Golfaround celebrated 10 years in 2006, it is hard to believe how much we have grown since inception. This era saw Edmonton increasing in memberships, so much so that we had to add another evening league choice and start  day & beginner leagues. We tried another Challenge cup in Lacombe, this time the weather was much improved but unfortunately we didn’t have many from Edmonton. Needless to say Calgary won the trophy back. Our other tournaments included the Golfaround Memorial at the Canmore Golf Club a charity event supporting The Women’s Emergency Shelter, Golf and Gamble at St Eugene Mission and Paradise Canyon in Lethbridge. The Mystery Bus trip went to Golden and on the way home Donna Gray surprised us with her 10^th Aniversary commemorative verse to the Golfaround song

“The dirty dozen started the show

We are now 400 and continue to grow

It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years

Some dear friends we’ve lost

And some new friends we’ve found

And we’re proud to be the ladies from Golfaround”

In Feb of 2006 we had the trip of a lifetime to South Africa. We were a large group, 58 in total, a great group to experience the diversity and contrasts that only Africa can offer. The scenic diversity was incredible. We saw lush green forests and deep river gorges leading down to the sea in the Tsitsikamm National Park, contrasted to the arid bush land of the Karoo in Oudtshoorn where we also saw the Cango Caves. Then there was the magnificent rugged coastline of the Cape Point and the tranquility of the Chobe River. We experienced the opulence of Sun City which was contrasted by the miles of shanty towns going into Cape Town. Our safari at The Kariega Lodge and the add on to Zimbabwe, Botswana and Choba were my highlights. Never did I expect to see such a huge amount of game so up front and personal. We saw more than 25 species of game including rhino, lions, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, impala and 270 species of birds. Seeing these in their native habitat was truly amazing. We had a busy itinerary to say the least which included, wine tasting , game viewing on land and water, golf, site seeing, shopping and superb dining. It was a trip of a lifetime.

I think we were pretty spoilt in this timeframe as we also traveled to both Sedona in Apr 2007 and Portugal in Oct.

Sedona, strategically situated at the mouth of spectacular Oak Creek Canyon, is a truly unique place. Characterized by massive red-rock formations, as well as the contrasting river bank areas of Oak Creek Canyon. This trip provided our group a variety of unique experiences, one of which was golfing within the majesty of the incredible red rocks.  Our hotel was perched upon a hillside overlooking the beauty of the landscape. Many of us went for the ultimate 4 x 4 Jeep experience. It was 100% off-road fun going on and over the rocky terrain in the midst of canyon walls and making that heart-pounding decent down the “Road of no Return”. The Grand Canyon was spectacular and the helicopter ride awesome. In addition to this some of the gals frequented some of the local hangouts and met some fun looking cowboys.

Then in Oct it was off to Portugal. We started our journey in Vilamoura in the Algarve, one of the largest single tourist complexes in Europe. In front of our hotel and viewed from our rooms was a long sandy beach swept by the Atlantic Ocean. There were six different golf courses here, three of which we played. We also had an opportunity to see the Portuguese Masters which was there during our stay. Our next destination was the small country town of Portel, in the heart of Portugal’s sunny Alentejo region. We stayed in a transformed old rural house of classic beauty which was in total contrast to our hotel in Vilamoura. Some of the group participated in the Refúgio da Vila cooking school enjoying a unique gastronomic, wine and cultural experience. Then on to Cascais, which was at the end of one of the suburban train lines just thirty minutes outside of Lisbon. This once tiny fishing village has grown in the last century to become an elegant beach town but still retains the charm of its fishing past and indeed present. We ventured into Lisbon, to explore world heritage architectural marvels We were mesmerized by Lisbon’s wonderful mix of the old-fashioned, the historic and the modern. This coupled with 25,000 Celtics fans, in their green and white jerseys, there to cheer on their soccer team was an experience to remember.

The theme for Calgary’s wind up was The 50’s so everyone had to get out their saddle oxfords, poodle skirts and hoola hoops, it was a “rockin event. Edmonton also had wind-ups at both Golden West and Cougar Creek.

 

 

First of all we need to make a correction, last month we reported that Edmonton’s inaugural year was 2003, sorry folks it was 2004. Many great things started in 2004 which included the expansion to Edmonton. We started sharing a photo gallery so you could all share and see the good times we’ve had. Our loss of Nancy Morrison spearheaded the first Cottonwood Classic which was held in support of The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. This event featured some firsts for us, Shepherd Health offered us the benefits of ART, Active Release Therapy, prior to us teeing off and breakfast was sponsored by Cordell’s Point of View. We had two Mulligan men who washed our clubs, drove like Tiger and looked like the Chippendals, well maybe a little exaggeration. Our first Silent Action and balloon game, remind me never to do the balloon thing again, were also very successful. Our Fernie tournament in Aug also included an optional extension to Meadow Lake Montana which many of us enjoyed. The weather in both locations was certainly a challenge but we made the most of it and had a blast as always. In 2005 we returned to Fernie, thinking it couldn’t be as bad as 2004, guess what it was worse. Imagine rain, snow, power outages and closed golf courses. Some of us were escorted around the dark hotel not by the light of the moon but by the light of the miner’s helmets, it was so much fun.

