The "Final" Final Thoughts

First off, I want to thank Alison King, Dan Pino, Paul MacDonald, Dr. Stephen Norris, Stephen Ross, Jeff Calderwood, Nathalie Lavallée, Bob Weeks, Robert Thompson and James Cronk for there conversations, emails or comments on this subject. I also want to thank the many of you who posted comments or thoughts on this very subject. Even my 12 year old shared in this, though he wished Dad would find something else to talk about!

I know many of you are wondering why I went on such a tangent, and frankly so am I, but the subject is dear to me. As I said before I was a junior golfer who got lots of coaching, access and reduced green fees and look at what an impact it had on my life. I want to thank Graham Gunn and Dave Kempshed for teaching me and never once charging me for a lesson, because I was a junior. I was also a player in dozens of golf tournaments put on by volunteers where the course was donated and so were the prizes. I even ran junior events myself when I was in my twenties (the last time I was actively linked to a club). To every volunteer past, present and future I offer you my personal thanks.

I have two children who have already indicated clearly without their father’s prodding that they want to play. My youngest played his first 9 holes at 5 because there is a course called River Edge in Kitchener that encourages parents and children to play. Here is the link if your interested: http://www.riveredgegolf.com/ . My older boy and I were going to play and have the youngest walk with us, but the lady looked at me incredulously and said why he isn’t playing. I sheepishly said I figured he’s too young and you would be worried about him keeping up. She said, “He’ll keep up, it’s you I’m worried about!”

There are so many people who really care about the future of the game, and I mean really care. I just hope that we can all find that common ground that will “grow the game”

There are more articles on the blog all done over the same three week period. Each organization was allowed to comment or make a statement to allow them the opportunity to present their case or explain their own efforts. You will only need to go into january of 2007 to find the remainder.