18 Most Annoying Golf Partners

Just got this from one of our members... great for a laugh! We all know one or two of these personalities!

http://www.victoriaparkgolf.com/uploads/The18MostAnnoyingGolfPartners.pdf

The pictures used in this fun pictorial were taken by Orlando photographer Cy Cyr. Here's his website, with some really cool stuff: http://www.cycyr.com/

Ouch!

Woops! Runaway "people-mover" golf cart at Cowboy Stadium.
Good thing we don't see this (much) on the golf course.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/watch_runaway_golf_cart_runs_down_Q8A31OIIvItocQs52XylfP

What's Happening at Victoria Park East

The clock's ticking down towards Christmas, and we've had a steady stream of people in to buy gift cards, golf balls, etc. for the golfers on their list.

We've also "taken over", if you will, administrative duties from the West course (now closed), and will continue with this until the new Victoria Park Valley course opens in the spring. For example, the West course's phone number will transfer over here to the East for the winter.

It's also great to see so many members coming in to say "Hi" and signing up for 2012. Very encouraging.

Here's our off-season hours for the office and pro shop:

Monday-Friday 9am - 4:30pm

Saturdays 10am - 3pm.

Christmas: We close at noon on December 24th and will re-open on Tuesday January 3rd.

Ye Olde Game of Golf

Yuletide Wishes from a Golfing Group of Days Gone By!
This is from a neat little article in Golf Canada magazine.
Here's the link: http://bit.ly/vzecQ8

Closing the Book

On Monday, November 28, the pins were pulled at Victoria Park West for the final time. The "book was closed" on a fabulous 45-year run as Guelph's public golf course. When Victoria Park opened in 1967, the Guelph Country Club and the Cutten Club were both private clubs - Cutten still is. (In case you're wondering, Victoria Park East opened in 1974).
It was a quiet event - actually, there was no event - because they had a "farewell day" back in late August. Pictured above are West Course owner Ted DeCorso (left) and his brother Angelo, who was the West's first golf pro. The West's pins will be symbolically set at the new Victoria Park Valley Golf Club when it opens in the Spring. As posted previously, the West property has been sold to a developer and will eventually become a City of Guelph subdivision.

...and that's all she wrote!

We've officially "pulled the pins" on the 2011 season yesterday. The driving range and lounge have also been shuttered. We have set up our usual "temporary" layout with 9 holes, but no greens. The West course, however, will remain open with greens as long as conditions and the weather permit; so if you'd like to play some "cold weather" golf, give them a call at (519) 821-1441.

Green Grass in November

This photo, taken November 4th, shows the first tee at our new Victoria Park Valley Golf Club. We had to leave this section until last, due to ongoing grading work around the proposed clubhouse area. And of course, because we want to open in the spring, sod was the way to go! And this is no ordinary sod: it's "low-mow" Kentucky Bluegrass. You can see some of the huge rolls of sod sitting on the cart path, and it was interesting to see how it was laid - a tractor type of machine with a big spindle arm picks up the sod from the middle (there's a big plastic core in the centre of the sod roll) and unrolls it like a carpet. Instant grass. A crew then hand-cuts it to fit, where necessary.
The new golf course is looking spectacular. You can also see the green in the background - ready to putt. That's Carmine DeCorso standing on the tee... wishing he had a club in his hand!

We've also named the three "nines":
The A9 are "The Lakes", the B9 are "The Pines", and the C9 are "The Valley".

A 2-Course Membership

With the impending opening of Victoria Park Valley in the Spring, we're offering a Dual membership option to both Victoria Park East and the Valley.
Here's our brochure, if you're interested in checking it out. Great Value!
http://bit.ly/p6MOeu

Canadian Golf Talent

Tour player Adam Hadwin

Here's a very interesting article by Sympatico's Robert Thompson http://bit.ly/rbBOA4 entitled "Will Canada Ever Be a Golf Superpower?"

A few weeks ago my daughter played in our district high school golf finals at Saugeen Golf Club. She finished in the middle of the pack, but the winner of the girls' division shot 3 over. And, the girl that came second had a hole-in-one!

Some fabulous talent. I know, Saugeen is not Beth Page Black, but you can't fairly dismiss those scores. If I recall, the boys' division winner shot 2 or 3 under.

I'm always imagining that a "wave" will happen with Canadian golfers... eventually. The real test, of course, is how we stack-up internationally: then we can see what Great means!

Straw Poll...

Big discussions are happening in the back-rooms of many golf shops: do people want to book tee times using their smart phones?

