Coral Springs, Florida— The Golf Association of Ontario’s (GAO) Team Ontario was in Coral Springs, Florida, Feb. 4-8, for their second winter training camp of 2016. The team took part in on course, physical and psychological training at the Heron Bay Golf Club before participating in the Future Collegians World Tour (FCWT) Junior Golf Open (Feb. 6-7) also at Heron Bay.

The event turned out to be a good one for Team Ontario as they took four out of the six medals including a clean sweep of the podium on the girls’ side. Richmond Hill’s Monet Chun walked away with the gold, London’s Isabella Portokalis took the silver and Halton Hill’s Alexandra Naumovski earned the bronze. On the boys’ side it was Langton’s Peyton Callens who picked up the bronze medal.

“We were pleased with the approach Team Ontario athletes took in this FCWT event, given the time of the year, and the challenging weather conditions on day two,” said GAO Director of High Performance Andrew Moss. “Seeing where our athletes are at in the middle of winter provides great feedback to the players, and their personal coaches.  The strength of our girls’ team was very evident, and sends a great message to young female athletes across Canada.  With the strength of our golf development programs, there are great opportunities for young female athletes to access great sport experiences and education opportunities, through golf.”

Chun, 15 from the Summit Golf & Country Club, got out to an early lead during the opening round and never looked back. She finished round one at four-under (68) notching five birdies on the day. She took a one-shot lead into the second round and finished the day at even-par (72) to win the tournament by six strokes at four-under (140).

Portokalis, 14 from West Haven Golf & Country Club, also had a strong opening round finishing at three-under (69). She did fall back on the second day with a four-over (77) but her first round had given her enough of a cushion that she was able to hang on for second at two-over (146).

As for Naumovski, 18 from the Brampton Golf Club, she had a consistent tournament finishing the opening round one-over (73), which included a hole in one at the par 3 11^th, and a second round of two-over (74) to finish third with a total of three-over (147).

For Callens, 16 from the Delhi Golf & Country Club, he posted two steady rounds of 72 to card an even par (144) over the two-round event.  Callens was the only player to break par in round two, with unusually cold, wet, and windy conditions.

“A big thanks to our Head Coach Reggie Millage, and our support team of Nick Martichenko and Judy Goss, for the work they did with our team members throughout the training sessions and competitive rounds,” added Moss.

Team Ontario will now prepare for the Can-Am Junior Team Matches (March 13-20), an annual competition with the South Carolina Junior Golf Association, in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.

UXBRIDGE— The Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) and media partner Bauder Media Group are excited to announce the launch of the new Ontario Golf News (OGN) newsletter and website. The new publication, titled OGN Digest, will take the place of the quarterly OGN e-Magazine that GAO members were receiving along with the GAO’s monthly newsletter.

“The GAO is excited to build on our partnership with Ontario Golf News and launch this fresh and impactful Digest edition to the industry and those who love the play the sport across Ontario,” said Mike Kelly, GAO Executive Director. “With a new strategic plan, OGN Digest aligns perfectly with our objective to transform our relationship with golfers, clubs and stakeholders.”

OGN and the GAO’s monthly newsletters have been good communication tools for the past few years. Yet with the change in consumption of media, a new approach was needed. Members will now receive a weekly edition, beginning February 5 and will see it grow to a twice-a-week publication during the golf season from March 16 to September 30. With content being distributed on a timelier basis, readers will be more engaged than they were in the past.

“We’ve enjoyed the relationship we have built with the Golf Association of Ontario and their membership over the last three years,” said Jeff Bauder, President/Publisher of Bauder Media Group. “We’re excited to introduce this new communication platform for the golfers of Ontario. The expanded format will provide more timely updates on golf news and events from all around the province, better serving both the avid and casual golfer who call it home.”

In addition, with more frequent content, the new platform will provide more opportunity to inform members about current events/initiatives right before they are happening as opposed to weeks in advance.

In conjunction with OGN Digest, OGN is launching a new website that will be a hub for all golf stories across the province. The goal of the partnership is to not only have GAO content but provincial golf content available to Ontario golfers.

TORONTO — The Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) held its Annual General Meeting on January 23, at Weston Golf & Country Club in Toronto. At the AGM, the 2016 Board of Directors was announced along with President and Vice President.

