In 2021, we asked you to “Come Out and Play”.
And did you ever.
As the world wrestled with a second summer under the shadow of Covid, millions of Canadians teed it up and experienced the simple joy of playing golf. Whether you were just discovering the game or had been playing for years, you found your sanctuary on the fairways and greens of your favourite course.
At Golf Town, we speak often of “growing the game” and we understand this means so much more than selling clubs and clothing. It’s about making a tangible effort to give back to the communities where we live and play.
One of the best ways to grow the game is simply to have more women participate. It’s a commitment we take very seriously as we look to the future. Golf Town was honoured to be the Canadian retail partner of Women’s Golf Day on June 1st – the world’s only one-day celebration of female sport aimed at engaging, empowering and elevating the status of women within golf. With Women’s Golf Day expanding to over 900 locations in 68 countries, founder Elisa Gaudet says it’s incredible how far the event has come since it started in 2016.
“In the last six years we have grown Women’s Golf Day globally and have always enjoyed a lot of support in Canada. This new partnership further elevates Golf Town’s commitment to empowering female golfers and helping them achieve their full potential, and we are delighted to have them join the WGD community.” – Elisa Gaudet, Founder, Women’s Golf Day
Our first sponsored athlete, Brooke Henderson, was already the all-time winningest professional Canadian golfer (male or female) and in April became the first to reach double digit victories with her 10th at the L-A Open. Brooke has always championed the efforts to grow the game by getting more females interested. As Captain of “The Brooke Brigade”, a loyal crowd of young fans who follow her on course, cheering her every shot, Brooke offered these poignant thoughts about leading the charge for young women and juniors.
““I love to see young kids, especially young girls who are following me along at LPGA Tour events and knowing that I’ve played a small role in getting women and young girls to pick up the game and start playing it means a lot to me. I believe the game is great and it just makes me really happy seeing this younger generation and even women older than me starting the game and picking it up.” – Brooke Henderson
Our Lisa “Longball” Vlooswyk continued to encourage women to “Come Out and Play” and went from hosting live clinics and speaking engagements across Canada to offering online tutorials in 2020 & 2021– all, in an effort to break down barriers.
“I joined the Golf Town team because of their unwavering support of women’s golf. I was honoured that Golf Town believed in women and moms as athletes; they had the vision for me to travel to all 47 stores across Canada to inspire other women and teach free in-person clinics to help ladies hit the ball longer and drop their scores. The partnership with Women’s Golf Day will further Golf Town’s commitment to growing women’s golf in Canada.” – Lisa “Longball” Vlooswyk
In July, we held a Women’s Day at Mill Run Golf Club and urged women of all backgrounds to bring out a friend and tee it up on us. The tee sheet filled up quickly with more than 120 golfers on course to make some new golfing memories.
“It’s a great game, and great way to meet people. A lot of fun. My husband got me golfing so now he stays home and I go golfing. I can go out with my friends. Even if you don’t have a foursome you can go out and play with anyone.” – Anne Marie Jessop
We’re excited to build on the success of the 2021 event and look forward to expanding it across the country in 2022 and beyond.
Fellow Golf Town Ambassador Mike Weir enjoyed a breakout rookie season on the Tour Champions with a victory and before the Shaw Charity Classic in Calgary, the 2003 Masters Champion hosted a junior clinic at nearby Cottonwood G&CC. Before sending the kids out on course, Mike offered up some quick tips and talked about how his passion for the game was ignited when he was their age. Golf Town supplied the young golfers with new clubs and bags but that wasn’t all. Each was given a junior membership at Cottonwood to help them begin their golf journey.
“We need the kids to get out and play and enjoy it. They can be distracted by gadgets and some other things and not activity driven things. To get ‘em involved with golf is something they can be outside with their friends at whatever level of play.” – Mike Weir
We went to bat with the Blue Jays at the 26th Annual Jays Care Golf Classic at Rattlesnake Point GC, outfitting fifteen young professionals from Sportsnet’s BIPOC mentorship and coaching workshop with Cobra clubs and Puma clothing as they began a relationship with golf that will last through their professional careers and beyond.
In non-Covid years, about 35-thousand charity golf tournaments are held in Canada, raising more than 500-million dollars, which is why Golf Town is proud to partner with Tournament Caddie – a free tournament management platform that streamlines and simplifies organization and allows charities to concentrate on what’s most important: raising money.
We continued to support community-based causes with our “Chips In” program, providing Golf Town cash cards and coupons to worthy charity tournaments across Canada.
And we jumped on board as a title sponsor of the Toronto Players Tour – a pro tour open to golfers of all handicaps –which offers competition on some of the nicest layouts in Ontario. The final event of the season was at Cobble Beach near Owen Sound where the inaugural “Golf Town Cup” was handed out to Brendan Leonard as the overall season points leader.
The Cambridge, Ontario native picked up a cheque for six thousand dollars in addition to having his 2022 Q-school paid for. Golf Town is proud to continue its sponsorship of Brendan next year as he chases his dream of playing on the PGA Tour.
“It’s awesome. It’s great to be the inaugural champ. It was a really great season and I couldn’t thank Golf Town enough for putting together a season we didn’t think we were gonna be able to play. Great stepping-stone for me and for years to come it’s going to be an awesome partnership.” – Brendan Leonard
We took a lot of steps in 2021 to grow this amazing game but we couldn’t have done it without you and your shared passion. Whether it was teeing it up with lifelong friends or new friends you met on the tee box, we were right there with you for every birdie, bogey, lip out and high five.
We’re already looking forward to 2022 when we’ll ask you to “Come Out and Play”… again.
Hugh Burrill – Golf Town Ambassador
I began to play more often this year and my goal was to beat 90.Able to do so twice.Learning more and more how to improve and my enjoyment of this game has grown .I will be looking for Calloway Apex clubs next for the rare Lefty that I am