A Thankful Thanksgiving

Wow, what a weekend! The weather was spectacular, and so was the golf. If memory serves, this was the 4th Thanksgiving weekend in a row with summer-like conditions... a trend I certainly hope continues.
Of course, we're now looking "down the pipe" at the 2011 golf season, and what an interesting season it was:

• Who can forget the absolutely brutal spring - wet and cold from the get-go right up until the first week of June. In our experience, it was the worst spring ever (in terms of golf)


• In spite of the wet, construction continued at our new Victoria Park Valley Golf Club... and it's looking great. We're very excited about the Spring 2012 opening.


• Our membership levels increased in 2011, and so did our public play.


• It was a great year for the turf. The heat and humidity we experienced in July fortunately did not cause any major turf problems.

And so far, Autumn Golf is popular. Even with the forecast looking wet and cool, the phone keeps ringing...

Fall Walking Tours

We've started a series of organized, guided Walking Tours at our new golf course, Victoria Park Valley. The first one was on Sept. 20th, and we had about 20 participants. It's a great way for future customers to get a "feel" for this new course.

Here are the rest of the dates and times:

Friday Sept. 30, 11am and 3pm; Sunday Oct. 2 at 1pm, and the last one will be on Saturday Oct. 8 at 1pm. The tour lasts about an hour. If you are interested in joining one of these tours, please RSVP via email to john@victoriaparkgolf.com

For more details, where we meet, etc. please click this link: http://www.victoriaparkvalley.com/uploads/Walking%20Tour%20poster.pdf

More on Quibids

So, curiosity got the better of me and I signed-up on Quibids.com
I bought the requisite minimum Bid Pack for $60, which give me the opportunity to bid 100 times. They also throw a few "bonus" bids to you for signing up.
Right away, I noticed that the Canadian site does not have golf clubs... at least not yet. The big ticket items are ipads, digital cameras, $200 store gift cards, and Kuerig coffee machines. Otherwise, you're looking at a smattering of small-ticket items like memory cards, gift cards, electric shavers, and a few other things not worth mentioning. You can also bid on "Bid Cards"... I saw, for example, a 100-bid card sell for $1.28. If you win, it becomes a cheap way to buy more bids.
Anyways, as predicted, it didn't take me long to burn through my 100 bids - I was after a digital camera, and got into a vicious bidding war during the last 10 seconds (as I mentioned in a previous post, if someone bids withing the last 10 seconds, they add 10 seconds again to the clock).
I don't believe Quibids - or any "penny auction" site, there's a few of them - should be allowed to call themselves an "Auction Site", because it's really a form of gambling. Think of it like this: you're buying casino credits to spend on a game of chance, in the hope of winning something.

New Victoria Park Valley Website

Our new golf course, Victoria Park Valley, is on track to open in the spring. We've finally got a dedicated website up and running: http://www.victoriaparkvalley.com/pg/2/Guelph-Golf-Course--Victoria-Park-Valley-Executive-Golf-Club.aspx

We're still tweaking it, but there's some good info and pics there to view.

I added the "FAQ's" on the homepage to address some typical questions that we keep getting.

One thing we always seem to be battling is the Rumour Mill, like "I heard you guys are closing."

The East course is definitely NOT closing, we're very much in business and will continue to be in business.

And, that's a revised logo above for the Valley course.

Wow, What a Deal!

**Disclaimer: this post is neither an endorsement nor a criticism of Quibids***

This certainly caught my eye! You've probably seen this banner ad as well, it's all over the 'net right now, for an "auction" house called Quibids.com They're also running some TV ads. Anyways... a set of Burner 2.0 irons for $40.99. Huh?
I checked it out and read all the details about Quibid. In a nutshell: you don't just sign-up to their site and start bidding, like you would on Ebay, for example. You actually "buy" bids for 60 cents each, and when you bid on an item, the items price goes up in increments of a penny. So, every time you bid on something, it costs you 60 cents. Plus, when the auction clock runs down, and you place a last-second bid, they add 10 seconds to clock... so you can be involved in an avalanche of "last-second" bids if you're bidding against a bunch of people for the same item!
So, back to the irons... at $40.99, that means that 4,099 people kicked in 60 cents a bid in their attempt to win these irons. When you do the math, multiply the two and Quibids got $2,459.40 for this set of irons (plus the winning bid of $40.99)!!!
Of course, you have to realize that Quibids is a business, with staff, overhead, lots of bandwidth charges, etc. and they have a lot of "small potato" auctions that probably just break even for them. But still... a good haul for a $700 retail set of irons!