Returning in 2016 as President is Chris Osborne (Mississaugua G&CC) who becomes just the second president to serve a second term, the first being Past President Jim King (Westmount G&CC). Vice President for 2016 will be John Gallinger (Meadowbrook G&CC).

“It is an honour returning as GAO President for 2016,” said Osborne. “There are a number of important initiatives the association is involved with for the upcoming year including: our grassroots Barrie Initiative, Strategic Plan launch, continued work with Golf Canada on a new membership model and the World Junior Girls Championship to name a few.”

Returning to the Board of Directors in 2016 are: Kent Trainor (GAO Public Player), Ivy Steinberg (Granite GC), Peter Zakarow (Beacon Hall GC), Carol-Ann Goering (Toronto GC), Anthony Dunn (The Marshes), Mark Hayes (Rattlesnake Point) and OVGA Representative Tom Hossfeld.

The GAO welcomes three new members to the Board in 2016: Howard Atkinson (Toronto Hunt Club), Tim Cain (Glen Abbey GC) and Jason Harris (Orr Lake GC).

Also, three board members will be leaving after serving their terms.  The GAO would like to thank outgoing Board members Alan Trivett (Glencarin GC), John Turner (GAO Public Player) and Jim King, who remains as Past President but is a non-voting Board member, for their dedication and service to the GAO over the years.

“I am pleased to welcome new board members Tim Cain, Howard Atkinson and Jason Harris while thanking departing members Jim King, John Turner and Alan Trivett for their dedication and friendship. Executive Director Mike Kelly and his staff have a clear mandate and I look forward to supporting them in these efforts. Sincere gratitude goes out to our volunteers, partners, athletes and participants, without them the GAO would not exist,” added Osborne.  

BARRIE — The Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) and its community partners officially launched the Golf Barrie Community Golf initiative on Jan. 20. The day featured a pair of events, beginning with a stakeholders meeting followed by the official launch.

Barrie was selected as the first Golf Community by the GAO because of its diverse number of private and public course, strong community ties, festivals and events, and its engaged golf industry.

The community golf project aims to get individuals of all ages and backgrounds playing golf and creates a bridge between courses, community partners and golfers. The goal is to bring more people to the game and keep them playing for life. The movement also addresses the national need to develop all stages of the Long Term Athlete Development model.

Wednesday’s event began with a stakeholders meeting at Tangle Creek Golf & Country Club, where the golf club owners finalized the foundation for 2016 activities. The event was well received with members from 23 area courses in attendance.

The event then shifted to the Kenzington Burger Bar where the initiative was officially presented to the public. On hand was City of Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman who talked about the benefits of golf and voiced his support for the project and stated that his office will be available to help make the project a success.

GAO Executive Director Mike Kelly laid out the GAO’s goals for the project and stressed that the association is here for the courses to help them execute it to its maximum potential. “This is a special project that is being done for the first time. Barrie as a community should feel extremely proud that they are pioneering such an initiative.”

GAO Director of Marketing and Communications Kyle McFarlane went on to speak about the project itself. “Golf is more than just a game, it builds character, values and life skills while promoting healthy active living. It builds relationships on and off the course and helps to connect family and friends.”

Emphasized at the event was the Try, Learn and Play aspect of the initiative. Golf Barrie will be present at numerous events in Barrie and Simcoe County, beginning in February to introduce people to the sport, with an emphasis on fun. This can be through opportunities such as Golf in Schools, which the local golf industry has already sponsored 24 local schools, festivals and through current programs like She Swings She Scores/ He Swings He Scores, which brings golf into hockey arenas to introduce minor hockey players to the sport.

The Learn aspect is where the clubs will come in and offer their own programming by matching the individual from a Try initiative with a Learn program at a course near them. The aim is to help people take that next step in golf. Finally, the Play aspect is having those people who have now learned to play the game get out to the courses and play.

To help bridge the events and opportunities in Barrie, Golf Barrie will launch a website that will feature a schedule of events that Golf Barrie will have a presence at to Try golf, a list of Learn opportunities at Barrie courses, a course directory and local golf news. However, that is not the only thing that will be set up. Golf Barrie plans to roll out the Commit to Golf Barrie pledge, which golfers will be able to register for, take the pledge as to how many times they hope to play in 2016, and then be entered in draws for prizes for meeting those goals.

