Fraser's "Glog" (Golf Blog)

Dear friends,

It has been quite some time since I’ve sent out my ‘blog’, so here’s my best attempt at ‘catching up’ with all of you.

It has been great to see so many returning students to the teaching academy this spring as well as all the many newcomers who have come for instruction for their first time this year. I’ve had a lot of fun watching all of your games progress throughout the spring and will continue to do so through the remainder of the summer and fall. The ‘golf helpline’ is down below if for some reason the swing is coming off the tracks.

As I may have mentioned in my last newsletter, I have also taken on a new role as the Commissioner of our Lower Mainland SRIXON Pro Tour. We have managed to receive some great press from the Vancouver Sun and Province as well as with Global TV, which has given the tour some newly found interest for the local golf follower. We have 15 events scheduled throughout the spring and summer months and with six events completed I am lying in 3rd place on our Order of Merit Standings which is being led by my colleague at Seymour Creek, Bryn Parry.

The third thing keeping me busy is the development of a new golf tour called the VANCOUVER GOLF TOUR. I have been hard at work preparing the first Pro- Am Championship Golf Event for the tour which will be held on Thursday, August 31st at the Northview Ridge Golf Course (past site of the PGA Tour’s Air Canada Championship).

This event will be the most premier Pro-am tournament run in BC! The focus of the event is bringing our top juniors, Amateurs and Professionals from BC together in this one day event and crown a champion at the end of the day. The Juniors and amateurs will win an outstanding array of prizes and the champion professional will win a paid trip down to the 2006 PGA Tour qualifying school!

With our standards set very high, we will hope to capture the attention of the Vancouver golfing community and media with the tour’s lofty goals for the future. The Pro-am Championship will be a prelude to what will be in store for the 2007 VANCOUVER GOLF TOUR schedule. The tour will be operated as a developmental golf tour and it’s members will consist of any interested junior golfers, amateur golfers and professional golfers who will compete in a series of ‘Open formatted’ tournaments throughout the year. The idea is to get our top juniors and amateurs competing in and amongst the best professionals in our city and province so they get the feel for what it’s like to play on ‘Championship Sunday’ with these best players. The sooner they are exposed to these experiences, the sooner they will learn how to win with the best local professionals in the tournament field. At the same time we are developing the skills of our younger juniors and amateurs, the tour will also give the local PGA touring professionals a chance to compete for substantial professional purses and make a living locally without the burden of excessive travel costs that are experienced on smaller mini-tours across the country and in the United States.

The short term goal of the tour is to send the Order of Merit Winner of year one down to the PGA Tour qualifying school. In year two, we will send down the top two from the Order of Merit. In year three, the top three will be sent down to the Tour School. In Year four, four will be sent down. And in year five, five will be sent down. Within this same five year period, the Vancouver Golf Tour’s vision is to have five of it’s members graduating to the PGA Tour! By this same fifth year, our plans are to be running a schedule of 25 events across Western Canada that will allow the best young golfers the opportunity to develop their skills in tournament competition and make a significant enough living while they prepare to qualify for the PGA Tour. The ten year goal for the Vancouver Golf Tour is to have a series of Championship events for our top juniors, amateurs and professionals, some of which will parallel the biggest professional tournaments anywhere in the world. Our ultimate goal is to have a higher growth of members on the PGA Tour than any other country within this ten year period.

Our vision for the tour is strong and I feel that we can make a difference in developing more PGA Tour Championship golfers from the Vancouver and BC region. The most immediate goal is to create a huge awareness for the vision of the tour. The Pro-am Championship on Aug.31st has been set-up with this in mind so the media, sponsors and all interested golfers can take part and make a direct impact in the future of our best up and coming juniors, amateurs and professional golfers who will be competing in the tournament.

The final details of the Pro-am will be sent out to all of our golf professionals and top juniors in the province within the week. At that time, I will send out a copy of the Tournament Registration Form and Sponsorship Brochure to all of you so that those of you who are interested in taking part in our vision can either play in the tournament, become a sponsor or both.

I will be in touch very shortly and until then, keep it in the fairway and roll the ball into the back of the cup!

Sincere regards,

Fraser Mulholland
Commissioner
Vancouver Golf Tour
Email: fraser@vancouvergolftour.com
Web: www.vancouvergolftour.com
Ph: (778) 866-4653