Farewell Celebration at Victoria Park West

As I've mentioned in a previous post, our sister course, Victoria Park West, will be closing at the end of this season. On Sunday August 28th they held a "farewell celebration" open house for the public, members and staff past and present, and (of course) family. It was a great day, well attended, and some of us played a final 9-holes at this wonderful executive golf course. The West course remains fully open until the end of the season, but they wanted to get this Farewell in before back-to-university, back-to-work etc. robbed a bunch of participants.There were tables with old photos and memorabilia, and owner Ted DeCorso and his family were on hand the whole time, to host the event and welcome the guests. There were a few tears, but Ted and his family were upbeat and happy - looking forward to moving on to the new Victoria Park Valley course next spring. I couldn't help but feel a pang of nostalgia. My first job in 1969, at the tender age of eight, was at the West course: I picked the driving range by hand (borrowed my grandmother's rubber gloves) and did some sweeping and tidying, all for the fabulous wage of a chocolate bar and a can of pop! Plus, the West course was a haven for junior golfers in the region, so as a kid I made a lot of friends there. It will certainly be missed, but I share Ted's positive outlook in "moving on to bigger and better things..."

West Course owners Beverly and Ted DeCorso. Cheers!

The End of an Era

Louise DeCorso from Victoria Park East Golf Club (left) with

Maria Colaizzi from Chatelaine Lighting

On August 18, Victoria Park East and West Golf Clubs held our annual Chatelaine Lighting Ladies Invitational for the 38th time! The event was sold-out at both courses, and is certainly one of the biggest and longest-running Ladies invitationals in Ontario... maybe even Canada.
This was, though, the last time that Chatelaine Lighting of Guelph will be sponsoring the event. Although we'll miss their involvement, we certainly do not regret their decision; 38 years is a remarkable and generous run, and in that time this event has raised many thousands of dollars for cancer research and, most recently, for St. Margaret's Hospital.
My sister Louise gave an excellent speech at the tournament. Here's a portion of that speech:

"The tournament was the idea of Louis Jansen, owner of Chatelaine Lighting. There were few tournaments for ladies at that time and so in 1973, the first Chatelaine Lighting Ladies Invitational was held at Victoria Park Golf Club West. Sadly, Louis passed away in 1985 and graciously; his wife Diane and sister Maria Colaizzi have continued to co-sponsor the tournament. The tournament has grown tremendously over the past 38 years and we are proud to say that it is the largest ladies invitational in the province. Today we shared our love of golf and camaraderie with 164 participants here at Victoria Park East and 148 ladies at Victoria Park West. The raffle that you so generously participate in is in Louis’s memory, with all proceeds going to the Princess Margaret Hospital, Gerry & Nancy Pencer Brain Trust Fund.
We are all aware that things change in the passing of so many years. In saying that, we need to inform you that Chatelaine Lighting will no longer be the co-sponsor of the ladies invitational tournament. We have had a great working relationship with Chatelaine Lighting and the individuals there, and know that we will continue this relationship on a personal level. We will miss all the beautiful lights on the prize table and will have to work very hard to find another co-sponsor as generous as Chatelaine Lighting. We hope that you will continue to support Chatelaine Lighting if and when you are in need of lighting. In future, you will recognize the tournament as the Victoria Park Ladies Invitational."

Well said, Louise. Thanks Maria, Diane, Angela, and everybody at Chatelaine Lighting for your years of support.

A Great Taste of Summer

Our annual Patio Grilling Night here at Victoria Park East was a huge success: great food and a sell-out crowd! This was our 7th event (we did one in the winter, too!) and I find it curious to note how it's progressed over the years.

Wendy Gottmers, our Banquet Manager, presented the idea when she first came on board in 2004. It started out as a "hands-on" grilling course: guests were encouraged to come up to the BBQ and lend a hand, which they did. As the years went by, we began inviting wineries to the event, to sample their fine wines. Well, that did it! Guests were having too much fun socializing, sampling the wine, and tasting the food - very few wanted to venture up to the BBQ for the hands-on part!

And so, it's no longer a grilling course, it's become a grilling show - and that's fine. Our chefs, Steve, Gerald "JJ" and Giovanni did a fabulous job. And of course, so did Wendy! Here she is discussing a wine pairing...

Fun, Games & A Whole Lot More

I've been on the committee of the Guelph Wish Fund for Children Golf Tournament for 10 years. This annual fund-raiser was held here at Victoria Park East last Saturday (July 9th), and as usual, it was a well-attended and fun day.

