This past weekend, members of Golf Canada and its board of directors met in Vancouver for the 2013 annual general meeting and for the first time in a couple of years, there appears to be optimism from the Oakville-based organization.

Through this year, Golf Canada announced its commitment to what it feels is the four key pillars of success in order for its vision to be carried out. Those four are: grow participation, ensure excellence, expand capacity, and foster interaction. 

The full details of that report can be read here.

The usual giving of awards and the naming of a new president aside, much focus was on the year that was and the year ahead – especially from a financial perspective.

As the National Sport Organization for golf in Canada and the governing body for the game, Golf Canada relies on multiple sources of funding to stay afloat, and has been financially struggling for the last couple of years. For example, its expenses outpaced its revenues by over $2 million in 2011.

But 2012 was a different story.

The net loss for the organization last year was $328,332 – a significant improvement over the net loss of $2,347,278 a year ago.

The focus was on streamlining programs and reducing operating costs. Beginning this year, there will also be an increase in membership dues by $2 per member – the first increase of it’s kind since 2009 – and an initiative that will increase Golf Canada’s revenue by approximately $700,000.

The aforementioned efforts, coupled with having the RBC Canadian Open hosted at Glen Abbey – as opposed to another club that would require dues to be paid – should result in Golf Canada being positively in the black for 2013.

Further, Shaw Communications, whose Chief Marketing Officer is none other than Jim Little (the man who brought the RBC sponsorship to the Canadian Open in the first place) has committed itself to being a big sponsor of golf in Canada from a media perspective.

It has also stepped up to the plate as a premier sponsor of the RBC Canadian Open, joining other sponsors like BMW, TaylorMade, and Glenlivet. 

Suffice to say, Little’s move to Shaw was a good thing for Canadian golf.

With the Canadian Women’s Open now without a sponsor, it would not be surprising to see Shaw step into that role as well.  

That press release can be found here.

It will be interesting to see where Golf Canada nets out come this time next year, but it should be hopeful for a good 2013.

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Hitting the Links – 

Rick Young debates giving the winner of the Canadian Amateur Championship an exemption into The Masters (ScoreGolf)

Highlands Links members could see an increase in membership dues of 140% (The Chronicle Herald)

Luke Donald has turned to Michael Jordan to help his mental approach (Yahoo! Europe)

Want to win lunch with the Wanamaker Trophy? You can (Democrat and Chronicle)

So much for my expert prediction of Brandt Snedker winning the match play in two weeks. He’s withdrawn (CBS Sports)

McCall Lake Golf Course, owned by the city of Calgary, is being sold and closed (CTV News)

Careless driving sparked chase on golf carts. Awesome (The Courier)