PGA of BC

E-NEWS

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Based in Huntington Beach, Calif., Cleveland® Golf, Srixon®, and XXIO® are all part of the SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD. family and each brand enjoys a strong presence on competitive tours worldwide. Their professional staff includes players such as Hideki Matsuyama, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry, Inbee Park, Nasa Hataoka, Minjee Lee, as well as many others.

Srixon®, with more than 80 years of golf ball manufacturing experience, is committed to producing the highest quality, technically innovative golf balls which offer maximum performance to golfers of all levels of ability.

Cleveland® Golf, founded in 1979, is a leading equipment manufacturer specializing in short game technologies and solutions that benefit all golfers.

XXIO®, with its longstanding tradition of premium golf clubs in Japan, brings the No. 1 golf brand in Japan to North America. Cleveland® Golf, Srixon®, and XXIO® remain steadfastly committed to providing Tour proven, premium golf equipment to passionate golfers seeking to improve their performance while enhancing their experience playing the game of golf.

Visit Srixon, Cleveland Golf & XXIO online to learn more.

Photo via the PGA of Canada

Deer Ridge Golf Academy's James Skrypec won the 2023 PGA of Canada Head Professional Championship, held at Iberostar Playa Paraiso in Cancun, Mexico last week. Skrypec earned the victory with a 54-hole score of 3-under-par to outlast fellow Ontarians Gord Burns and Ed Maunder by one stroke. The PGA of BC congratulates Skrypec on his impressive National Championship win!

The PGA of BC was represented by Nathan Leonhardt (Tour Development Academy), Sergej Dronov (Pacific Golf Academy Richmond) and Steve Liddicoat (Northview Golf & Country Club). Leonhardt was the low British Columbian, posting rounds of 74-75-78 to earn a 13th place finish.

PGA of BC competitors were fashioned with Nike Golf apparel through our partnership with Nike Golf and Mint Green Group. We extend our appreciation for their support of the Association and of our National Championship competitors.

The Association extends our congratulations to all participants, and our appreciation to Leonhardt, Dronov and Liddicoat for representing the province. For a detailed recap via the PGA of Canada, please click here. For the full leaderboard, please click here.

The PGA of BC recently announced a new partnership with golf course optimization technology expert Tagmarshal. Tagmarshal’s technology helps courses manage pace of play and field flow more effectively through the use of advanced GPS technology and powerful algorithms, enhancing the player experience.

They will be hosting a webinar tomorrow, November 23 at 9:00am PST: "How Royal Mayfair, Golden Golf and St. Eugene are using technology to enhance the player experience and drive operational efficiency."

Their expert guests are Matt Johnson, Director of Golf at Royal Mayfair, Graeme Kreiner, Director of Operations at Golden Golf Club and Michael Pearson, Head Golf Professional at St. Eugene.

They will share insight into how their courses have embraced technology and automation, increasing efficiency and using proactive pace management to create world-class player experiences.

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PGA of BC Teacher of the Year for 2022, Nathan Leonhardt (Tour Development Academy), has joined the Award-Winning Xonic Golf team as their latest Ambassador. Nathan joins a high-profile list of Xonic Ambassadors, which includes Golf Legend Lorie Kane and LPGA Class A teaching pro and social media influencer Aimee Cho. Xonic Golf is a proud partner of the PGA of BC.

Xonic caught up with Nathan, who shared the following: “The Xonic iTQ has been a great tool to support my coaching. My students simply press a button to send me their on-course data, which helps me provide them with a better game improvement plan. And, after our lessons, I just assign one of the quick games to help them focus on our lesson pointers. My students actually practice now because it’s fun, easy, and has a purpose.”

See how Nathan and other PGA instructors and coaches use the Xonic iTQ to help their students and grow their business: PGA Pros and the Xonic iTQ

Learn more at Xonic Golf’s recently launched, updated website: PGA Pros - Xonic Golf

Did you know that research services are available to golf facilities through the BC Golf House Society and Canadian Golf Hall of Fame? If your club is nearing a significant anniversary or milestone, these institutions are excellent resources to learn what historical info, photos or documents may be available within the archives specific to your facility.

