CANMORE – Three Canmore schools are gaining year-round access to golf equipment that’s envisioned to make the game more inclusive and accessible. If the goal was getting golf clubs into more students’ hands, then aboutGOLF and Golf Canada hit a hole in one.
“In Canada, what’s the biggest restriction here? Weather,” said Luke Elvy, aboutGOLF’s vice president of media and PGA commentator. “You can only play five or six months of the year. I grew up in Australia and I didn’t know there was a thing called golf season … so indoor golf actually becomes a genuine thing.”
Through Golf Canada’s Adopt a School program, aboutGOLF donated three indoor golf kits for the frigid winter months, which include dozens of foam balls, artificial turfs, age appropriate clubs and a how-to manual to Elizabeth Rummel Elementary School, Lawrence Grassi Middle School and Canmore Collegiate High School (CCHS).
“The program gives the opportunity for everyone to get their hands on a piece of golf equipment and have a feel for playing the game in a fun casual environment,” said Elvy, who lives in Canmore.
Elvy approached Canadian Rockies Public Schools about the program for children and teens. He said it can be intimidating to play on a golf course without any prior experience, but the indoor golf kits offer a different experience of the game such as alleviating cost and/or time restrictions.
When the Canmore Golf and Curling Club course is open, adjacent to CCHS, students are allowed free access, which CCHS athletics director Darren Anderson said has been an amazing benefit for the school.
He added that the indoor golf kits allow the schools to have different phys-ed options throughout the season.
“When we take over the driving range, the kids get super excited,” Anderson said. “International students love it and depending on where they came from, some have never swung a club before … but we can now do it in the winter months when we’re all stuck inside during the cold.”
Being able to give access to kids who might not have picked up the sport otherwise was a big motivator for Elvy, he said.
“All I have ever wanted to do since coming here is be able to give back to the sport that has given me so much in life,” Elvy said. “I want the opportunity to be able to give back and through aboutGOLF, I’ve been able to do that.
“If this gets 10 kids interested in the sport that I adore, then fantastic.”
According to Golf Canada, in 2018, 263 new schools were adopted, which had an average of 120 students per school being introduced to the sport. Since launching in 2009, the program is currently in over 3,800 elementary, intermediate and high schools with more than 440,000 students participating from coast-to-coast.
