On April 25th, Innisfil Creek Golf Club and Golf Ontario visited Cookstown Central Public School to teach their students about golf. In celebration of the ‘Adopt a School’ program, every time this year Innisfil Creek brings in a pro alongside Golf Ontario to get the youth in their area more comfortable with the sport.The day consists of teaching the students proper golf stance, how to putt, chip, drive, and even what to do when someone yells ‘fore’.

“What do you do when you hear someone yelling that there’s a golf ball coming at you?” asked one of the instructors.

“Try and catch it?” responded one of the students. It was safe to say that this was quickly corrected.

With five different classes coming in at different time slots, the day was packed with fun. Skills were quickly developed and excitement grew more and more with every class.

“It’s such a treat to be around the children, and seeing them have a good time,” said Nick Torkos, owner of Innisfil Creek Golf Club. “It’s a beautiful thing to see such a great response.”

The ‘Adopt a School’ program was made to partner golf clubs with schools, so that they can introduce the sport to younger demographics and build interest from a young age. Clubs pay a $500 fee and Golf Ontario matches the club with a nearby school. Golf Ontario and the partnered club then host events on a yearly basis to introduce and promote the sport to the students. Not to mention, the school gets to keep a set of practice clubs and balls to use during recess.

“We’ve been a part of this initiative for five years, and when we first heard about the program, we were really excited,” said Torkos. “We felt that the golf industry had not done enough to promote golf at these younger levels.” Torkos explained that most camps at golf courses don’t start until the ages of eleven, so it’s hard to get the younger ages invested in the sport.

Children develop interests much earlier than the age of eleven, so when they become old enough to join the camps, they have already developed other hobbies that take up their time. Therefore, visiting them at an earlier age at their schools will develop an interest at an earlier age, and promote the sport for years to come.

The program relies on courses like Innisfil Creek to deliver the program. Innisfil has developed deep connections with their sponsored schools, visiting them twice a year and providing them opportunities throughout the summer, which is what the program is all about.

Photos from the day can be found here.

Ryan MacKenzie

rmackenzie@gao.ca

Jasmine Ly started out the front nine -1 with an eagle and a bogey and finished off the back nine +1 with two bogeys and a birdie in order to finish her round with a 72 “I worked really hard this entire year to get these last rounds, the harder ones” – Jasmine Ly. She went 72-70-74-72 to win the championship with a total of 288.

At the awards ceremony, Jasmine thanked the coaches, parents, competitors, and course volunteers for an amazing week.  She talked about how she was grateful for her win, and that staying positive and grateful was one of the ways she was able to win the championship, “I try to stay grateful for everything, and there are going to be negative things that go on during a golf round, but I remember all the things that I’m grateful for” – Jasmine Ly

In second place was Taylor Kehoe of West Haven Golf and Country club who also shot a 72 today, and went 70-73-76-72. Sarah Beqaj of Toronto Golf Club went 72-67-78-76 for third.

The top three (3) 2018 Ontario Junior Girls’ Championship finishers comprise the Ontario Junior Girls’ Team. The team will represent Ontario at the Canadian Junior Girls’ Championship. The team will be made up of Jasmine Ly, Sarah Beqaj, and Hailey McLaughlin.

The host club, Maple City Golf and Country Club had 4 Junior Girls who participated in the event, Brooke MacKinnon who placed 9^th, Tess Scaman, Maddux Swayze, and Karolyn Rombouts.

Golf Ontario would like to thank the competitors, their families, and everyone who attended and supported this championship.  We would also like to thank our title sponsor of this event Investors Group, as well as the Maple City Golf and Country Club for their excellent course and hospitality in hosting this event.

About the Investors Group Junior Girls’ Championship

The Investors Group Ontario Junior Girls’ Championship is contested annually and features Ontario’s best amateur female golfers age 18 and under. Established in 1927, The event has a wealth of notable past champions including World Golf Hall of Fame member Marlene Streit, Sandra Post, Sue Hilton, Alena Sharp, Jennifer Kirby and Brooke Henderson.

View updated results of the championship here.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and Like us on Facebook, @TheGolfOntario for updates of the Investors Group Ontario Junior (U19) Girls’ Championship.

Amber Morley

Marketing and Communications

Amorley@gao.ca

Former LPGA Tour Player Stephanie Sherlock was inducted into the Barrie Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday night.

Please read more here from the Barrie Examiner

The central responsibility of the Board is to provide good governance, stewardship and related policies for the Association. It oversees management of the business and affairs of the Association, taking into account the interests of the various stakeholders (including various government ministries, golf associations, sponsors, employees, etc.) It appoints and supervises the Executive Director to run the day-to-day operations of the Association.