It was the 24th tournament, and it also marked the final one (as a golf committee member) for Guelph Wish Fund co-founder Ron Asselstine, pictured here with his wife Wendy.

Many of you are familiar with Ron as an NHL linesman. Ron "Bear" Asseslstine worked the line in the NHL from 1986 until 1997. He founded the Wish Fund (actually, it started as the Make-a-Wish Guelph) with the late Guelph journalist Al Ferris in 1984. Together, they grew the Fund into what it is today: a local organization that grants "wishes" to children who are critically ill, require long-term medical care, or are in need of specialized medical treatment. The Guelph Wish Fund is now administered by a board of directors, and handles all of it's own fund-raising initiatives - the annual golf tournament being a key one. Ron officially retired from the Wish Fund last December, and I'm hard-pressed to think of anyone more deserving of a healthy and happy retirement.

Our community is lucky to have Ron, Wendy, and all of the Wish Fund volunteers and committee members. They've brought a measure of happiness to so many children and their families throughout the years. And they've never taken a penny for themselves.
Golf Tournament Committee (left to right) Peter Baldasso, John DeCorso, Ron Asselstine, Barry Scutt, Al Bevan-Stewart, Barry Fowler, and Mark Dalbello

Dream Job

An interesting article appeared online today: Mike Weir is involved in designing a golf course. Here's the link to the article http://bit.ly/m3caPq by Sympatico's Robert Thompson.
Obviously, a Pro, especially a PGA Pro, will provide some design insights that would enhance an architect's plan. Mike now joins the ranks of Nicklaus, Norman, Player, and a host of others who have lent their brush-strokes to golf course design.
I'm reminded of the early days here at Victoria Park East. As a young teenager in the mid-1970s, I was around here a lot; picking the range, planting trees, cutting grass, etc. and I overheard many comments - or, was spoken-to directly - by some of our members and public golfers, basically giving their two-cents worth on golf course design. "You guys should'a done this... you guys should'a done that... planted more trees here, smaller bunkers there, too many dog-legs... too much water, not enough water, bigger tee decks..." You get the picture. And East Course architect Rene Muylaert was no slouch - he designed about 30 golf courses in Ontario, including Brooklea, Glen Eagle, Pheasant Run, and Caledon Country Club.
It's fun being an arm-chair architect. But many of us don't appreciate the skill and thought-process that goes into designing a golf course. With the construction of our new Victoria Park Valley course, I was privy to seeing architect Scott Covell's planning strategies develop from Step One. And believe me, it's no armchair job!

Our New Victoria Park Valley Course

The grass is growing nicely at Victoria Park Valley, slated to openSpring 2012. Above is a picture of Hole B7 - there will be 27 holes. More pics on our website:

http://www.victoriaparkgolf.com/ViewPage.aspx?pg=78

Take a Kid to the Course

During the week of July 4, Victoria Park East will be participating in the "Take a Kid to the Course" promotion.

From July 4 - 10, children age 16 and younger golf for free, with a paying adult. There will also be a free golf clinic here at the East course at 5pm on Thursday July 7.

For more information, Click Here to view the official Website, or call our Pro Shop at (519) 821-2211. This great event is administered by the National Golf Course Owners Association, and Coca-Cola is the National Sponsor.

June Marches On...

It's the first full day of Summer, and the busy month of June is on the downswing. And it has, indeed, been busy.

June is our Number One month: more tournaments, more member & public play, the banquet hall is busy, business meetings try to fit a busy schedule into June before the traditional July holiday escape.

This year - as many of you can appreciate - June also got us away from (arguably) the worst April and May on record. It was cold, and incredibly wet, and so NOT golf weather! Even the first week of June proved a challenge, with some major down-pours. Even the "anyweather" golfer was tamed!

Onwards...

Time to build an ark?

The amount of rainfall we've experienced from early spring until now has been phenomenal. Sure, we love to have our reservoirs full and the grass loves it, but last night's brief - but severe - storm, capped off a week of copious rainfall. We've never (if memory serves) seen so much standing water on our golf course, which typically drains quite well.
Above is a picture of our 2nd fairway, looking towards the green. The creek in the foreground, and the pond on the right, couldn't deal with the amount of water that appeared all at once. A few other areas on the course are similarly affected. The water has nowhere to go.
But let's keep it in perspective: it's not nearly as bad as Quebec and Manitoba a few weeks ago. And it's draining slowly but surely, so things should be OK by the end of the morning. Maybe.