An important aspect of the project is its partnership with Georgian College and its Golf Management Program. The college has already committed one of its classes to be trained to help with the Golf In Schools program. This will allow those students to go to schools, with a certified instructor, to deliver programs. A community Golf Coach certification course has also been planned and spots have already been reserved for Georgian students.

“This partnership is extremely important to us,” said McFarlane. “What we have observed in Barrie is that facilities that don’t offer programs for beginners not because they don’t want to but rather because they don’t have someone on staff all season to teach the programs. By training the instructors and having courses in the area share them, more programs at the Learn level can be offered. By having the students take certification programs, more qualified individuals will be available to teach these programs.”

Georgian College also has a capstone project that will develop a consumer behavior profile for Golf Barrie. The group will identify who the golfers are, what they want out of the local industry and any current barriers. This way Golf Barrie will be able to make adjustments for future initiatives.

In 2016, the Golf Barrie initiative hopes to deliver more than 70 golf awareness event days, host a Family Golf Festival, support and promote Learn programs at golf courses and establish community relations to ensure stability. With these objectives, it is hoped that more than 15,000 people can be exposed to golf.

UXBRIDGE— The Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) is proud to announce its Championship schedule for 2016. Once again, many great courses have provided their grounds to GAO Championships and will host the best players in the province. Here are some of the notes and highlights for the 2016 season.

The championship season officially begins on May 12 with the Men’s Better-Ball at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf & Country Club. The first junior events will be the Investors Group Junior Spring Classic being hosted by Wooden Sticks Golf Club (Boys) in Uxbridge and Grey Silo (Girls) in Waterloo on the Victoria Day weekend (May 21-23).

Returning in 2016 is the George S. Lyon Team Championship at The Club at Bond Head on May 31. The event was not run in 2015 in order to move the event from the fall to the spring. GAO tournament staff are hoping that by playing the tournament in the spring, more teams will compete.

Also earlier this year will be the playing of the Investors Group Women’s Senior and Mid-Amateur Championship. The 2016 event will be held June 7-9 at The Briars Golf Club in Sutton West. The early season move will only last for 2016, before the event returns to its mid-summer spot on the schedule for future years.

The Men’s Match Play Championship has a new home for 2016, after nine years at the Lake Joseph Club. The event will be held at Huntsville’s Grandview Golf Club, June 7-10.

The Bantam tour for U15 aged players, has been redesigned as a Peewee U13 tour for 2016. This change was made to encourage the development of players as they gear up for the GAO’s Peewee Championship, which made its debut last year. The four-event tour should help to strengthen the field for the Peewee Championship when it returns to the Puslinch Lake Golf Course in Cambridge, July 25-26.

2016 also features the Ontario Sumer Games, as the best U17 golfers will compete for the gold medal and Ontario Juvenile Boys’ and Girls’ Championships. This year the Games are being hosted by the City of Mississauga and BraeBen Golf Club will welcome the golfers Aug. 10-12.

The Investors Group Ontario Junior Girls’ Championship will be held July 4-7 at the Loyalist Country Club in Bath. A note with this event is that since play begins on Monday, the practice round will be held Sunday, July 3.

Another event that will see play on a weekend is the Investors Group Senior Men’s Championship. The event (Aug. 4-6) wraps up on a Saturday from The Marshes Golf Club in Ottawa.

Of course all eyes will be on the Investors Group Ontario Amateur and Investors Group Ontario Women’s Amateur, which will both be contested July 12-15. The men will return to the GTA and take to the Thornhill Golf & Country Club for the first time since 1987. Meanwhile, the women will embark on Ambassador Golf Club in Windsor, which will host the event for the first time. With so much history between the two events, it will be interesting to see who hoists the trophies in 2016.

The start of the season is less than four months away. Soon new players will be added to the history books as they are crowned champions in 2016.

For a full list of all GAO tournaments and qualifiers see here.

Tournament Registration for the 2016 GAO season will go live Monday, January 25th at noon. More information on tournament/qualifying sites and dates will be posted on gao.ca before the registration site is accessible, so golfers will have a chance to plan out which qualifiers they wish to participate in. Click here to to see tournament schedule as it goes live soon.

Former GAO President Barb Allan was announced as one of the five 2016 inductees into the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame on Jan, 11. Allan will enter the hall as a builder for her work in the sport of golf. Allan and the other inductees will be honoured on May 6 at a ceremony at Lady of Fatima Parish Hall.  The GAO would like to congratulate Allan on this honour.