In fulfilling their role, board members are legally obliged to:

• Act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the Association, and
• Exercise care, diligence and skill that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in comparable circumstances.

The board carries out its responsibilities directly and through committees in performing the following duties.

• Compliance with the provisions of the Association’s By-Law
• Establishing the criteria for selection of Directors
• Establishing committees, setting their mandates, and selecting members
• Approving recommendations for inductions into the Hall of Fame
• Establishing Association governance by-laws, policies and practices and annually review these with a view to incorporating improvements
• Maintaining an orientation program for new Directors and continuing education program for all Directors
• Assessing the effectiveness of the Board as a whole, the president, committees, and committee chairs
• Delegating duties and responsibilities to the Executive Director
• Meeting regularly to ensure Board responsibilities are executed in a timely manner
• Conducting in-camera sessions as necessary
• Ensuring the Board functions independently of Management and remains completely objective with respect to its governance and oversight responsibilities
• Executive Management and Human Resources
• Strategic Planning
• Financial stewardship and systems integrity
• Hiring, communicating with and setting goals for and evaluating the ED
• Performance monitoring
• Risk Management and critical events
• Stakeholder relations and communications

Photos from various events that Golf Barrie has attended.

The 15th Annual General Meeting of the Members and Awards/Recognition Ceremony Saturday January 23rd, 2016 at Weston Golf & Country Club. Please click here for more information and to register.

In total, the Golf Association of Ontario crowned 12 Leaderboard Champions (six men and six women) during the 2015 season. In addition, the GAO selected over 125 prize winners who received great items from TayorMade, Turkish Airlines, Muscle Milk, and TED Books. The GAO is truly thankful to all of the sponsors for their support of the vTOUR.

As the 2015 edition of the GAO vTOUR closed out, the GAO is very happy to announce that the Grand Prize winner of a trip for two to participate in the GAO 2Ball Invitational this December in St Kitts, courtesy of the St Kitts Tourism Authority, is Nancy Vince from the Ladies Golf Club of Toronto.

Congratulations to Nancy, the GAO looks forward to hosting you and your guest in St Kitts. There are still a few places available to join the 2Ball Invitational and more information can be found here.

The GAO Skills Combines are of a series of assessments in Full Swing, Short Game, Putting and Physical Fitness Screening and that are conducted by PGA of Canada Regional and Provincial Coaches. Each participant that attends the skills combine gets a complete report of their test results as well as a chart that shows how their results compares to other athletes in Ontario of the same age & gender.

Please visit gao.ca/combines

2015 Investors Group Ontario Men’s Amateur Championship

2015 Investors Group Ontario Women’s Amateur Championship

2015 Investors Group Men’s Mid-Amateur Highlights

100 Years of the Ontario Women’s Amateur Championship

Team Ontario Cup- 2015

She Swings She Scores

2014 Year in Review

NXTee

2014 Baka Wireless Public Player Championship

One on one with Corey Conners

2014 Investors Group Senior Men’s Championship

2014 Ontario Summer Games- Ontario Juvenile Championship

2014 Investors Group Senior Women’s Championship

2014 Investors Group Ontario Junior Girls’ Championship

2014 Investors Group Women’s Amateur Championship

2014 Investors Group Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship

GAO vTours

2014 Ontario Golf Hall of Fame

GAO Regional Teams

Team Ontario 2014

MISSISSAUGA— The Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) and the She Swings She Scores (SSSS) program is pleased to announce that Program Ambassador Gillian Apps will be on site for the SSSS event at the Mississauga Chiefs Christmas Classic Tournament Dec. 27-28.

The three-day tournament will be held at the Iceland Arena (705 Matheson Blvd. E, Mississauga).  The GAO’s SSSS booth will be set up from 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 27 and 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Dec. 28.

Apps is a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist and three-time World Champion with Canada’s Women’s Hockey Team. Originally from North York, Apps currently plays for the Brampton Thunder in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. Apps was named Program Ambassador in September.

SSSS is a program that targets female athletes currently participating in hockey and introduces them to golf at community hockey tournaments across Ontario.

The program, which began this past fall, will visit 20 tournaments across the province during the 2014/15 hockey season and will expose more than 6300 girls to the game of golf.

The program represents a partnership between the GAO and the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association that is made possible by the Ontario Sport and Recreation Communities Fund.  The partnership between the two complementary sports will provide opportunities for these girls and their teammates to participate in sport all year round.