Set in Stone

I've been asked frequently about the stone chimney and shack, located near the 17th green here at Victoria Park East. How old is it? Why is it still there? Is it authentic? Etc.

It certainly is a fine example of an old Ontario fieldstone chimney/hearth; and it is, indeed, authentic, not a recent reproduction.

As for it's history, here's what I know:

The site had a simple frame cottage attached to this chimney when the DeCorso family bought the property in 1971 from the Hales family. Alf Hales was the Member of Parliament for this area from 1957 until 1974, and "the Cottage" was used by the Hales' as a getaway and, yes, a party place! I remember it had some pretty cool antiques in there: furniture, knick-knacks, and a hand-cranked Victrola gramaphone. In 1973, the cottage was separated from the chimney and moved to the current location of our Clubhouse, where it became the original Pro Shop and Snack bar for the golf course. When the Clubhouse was built in 1977, the cottage was moved sideways, and it became strictly the Pro Shop and Club Storage. In 1984 it was finally demolished when a permanent Pro Shop and Office addition was constructed.

Here's a shot from 1977 of the Cottage as Pro Shop, Club Storage, and Cart Charging Station. The newly-built Clubhouse is in the background.

So, what's the shack (top picture) that is now attached to the chimney? Ever since the cottage was moved, a simple wooden structure was built in its place for fertilizer storage. The one that is there now is the second such structure. We decided to keep the chimney in place because it is, indeed, an authentic historical piece. We hired a bricklayer in 2001 to apply mortar around the stones, since the old mortar was flaking off. Our research on its history went cold, but we were given the opinion that the chimney pre-dates the Hales cottage. Puslinch Township historical records indicate that the first recorded settlers on the property were the Stone family (as in Stone Rd.), but we can't be certain that this chimney was built by them.

In the meantime, it certainly catches a lot of stray golf balls!

Victoria Park West

As mentioned in a previous post, 2011 is the "Farewell Year" for Victoria Park Golf Club West. Pictured above is founder and owner Ted DeCorso (centre) with his children David and Tina. Here's a link to an article that appeared in our local paper, an interesting retrospective of the West's 45-year history and the man behind it: http://bit.ly/msjIJN

New! Public Mens League

We're starting a Mens League for public golfers, here at Victoria Park East. Over the last few years, we've been approached numerous times by players inquiring about a league. So our Pro, Jay Pembleton, came up with the framework, and we're now ready to go. The League will run on Wednesdays, starting May 18 and run for 15 weeks. Click here for full details: http://bit.ly/e5VwMp

What to do...

No disrespect meant to the sand & gravel industry, but this weather is the PITS. Rain, cold... blah! So, here's a link to the "Top 10 Funny Golf Commercials". What else to do on a rainy day?
http://bit.ly/h398tT

Trials and Tribulations

Here's a link to an interesting article regarding the (so far) quiet performances of Canadian players on the PGA Tour: http://bit.ly/gzt5jN

The season is still young, so there will be plenty of opportunity for the Canuck contingent to make a showing. It's an interesting article, though, and I'm certain it may provoke some good discussion.

Victoria Park West...

18th Hole at Victoria Park West

There's still a rumour floating around that our sister course, Victoria Park Golf Club West, is closed. Nothing could be further from the truth. The West course is fully open for the 2011 golf season. This is their "Farewell Season", because (as mentioned in a previous blog post) our new Victoria Park Valley Executive Golf Club will open next Spring, replacing the West course, which will be re-developed into a residential subdivision. The East course will remain unchanged.

But for now, it's Business as Usual at the West course. Here's a link to their website: http://www.vpgcwest.com/default.aspx

Post-Masters Hangover

What a weekend! We finally got the course fully open here at Victoria Park East, and had a great crowd of rusty golfers here on Saturday (April 9th). But by the end of the weekend, our opening day excitement was supplanted by a fabulous final round at Augusta. There's already been a lot of analysis and comment about Charl Schwartzel's predominance on the final 9 - so I won't add to it... much. In my humble opinion, it was the un-expectedness of some of the names in the finishing field that made it really great. Anyways, April marches on, the grass is greening-up nicely, and warmer air is on its way. Come out and golf!

Hello, 2011 Season!

It's official: we will open our driving range and temporary 9-hole layout tomorrow (Thursday April 7th). Finally. And, if conditions are good, we should have the whole course open by Saturday (April 9th).

We've been looking forward to this for awhile.

