Golf Canada a member-based organization governed by the Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA) is the governing body of golf in Canada, representing more than 350,000 members at 1,600 clubs across the country. Recognized by Sport Canada as the National Sport Organization (NSO) for golf in this country, Golf Canada is responsible for promoting participation in and a passion for the game of golf in Canada.
Golf Canada actively conducts championships, programs and services to help shape the present and future of golf in Canada. High performance athlete development, National Golf in Schools, Golf Fore the Cure, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and Museum, the CN Canadian Women’s Tour and Future Links Driven by Acura, Canada’s national junior golf program, are only some of the initiatives the association leads for golf in Canada. As the authority for golf in Canada, the association also administers the Rules of Golf, amateur status and handicapping and course rating under the respected RCGA brand.
In addition, Golf Canada conducts Canada’s most prestigious golf championships. The RBC Canadian Open and CN Canadian Women’s Open attract the best professional golfers in the world, while regional junior and national amateur championships provide world class competitive opportunities for Canada’s top golfers to showcase their talents.
For more information about how Golf Canada is helping to support golf in your community, please visit www.golfcanada.ca.
NATIONAL SPORT ORGANIZATION (NSO) MANDATE FROM PLAYGROUND TO PODIUM
Sport Canada has recognized Golf Canada as the national sport organization (NSO) for golf in Canada. Our NSO mandate is to enhance participation, excellence, capacity and interaction in golf. A Long Term Player Development (LTPD) framework has been developed with the assistance of Sport Canada and sport specialists. The LTPD framework will help guide the RCGA when developing programs from introduction to the game all the way to preparing Canada’s best athletes to compete on the international stage.
The framework is based on the best sport science available today and takes age and gender into consideration to determine the appropriate balance of fun, practice, training, coaching and competition to ensure that golf remains a lifelong passion for the many, not just a competitive goal for the few.
As the NSO for golf, Golf Canada acknowledges the important role that many other golf organizations play in the development of a healthy and vibrant sport. The LTPD framework was designed to be shared with everyone involved in the sport and will be used as a measuring tool to assist in identifying programs to support in the future.
For the next three-year period, the focus for Golf Canada will be to introduce golf to as many children as possible. This will be done through Future Links Driven by Acura programs conducted by our provincial and club partners as well as the development of a standardized golf curriculum that can be offered to schools to enhance existing programming.
On the other end of the ability spectrum, Golf Canada will continue to augment Team Canada – the National Team program to further assist their drive towards excellence.