On March, 1999, the Canadian retail landscape saw something it had never seen before—21,000 square feet of everything a golfer could dream of. Endless aisles of drivers, walls of irons, a green surrounded by putters, state-of-the-art golf simulators, and a team of staff who were hand picked for their love of the game – all of this to deliver an experience most golfers in Canada had never witnessed. This was Golf Town.

Twenty years ago, golf, led by a young Tiger Woods, was a game emerging from the staid confines of old school private clubs, and becoming part of the zeitgeist. That was the point when our first location in Scarborough, Ont., burst onto the scene, aligning with the momentum of the game in North America, to offer something new and fresh Canadians had never experienced.  What came with that was the ability to offer golfers a destination or as some dedicated LeaderBoard Members refer to it as “their clubhouse,” where all the top brands in equipment were offered under one roof. It was something the game in Canada had not previously witnessed.

Over the ensuing years, as is the case with every sport, golf has evolved. Thankfully we’re well past the days of the naysayers pontificating about the sport of golf’s difficult times.  While Golf Town is only 20 years into engraining ourselves in this game, the sport has been a part of the fabric of sports for 500 years. And it won’t come as a surprise to anyone if it is still an essential part of many lives a half century from now—it is that important to those who continue to be fascinated by it.

Today, Golf Town’s passion for the game has only strengthened as we continue to grow towards being your home for golf in Canada. Our core values—being experts in the sport and taking pride in offering the best selection of equipment and apparel in Canada—hasn’t changed. But as we look ahead to the next decade, we continue to look for new ways to engage golfers, capture your imaginations and grow along side the game we all love.

In Canada, the game, while healthy, is evolving. That’s a positive thing. Where golfers once dressed in their Sunday best, we now treat it like a lifestyle, hitting the links decked out in polos designed with technical fabrics, loud patterns and perfect fits to look and play our best. We toss a Bluetooth speaker in the cart and add a soundtrack to our rounds, further developing the social and fun aspect of the game.  Even when we as Canadians are focused on the fastest game on ice in the winter, at Golf Town, you can still feed that need to crush a drive or compete in a closest to the pin challenge with your friends using our state of the art foresight GCQuad launch monitors.  And let’s not forget the professional tours are filled with Canadian stars and instantly recognizable names like Brooke, Adam and Weir.

These days, for the vast majority or players, the game is social, a way to connect with friends and family over a round of golf.  And with the emerging trends you see in golf, like Top Golf and its rivals, a new generation of golf fans are being won over, one swing at a time and our game is only going to grow stronger for it in the decades ahead.

Where do we fit into all of this?  We continue to push ourselves to evolve and move away from being a product and promotional driven company, to becoming an experiential destination for all things golf.  We’re shifting from simply offering the best selection of equipment in Canada, and becoming a destination to enable and inspire the connection people make through the game. Our goal is to be your Home of Golf in Canada.

As tech evolves in every aspect of our lives, the game of golf is no different. With Golf Town making an investment of more than a million dollars,  you will receive a state-of-the-art fitting experience on the new Foresight GCQuad at each of our stores. Do you consider yourself a bit of a gamer and dialed in with short irons? Coming soon you’ll be able to compete against golfers coast-to-coast in closest to the pin challenges. More into Zombie’s or target shooting? Don’t worry—we’ll be offering that soon to help keep our junior golfers active and growing their love for the game.

Today, golf is a lifestyle – families plan around it for vacations, kids head to camp to learn the game, guys and girls’ weekend trips are planned around it, and communities fundraise for important causes around it. As the game creeps into every part of the culture, we felt it was a great time to take these connections even deeper at each of our 47 locations across the country. This year, we have invested over $117,000 into a community fund so each of our stores can use those dollars to support meaningful events or partnerships within their communities to grow our game. This is our way of supporting grassroot initiatives that help the game, whether it be junior golf, ladies golf or getting a new generation of golfers engaged in sport that you can play for a life time.

At Golf Town, we feel building communities, big and small, are key to continuing in keeping this game a strength in Canada, and with the first phase of our new website now launched, we’ll keep you better connected to all the latest gear with creative storytelling and exclusive content, both digital and video that will elevate your online experience. And one day in the not-to-distant future, we expect you’ll be able to use our website to book everything from lessons to fittings, and tee times to travel.

This is just a new beginning, the continuation of 20 years of being intensely connected to all things golf. As we celebrate our 20^th anniversary, our goal remains consistent with the vision Golf Town had when it started—to be your Home of Golf. We look forward to growing and supporting the game, both now, for the years to come.