David DeCorso, our Superintendent and General Manager, has started his own blog. He'll discuss the "turf" side of the business, as well as up-coming plans for our new golf course, Victoria Park Valley. Here's his link:

http://daviddecorso.blogspot.com/

Finally, here's a shot of our 1st tee, taken this morning at about 8:15

Still Getting Ready...

We've been keeping busy getting ready for the season, despite this snow-induced haitus. One important thing we did change: we've gone back to quoting our greens-fee prices "Tax In". Last year, many golf courses opted to change this practice and quote the prices "plus tax" due to the introduction of the HST on July 1st 2010. We felt that it would be important for the customer to know how much the actual greens fee was, and how much was tax. Well, according to our front-line staff, most customers really just wanted to know "the bottom line". So, back we go. In rounding-off our tax-in rates, the regular greens fees become a little cheaper this year (believe it or not!). Here's the link to our 2011 regular rates: http://www.victoriaparkgolf.com/ViewPage.aspx?pg=66 And here's a pic of our first tee, taken this morning at about 8:30. It looks like we're still a couple weeks away from opening. That snow storm last Wednesday really set us back. Bummer!

DaVinci and Michaelangelo in the Pro Shop!

Here they are, folks, "Leonardo DaVinci" Teeter and "Michaelangelo" Williams with their paint brushes out, adding their version of the Sistine Chapel to our humble pro shop!

Stop by and have a look... and make sure to compliment them when you see them on the golf course.

Mike Weir in 2011

I'm a big Mike Weir fan. Not just as a PGA Tour player and Masters champion, but as a supporter of Junior Golf in Canada, as well as other great initiatives.

Coming off elbow surgery before the end of last season, Mike's now in the process of getting his game back. Needless to say, it ain't easy!

Here's a great article from our local paper, well worth reading:

http://bit.ly/fRwHbj

It certainly Is a Different Year!

At this time last year, we were very close to opening the golf course! I was in Niagara Falls for a few days during March Break, and we were walking around with short-sleeves and basking in the warm sun. We even had our driving range and temporaries open during that time.

Not this year!

Environment Canada has forecast a cooler-than-usual March, even going into April. So an "early" opening isn't in the cards.

On the plus side, the turf conditions appear to be very favourable, as opposed to last year, when we experienced the worst winter-kill ever. Good snow cover and gradual temperature shifts will keep the grass happy.

Above is a shot of our lonely 1st Tee, taken at 8:15 this morning.

Pro Shop News: Some new stock has arrived, specifically great-looking bags by Titleist, Callaway and Taylor Made; Footjoy shoes; and some clothing. Come on out and have a look!

A Struggle for the Next Generation

One of the main hurdles that many golf courses encounter is the need to keep the game of golf an attractive sporting option for young people.

Over the past few years, we've lived through a few events that have taken the "caché" from golf, in the perceptions of some of these junior players: the "star power" of Tiger Woods, and all of the cool endorsement stuff that went along with it, has definitely waned - and no other pro golfer has replaced Tiger on that very high "mass marketing" pedestal; and here in Canada, Mike Weir's fantastic Masters win is slowly becoming an historical bookmark, and (arguably) no other Canadian golfer has since hit that high a mark.

Although we welcome, and encourage, the game of golf for any age level, it's critical for us to promote the game among juniors. And with all the new technology and diversions that are appealing to this younger market, the challenge will be huge. "Thinking outside the box" has never sounded more appropriate!

Welcome to 2011?

It's finally done... again. The busy Christmas stretch, lots of visiting, travelling, hockey, shopping, etc. You know the drill.

And with the passing of the 1st decade of the "new millenium", I truly believe that's it's best to look forward, not back; at least, not so much. I guess the argument could be made that there's lots of fun stuff to look back on. Like the guy on the right, for example!

But looking forward: 1) The economy is showing signs of waking up, so we hope this translates into more golfers.

2) If I'm correct, there are now 6 Canadians on the PGA Tour this year, so there may be some exciting golf ahead from this contingent.

3) We're going to focus a little more on enticing junior golfers to pick up the sport, or get back in. But heck, we'd like to see golfers of all ages enjoying the game.

4) Social Media: I've tried Twitter - sometimes it's fun, often it's a load of bunk (who cares that you're out walking your dog!), but it's now time to tackle the big one... Facebook. I'm going to get my kids to help me with that one. I've started on Facebook, but I'm finding it a bit of a challenge.

Oh well, each day done is a day closer to Spring!