For a while now I have been contemplating writing about the state of golf in Canada, wondering whether I should be concerned or not but looking at the latest World Amatuer Rankings and the recent absence of Canada at the World Cup, I thought I would voice my thoughts and provoke maybe some dialogue to bolster our defense of the Olympic Gold.

Canada has only one man and one lady in the top 100 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and in the World Rankings as far as pros there is nobody in the top 150, man or woman. Now with such a big country geographically and given our climate this might be a factor but personally I do not think we should be making excuses. We need a sustain effort collectively to right the ship from Government to Amatuer bodies to Professional bodies if we see this as a worthwhile initiative. Maybe we are just in a down turn and eventually we will have talent that will break through and acheive results to move up in the rankings but this is leaving it to chance and more or less luck.

I belive we have the resuources but having them and not developing them is another story. We have to start combining our resoures like getting together all willing past and current champions to add their experiences and expertise to the mix. Players like Mike Weir, Rod Spittle, Richard Zokol, Dan Halldorson, Ken Tarling. Jon Mills, David Hearn, Matt McQuillan and there are many more. We have many talented teachers and again a summit or at least an online colaboration would be extemely benefitial. Teachers like Sam Young, Sean Foley, Bruce McCarrol, Mark Evershed, Scott Cowx, Kevin Dickey, Henry Brunton, Derek Ingram, Murray St. Onge and there are many more.

Where does a young pro go for help when he is starting out? Who is really scouting talent at a very early age and funneling them into the right programs if there are any? Who is lobbying the government for additional funds and resources? These are some of the questions we need to answer and keep asking the right questions to move foreward. I take my hat off to the work that has been done over the last 15 years but is it enough. How do we step up our game?