Excerpt From the Kingston Whig Standard: 

Allan moved to Kingston in 1976 and almost immediately became a member at Garrison Golf and Curling Club. Her nominators described her as passionate and committed to golf.

Allan served as president and as a governor for the Golf Association of Ontario. She also been been active with Golf Canada at the executive level. Locally Allan helped establish the player development program for the Kingston’s district.

In 2014 Allan was recognized by Golf Canada with a distinguished service award for her “significant impact on the game.”

UXBRIDGE — The Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) is pleased to announce the hiring of Andrew Moss to fill the newly created role of High Performance Director. Moss joins the GAO’s Sport Department after High Performance Manager Mary Ann Hayward’s retirement announcement and former Director Mike Kelly’s move to the role of Executive Director.

“I am thrilled to be joining the GAO at this important time for golf,” said Moss. “With the upcoming Olympic Games, and the great pool of talent we have in Ontario, there is a fantastic opportunity to grow the participation in our sport, and see more and more golfers come through our clubs, and through our high performance pathways.”

Moss brings 25 years of experience to the GAO as a coach, provincial and national sport administrator, consultant and most recently, Lead of High Performance Athlete Development at the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO). At the CSIO, Moss was responsible for overseeing a portfolio of National and Provincial high performance programs with some of Canada’s top Olympic sports, such as Rowing, Athletics, Swimming, Cycling, and Figure Skating.

Having started out as a swimmer, golfer and sailor in Kingston, Moss pursued a coaching passion over a 15-year career. Following retirement from coaching, he moved to sport administration as Program Director at Swim BC, and Director of Domestic Operations with Swimming Canada. In both roles, Andrew oversaw the development and implementation of athlete, coaching, and club development programs, along with implementation of online performance tracking systems.

“We received an incredible amount of interest for this new position and following a very thorough process, we are thrilled to welcome Andrew to our team,” said Kelly. “His background in sport, passion for golf and experience at the renowned Canadian Sport Institute Ontario will be a massive benefit to Ontario athletes, PGA of Canada coaches and clubs.”

“I appreciate the confidence Mike Kelly has shown in me, and I am confident that the unique experience I bring will help build on the great work done by Mary Ann Hayward and the GAO team over the past six and a half years,” added Moss. “I’m excited to help shape a great future for our high performance programs, and the other exciting initiatives underway at the GAO, Golf Canada and the Government of Ontario.”

Moss will begin the new role February 1, 2016.

The GAO’s Team Ontario is taking part in their first training camp of 2016 in Coral Springs, Florida. The team arrived on Saturday and will be there for five days. The first and last day they will train at Heron Bay GC and the middle three days will be at TPC at Eagle Trace.

The team will train for half the day and play 18 holes each day as well. Both physical training and technical training are emphasized at the camp.

The team had a cool surprise yesterday when they ran into LPGA pro Lexi Thompson – as she was on the course trying out a few new drivers. Each group got to sit and chat with her and she hit a few shots for each group. 

This was the second year the team got to meet Thompson as she was hanging out at Eagle Trace last year and played a few holes with each group. It was an unexpected but great surprise for the team.

Below: Team Ontario members Isabella Portokalis, Alyssa DiMarcantoinio, Sam Meek and Ty Celone pose with Thompson.

GUELPH— The Golf Association of Ontario (GAO) was saddened to learn of the passing of 2014 GAO Scholarship recipient Grace Glofcheskie who was struck by a car on Dec. 13 in Guelph. Glofcheskie, a former member of the Guelph Gryphons golf team, and part-time assistant coach, was just 24-years-old.

According to the police report, Glofcheskie was walking home on Woolwich Street, when she was hit by a stolen car. Glofcheskie was transported to the Guelph General Hospital, but sadly succumbed to her injuries. The driver of the vehicle originally fled the scene on foot, but was arrested on Dec. 15 and faces numerous charges.

Glofcheskie recently graduated with her Master of Science degree and had been offered a golf biomechanics research position at the prestigious IMG Academy in Florida to continue the work that she pioneered at the University of Guelph.

Originally from Arnprior, Glofcheskie played five seasons on the golf team (2010-14) with her best season coming in 2013 where she notched five top-10 finishes.

The GAO sends its deepest sympathies to Glofcheskie’s family and friends during this difficult time.