2010 Ottawa Citizen Championship On Track

With the recent news of CanWest seeking protection under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act so they can rebuild and restructure their Newspaper Group, including the Ottawa Citizen, Flagstick has received more than a few inquiries regarding the future of the Ottawa Citizen Amateur Golf Championship (OCAGC). Continue reading...

Regional Pros On Track For Hooters Tour Cut

Regional based golf pros Matt McQuillan and Peter Sauerbrei fared well in the opening round of the NGA Hooters Tour event at the Forest Lake Country Club in Ocoee, Florida on January 12^th. Continue reading...

Geoff Ogilvy Successfully Defends SBS Championship

The Mercedes Championship is now known as the SBS Championship and Geoff Ogilvy has shifted from Cobra to Titleist equipment (both Acushnet brands) but his $1,120,000 winner’s check looked pretty familiar as we won the season-opening 2010 SBS Championship on January 10^th. Continue reading...

Canadian Tour Starts 2010 in Columbia

The Canadian Tour will meet the European Challenge Tour and Tour de las Americas next month for a season opening event in Rio Negro, Colombia. Read more.

STX, Odyssey and SeeMore Roll Out New Flatsticks

Three popular putter manufacturers have released details on new putter models for 2010. Have a look at “Putter Talk” to get the full story.

Adams Golf Debuts New Club Line

Adams Golf unveiled new drivers and fairway woods on January 6^th. The Speedline Fast 10 clubs represent their 3^rd generation of Speedline models. For full details and images see here

Golf Channel and LPGA Announce 2010 Schedule

The Golf Channel announced their broadcasting schedule for the 2010 LPGA Tour on January 6^th. This is the first year of programming for the Golf Channel under a partnership created in early 2009. More details and full schedule here.

2010 - Full Speed Ahead

Welcome to a new year and a new decade. As a Flagstick reader you will be pleased to know there are lots of exciting new developments ahead. The staff had been hard at work putting together projects and we hope to start revealing more details shortly. In the meantime be sure to check back here for any announcements or you can follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/flagstick

January will be a strong month for golf equipment news with the annual PGA Merchandise Show coming up at the end of the month so if you are a bit of a gear-head stay tuned. There will be a lot of updates (see our YouTube channel – www.youtube.com/flagstickgolf for examples) on gear on both here and the blog at www.blog.flagstick.com

Canadian Golf Journalists Announce 2009 Awards

The Canadian Golf Journalists Association of Canada (Flagstick staffers Jeff Bauder, Scott MacLeod, and Joe McLean are members) announced their 2009 Player of the Year Awards January 4^th. For full details visit the announcement posted on the blog here.

Gunn Fares Well In Debut as Senior European Tour Member

Ottawa’s Graham Gunn completed his debut as a member of the 2010 Senior European Tour on December 13^th with a tie for 32^nd place. Playing in the The Mauritius Commercial Bank Open at the Constance Bel Mare Plage Resort Gunn posted rounds of 72, 75, 73 for a 221 total. Continue reading…

Start Your 2010 Tournament Planning Now

Just a quick heads up for competitive male amateurs golfers. If you are working on your 2010 schedule be sure to keep May 29^th and 30^th free. These are the dates for The Flagstick Amateur Shootout at Smuggler’s Glen.

We will reveal full details of the tournament soon but we expect a sellout this year so get signed up early by calling the Smuggler’s Glen Pro Shop.

Last year saw an exciting inaugural event with highly touted Ottawa amateur Allen McGee beating out North Carolina State standout golfer Brad Revell. See the wrap-up here.

Check back here regularly for updates and links to more information.

Off-Season Moves – Rafter Out At Arnprior

Flagstick has learned that Tyler Rafter, Head Professional and General Manager at the Arnprior Golf & Country Club, has resigned. Rafter says he is moving on to other business opportunities. Rafter was the Head Professional at the Deerhurst Resort before returning to his hometown roots two years ago in accepting the GM/Pro role at Arnprior.

Flagstick wishes him well in his new endeavor.

John Haime Releases Book

John Haime, currently President of LearningLinks Inc, has released his first book. Haime, who lives in Ottawa, announced December 7th that “You are a Contender! Build Emotional Muscle to Perform Better and Achieve More … in Business, Sports and Life” will be available on December 15^th. It can currently be pre-ordered through various major outlets. For information on ordering see www.youareacontender.com

Haime is a former touring professional who followed an impressive junior and amateur golf career with schooling at the Perdue University. He has carved out a strong business and corporate coaching career and combines all this experience in the book. Although golf is a major running theme the book provides readers with all sorts of tools so they can develop the skills that will drive them to be the best they can be in their chosen field.

“We are all performers in life,” Haime writes. “Whether you know it or not, if you’re leading, working, parenting, creating and developing a relationship, playing golf or enjoying your passion, you are on stage. And along with performance comes pressure, in varying degrees. How we handle the pressure always determines if we fly or fall down.”

For a full review by Flagstick staff visit here.

Good News For Regional Touring Pros on Canadian Tour

Depending on your perspective there is some good news for the playing pros from this region who plan to play the Canadian Tour in 2010. Sure, most of them would rather have moved on to the Nationwide, European, or PGA Tour by now but if you have to play the Canadian Tour next year – you will be glad to know that it can be potentially far more lucrative in the coming season.

Currently there are five pros from the region with full status for the 2010 Canadian Tour – Matt McQuillan, Scott Hawley, Lee Curry, Oliver Tubb, and Brad Fritsch while others hope to join them via upcoming qualifying schools. Andrew Jensen of Ottawa earned a conditional card for 2010 at the Fall Qualifying School.

