![\"Gary](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/golfcoursebusiness\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2009\/11\/Gary-Gilchrist-Kneeling1.jpg\")
\u00a0Quick, what country has produced the men\u2019s individual winner or runner-up in three of the last five NCAA Championships? If you guessed the United States, you\u2019re wrong. If you guessed America\u2019s hockey-loving neighbor to the north, you certainly know your college golf.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Yes, led by defending NCAA national champion Matt Hill of North Carolina State University and \u201908 NCAA runner-up Nick Taylor of the University of Washington (former Washington player James Lepp won the NCAA title in \u201905), Canada, of all places, can now claim the crown as golf\u2019s collegiate kings.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Meanwhile, as Taylor and Hill continue to put Canada on the global golf map, the two players were ranked No. 3 and 6, respectively, in the latest R&A World Amateur Golf Rankings,<\/p>\n
a growing number of Canadian junior golfers are heading south for specialized golf training and excelling at the highest levels of American Junior Golf Association competition. Nicole Zhang of Calgary, who was recently named to the AJGA\u2019s Rolex All-America team, is one such player.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0Of course, Canada isn\u2019t the first arctic-like country to make a name for itself in golf. Sweden certainly debunked any myths that great golfers can\u2019t come out of frigid climates.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0So how does one explain the sudden emergence of top-flight Canadian collegians?<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMike Weir,\u201d says longtime junior golf guru Gary Gilchrist, who has his own namesake golf academy near San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Orlando, Fla., after running IMG and IJGA\u2019s junior golf academies for 15 years. \u201cMike Weir has taken Canadian golf to another level. He\u2019s such an athlete. And he\u2019s all about being an athlete and being the best at his game. Once you have a winner like him who\u2019s won a major championship, it absolutely uplifts an entire country and motivates the younger generation to get to the next level as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0That motivation is clearly evident at the AJGA, where Canadian AJGA membership has steadily risen over the last few years. For example, the number of Canadian AJGA golfers has almost doubled since 2006, jumping to 100 members from 60. There were 79 and 89 members in \u201907 and \u201908, respectively.<\/p>\n
Gilchrist saw a number of young talented Canadians this summer playing in his Gary Gilchrist Golf Academy Junior All-Star Series, a nationwide circuit comprised of 12 tournaments for 12-15 year-olds.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanadians are training more, training harder and more of them are coming to America and going to college,\u201d Gilchrist points out. \u201cWhether it\u2019s juniors, amateurs or professionals, Mike Weir has pretty much lit the torch for Canadian golf.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0One thing Gilchrist has noticed is better planning and more \u201cfocused efforts by various Canadian golf federations, country clubs and junior golf organizations,\u201d he adds. \u00a0Consequently, you\u2019re starting to see the next generation of golfers who are \u201cmore prepared, more focused and more successful\u201d at younger ages.<\/p>\n
\u00a0At this year\u2019s Gary Gilchrist Junior All-Star Series event at Boyne Highlands, Komoka, Ontario natives Al Amos and son, Ryan, were impressed by the caliber and quality of the AJGA event and players, and the concept of full-time golf academies like Gilchrist and others. Amos said \u201cthere\u2019s nothing like this in Ontario\u201d and sees more Canadians embracing this quality of specialized golf programming.<\/p>\n
\u00a0At the Gary Gilchrist Junior All-Star at Penn State, Paul Nedoszytko, whose son Michael was competing as an AJGA rookie from Scarborough, Ontario, also believes Canada is a growing market for world-class AJGA and academy programming. For the past three years, Nedoszytko, like many other Canadians, would send his family to Florida and South Carolina during their March break from school and incorporate family vacations into golf training.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cCanada is a huge untapped market,\u201d says Nedoszytko, referring to elite junior golfers.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 One person who understands the true potential of Canada\u2019s future golf market is junior golf coach Nick Starchuk of Oakville, Ontario. A former Class A Canadian PGA Golf Instructor at Oakville\u2019s highly acclaimed Glen Abbey Golf Club from 2004-2008, Starchuk is now at the Gilchrist Golf Academy.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 When asked how to describe golf in Canada, Starchuk says there\u2019s two seasons for golf \u2013 \u201cindoor and outdoor, with each lasting about five months.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cDuring the season we are playing the game and improving our short game where in the winter we are improving our swing, physique and mental strengths,\u201d adds Starchuk, who played college golf at\u00a0 Kentucky State University. \u201cHitting balls into a net can sound difficult for five months but the changes that we have witnessed with players focusing on their positions and motions rather than ball flight is amazing. Canadian juniors are able to improve just as fast as Sunbelt players because of our (systemized training) schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n
So long as golfers like Taylor and Hill keep winning the big matches, Starchuk sees the Canadian Connection growing throughout the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s giving us hope that we don\u2019t necessarily have to play on grass year round,\u201d Starchuk adds. \u201cWe\u2019re finding ways to be elite players through our own systems and programs. The biggest thing is it\u2019s showing our juniors that we have coaches that truly coach at the elite level just like those in the States. And we\u2019ve found a way to get it done even though our season is only five months.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Gilchrist\u2019s opinion, Canadian golfers are indeed at no disadvantage when it comes to golf, despite their unfavorable year-round climate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people live in places with challenging weather, they appreciate the days when it\u2019s nice,\u201d says Gilchrist, who\u2019s trained the likes of professional golf stars Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer, Sean O\u2019Hair and Oklahoma State standout Morgan Hoffmann. \u201cIt\u2019s not about quantity. It\u2019s about quality. For a \u00a0lot of golfers, regardless of where you\u2019re from, when you want to be the best, you create a plan and diligently work on that plan until you achieve your goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, it\u2019s a plan that seems to be working just fine in Canada.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
–30–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"