart of Golf : Special Feature : John Gordon
STYLE WATCH : things to keep you looking cool

PLUS
Q & A with TSN’S Cory Woron
TECH TALK / PRO TIPS / PROFILE / ROAD TRIPPIN’
CONTEST / TOUR NEWS / WORDS
TALKING IN YOUR BACKSWING : Ian Hutchinson
RULES OFFICIAL : RCGA’s Brent McLaughlin

AND
COLUMNISTS : Carolanne Doig, Paul Tribe, Rick Betts, Shawn Watters, Tim McCutcheon, and Rob Collins

CONTESTS

• Congratulations to Ken Cronmiller of North Bay. Ken was the winner of our Canada Day contest which netted him a Callaway Hyper X Driver complete with fitting.
• And when it comes to our golf games, we all could use a geometry lesson or two, or three. In partnership with Nike Golf, we are very excited to be offering just that ! — and on September 5th, 2008 one very lucky GolfScene reader will be the envy of us all. Enter today >>
• We will also be drawing names on July 15th, July 30th & August 15th for a foursome to go and experience true links style golf right here in south-western Ontario at Tarandowah Golf Club. And all you have to do to win is be a confirmed subscriber to the eNews (so you might want to tell your friends).

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Norm Woods

Editor, GolfScene

May Also be of Interest:

• Where does the time go?
• A Good Golf Year is Ahead. Count on it.
• ‘Fore Words’ from the Inbox
• Montreal Gearing Up For Champions Tour Return
• Lazy, hazy HOT Days of Summer