The Tour just released a 2010 draft schedule that shows at least five major events on the tour with purses over $250,000. That includes the Canadian Tour Championship where the purse will be $325,000.

These are the largest purse increases in Canadian Tour history. That is significant as expenses for these players are significant and the chance to earn bigger cheques can mean the difference between playing for a living or quitting professional golf altogether. www.cantour.com for more details.

RCGA and ClubLink Enter Into 10 Year Agreement in Support of Canadian Golf

Cooperation within an industry is always great to see and in an early afternoon press conference on Wednesday, December 2^nd the Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA) and ClubLink Corporation announced that they will be working together in a stronger capacity support of golf in Canada. Continue reading…

2009 OVGA Junior Order of Merit Winners

We’ve just received the final Ottawa Valley Golf Association Order of Merit for junior golfers for 2009.

The winner for the girls was Gracie St.Germaine of who played out of the Hylands Golf Club in 2009.

On the boys side of the action there are four categories: Junior, Juvenile, Pee Wee and Mosquito.

The Junior Order of Merit winner was Matt Courchene of Mississippi Golf Club. The Juvenile winner was Will Courchene, another Mississippi golfer.

In the younger set Austin Evans of Rideau View was the leader for Pee Wee Boys while Tyler Cross of Rivermead won the title for Mosquito Boys.

Slammies” Handed Out For 2009

At a fun-filled event at Golf-O-Max on Merivale Road this past weekend the Ottawa-based Slammer Tour handed out their annual “Slammie” Awards.

Twenty awards were handed out in all to the members of the tour where the focus seems to be on having fun all year long. Award winners included:

Preston Cup (Slammer of the Year) - Jim 'Grumpy' Backs, Ottawa Sun Rookie of the Year - Terry 'Cuba' Kuzma, BG Golf-O-Max Cup (most improved) - Stan 'Steamer' Horton, RBC Dominion Securities Senior Tour Champion - Rene 'GolfNut' Gareau, Super Senior Tour Champion - Tim 'Bookie' Schobert, Ladies Tour Champion - Julie 'Cash' Cashaback, Open Tour Champion - Jerry 'Chilly' Stewart, B-Class Tour Champion - Mike 'Suds' Sutherland, C-Class Tour Champion - Tyler 'Tyger' Bayne, Junior Tour Champion - Zach 'Baldee' Baldelli.

Parent-Child Tour Champions - Zach 'Baldee' and Kevin 'ProZee' Baldelli, Mixed Tour Champions - Darquise 'Tootsie' Leduc and Brian 'Boomerang' Bonner, Top Ranked - Craig 'Chef' Domville, Office Doctor Cup (most eagles) - Andy 'Malone' Rajhathy, Lindsay LePage Cup (best winning %) - Bob 'ParBreaker' Irvine, and Engraving Plus Cup (top contributor - Jim 'Grumpy' Backs.

The most decorated golfer of the night seems to have been Gabe 'Ticklar' Louli who picked up four awards. They included: Coors Light Cup (most points), EmbroideMe Cup (most dogs), Canadian Cup (most birds) and the Fit-Fore-Golf Cup (most skins).

Golf Equipment News

Titleist 2010 CB 710 Iron Review

You have to think that the 2010 Titleist CB irons are going to be popular. During a week I recently spent testing the 1025 carbon steel forged irons that make up a ¼ of the company’s new iron line; I was inundated with people asking to have a closer look. It may have been the sleek chrome finish or the old-world styling but whatever the case, they drew attention from a wide spectrum of golfers. More...

The 2010 Callaway Golf Line-Up

Want to know what Callaway Golf has in store for 2010? We revealed details on the full 2010 Callaway Golf Line-Up here.

Arnprior’s Buder Loses National Club Pro Championship In Playoff

Arnprior native Jeff Buder lost in a playoff Wednesday at 2009 Titleist & Footjoy Canadian PGA Club Professional Championship in Florida. Buder’s 54 hole total of 9 under par was matched by Ben Boudreau of Quebec. Boudreau then prevailed in a playoff with a birdie on the 1^st extra hole.

Buder, now the Head Professional at the Point Grey G&CC in Vancouver, has to settle for a $7,000 cheque for his efforts this week. Boudreau earned $12,000 and most importantly, a spot in the 2010 RBC Canadian Open.

Buder tied for 4^th in this Championship in 2005 and tied for 5^th in 2005.

Chris Barber, the 3-time CPGA Ottawa Zone Champion of The Landings Golf and Learning Centre in Kingston, earned 8^th place for $2,400. He ended play at two under par.

See www.cpga.com for more details.

Another Serge Giroux Golf Dream Complete

Thanks to the hard work and generosity of a lot of people another Serge Giroux Golf Dream is complete.

On November 23^rd the CPGA Ottawa Zone and The Serge Giroux Golf Dream announced the arrival back to Ottawa of two dream candidates and their families after a week of dream activities in Orlando, FL. Brittany Moore, 14, from Smiths Falls, ON and Melanie Laliberte, 17, of Gatineau, Quebec, and their families arrived home from an unforgettable trip to Disney World. Continue reading…

Flagstick Golf Magazine Adds A YouTube Channel

Flagstick Golf Magazine is adding yet another dimension to our editorial coverage. Video content from us is now hosted at www.youtube.com/flagstickgolf.

Visit the channel and subscribe but expect that most videos will be posted to support other editorial and we will provide a link to relevant videos as often as we can.

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