Hall of Fame officials recommend starting the process of planning for anniversary celebrations years in advance, to form a committee to spearhead these efforts and to rely on club members as a key source of materials.

Contact Mike Riste at the BC Golf Museum at [email protected] for information or ideas on how to acknowledge your club's history, and for more info on how the museum has preserved the histories of golf courses throughout the province. The Association extends our appreciation to Riste and the BC Golf Museum for providing archived historic content which was included in our 2023 Awards Celebration.

BC university and college golf teams have entered their winter breaks, and will take a hiatus before returning to competition in early 2024. We look forward to continue our updates upon the return of competitive play.

For more information on BC's collegiate golf programs, including their 2023-24 results and schedule, please visit the links below:

UBC Men's | UBC Women's

SFU Men's | SFU Women's

UVic Men's | Uvic Women's

UBCO Men's | UBCO Women's

UFV Men's | UFV Women's

From Brad Ziemer's B.C. Golf Notes via British Columbia Golf:

Port Coquitlam’s Yeji Kwon, the 2022 Canadian Junior Girls Champion, is heading to Baylor University in Texas. Nov. 8 was national letter of intent signing day and Kwon was one of a number of young British Columbians making commitments to join NCAA Division I schools next fall. B.C. Women’s Amateur champion Chelsea Truong of Victoria is heading to the University of New Mexico. Joshua Ince of Surrey is joining Loyola Marymount in California, Matthew Wilson of Nanaimo has committed to Weber State in Utah, Max Osten of Delta is heading to the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore and Vancouver’s Nathan Szpakowicz is joining the University of Hawaii.

Simon Fraser University coach Matthew Steinbach has added two new recruits who will join the Red Leafs next fall. Richmond’s Cadence Ko, the 2023 Women’s Club Champion at Marine Drive Golf Club, has committed to SFU. Ko is the latest in an impressive list of Marine Drive products who have chosen to play their collegiate golf at SFU that includes Chris and Michael Crisologo, Scott Kerr, Steve Berry and, of course, Doug Roxburgh.

SFU is also adding Max Corcoran of Ottawa to its men’s squad. Corcoran won the 2023 Quebec Junior Boys Championship.

Wanted: Decent used range balls.

Interested may contact Victoria Golf Centre Head Professional Griffin Gilmore at 250-474-2123 or [email protected].

If you would like to place an advertisement in the Classifieds section, please contact Marketing & Communications Manager Graham Abraham at [email protected] to place a listing.

Jaegan Patron has left The Vancouver Golf Club

Jeffrey Zaiser has reinstated with the PGA of Canada and has joined Golf Town (North Vancouver)

Doug Titterington has successfully completed the National Training Academy and becomes a Class “A” Professional at the PGA of BC

Ryan Brown has successfully completed the National Training Academy and becomes a Class “A” Professional at Myrtle Point Golf Club

Arjan Singh has successfully completed the National Training Academy and becomes a Class “A” Professional at GOLFTEC South Surrey

Roy Abbenbroek has returned from his Leave of Absence

For all Members on the Move information, please click HERE.

For any job postings that have been approved and published on the PGA of BC website, the Association will share relevant social media posts to assist your facility in the search for a candidate. We will share one post/story per job posting. Please ensure that you tag the PGA of BC's social media account in any post or story relevant to the posting. To ensure that we share the post/story in a timely matter, please also reach out to Communications & Marketing Manager Graham Abraham at [email protected] to notify us of the post.

For all job opportunities listed on the PGA of BC website, please click HERE (Log-in required).

For all job opportunities listed on the PGA of Canada website, please click HERE.

February 5 & 6, 2024

Spring Education Seminar

February 7, 2024

National Golf Course Owners' Association (NGCOA) Spring Conference

CONTACT THE PGA OF BC OFFICE TEAM