In February 2003 we traveled to Thailand and it was amazing. We experienced the splendor of the temples; the myriad of smells at the flower and food markets; and the uniqueness of the canals that once were the streets of Bangkok. From the hustle and bustle of the city of Angels we traveled south to Cha Am and Hue Hin. These relaxed coastal towns boasted long uncluttered beaches and some great golf courses .Following our sojourn here some of the group went north to the ancient walled city of Chang Mai while others went on to Hong Kong, Osaka, Singapore Koh Samui and Phuket. It was a fantastic experience and the harbinger of many other unique experiences to come………so many places on my bucket list and so little time.

In February 2005 26 lucky people escaped to the tropical paradise of Punta Cana. The group experienced quading, banana boating, snorkeling and much much more.The golf too was wonderful and some even got to try out the renowned Teeth of the Dog Golf Course. Di was not here as she had her hip replacements so Kristy was questioning if she should spend so much to play there. Sylvia Madder told her “ Di won’t know just go for it” Kristy informed her that Di would know as she did the finance and would see the credit card charges. She went anyway and good for her you have to grab opportunity when you can.

As most of you will remember 2005 certainly had it’s challenges with the first flood causing much devastation for many of the courses and also for many of our population both in Calgary and the surrounding areas. In June we held our first Challenge Cup at Lacombe and yes it was wet, very wet, so wet in fact we saw someone drying their undies with the hand dryer.

 

Well we survived Y2K and our computer systems are still intact, wow that was a relief. We have been doing this now for five years and we are thinking we really do have  a viable business  opportunity. We have a domain name and website thanks to Kim Worth who we met at AWE, Alberta Women Entrepreneurs so let’s go for it, a league of our own. We continued to add golf courses to our schedules and golf professionals to our teaching team. This was the year that Brian Fast started his teaching career at Cottonwood, and he is still teaching for us fourteen years later. He is also married with two sons.

It was interesting to look back at our newsletter for 2002, the weather challenges have not changed that much. The Day League were at Heatherglen May 21^st, the wind was almost blowing them over and it was extremely cold. The gals were in the restaurant waiting to see what they were going to do. Sandra Hunter told one of the new members in jest “yes we meet at different courses once a week and have coffee” it does sometimes seem that way early in the season.

Something I forgot last month was to mention our first international trip. This event was spurred by Fran Esler, then Burrows, who thought we should go somewhere warm to golf in the winter months. We were a little skeptical about organizing a trip to a warm climate, Canada sure wasn’t an option, so we thought how about four days & five nights in Laughlin Nevada? We also had the guys along for the first time. This trip turned out to be a grand total of 44 and we had a blast. We were in all four states during our travels, oh not quite correct it was Arizona, Nevada, California and some of them in the  “drunken state” not sure where that is. Back in those days our cost was $728.00 for the package, it sure wouldn’t be that now.

This success motivated us to go a little further  away, so we planned a trip to Veradaro, Cuba for 2003. We stayed at Breezes, a great resort in close proximity to the golf course. We had another good size group which included seven sets of sisters,  believe it or not. We also took our then mascot, Clem, or Phlegm. He was a blow up doll that Joan Holmes had given to Marg Hardstaff to keep her safe when she had to drive home alone from golf. Clem had a great time as we did, he even danced with the bride at a wedding there. We also had a mock wedding for Irene Shewchuk and if I remember correctly some of the gals left their mark on the walls of the Cuban restaurant noting the “the first wives club”. There are lots of great memories including the synchronized swimmers, amazing golf course personnel and the tour to Havana, including the legendary Tropicana Show, a Cuban classic.

The 2002 wind-up event was themed “friends” and funnily enough Gloria Boogmans just sent us a very special prose about friends:

Why do I have a variety of friends who are all so different in character? How is it possible that I can get along with them all?

I think that each one helps to bring out a “different” part of me. With one of them I am polite. With another I joke.

I can sit down and talk about serious matters with one. With another I laugh a lot.

I listen to one friend’s problems. Then I listen to another one’s advice for me.

My friends are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When completed, they form a treasure box. A treasure of friends!

They are my friends who understand me better than I understand myself. They’re friends who support me through good days and bad.

Real Age doctors tell us that friends are good for our health. Dr. Oz calls them Vitamin F (for Friends) and counts the benefits of friends as essential to our well being.

Research shows that people in strong social circles have less risk of depression and terminal strokes.

If you enjoy Vitamin F constantly you can be up to 30 years younger than your real age.

The warmth of friendship stops stress and even in your most intense moments, it decreases the chance of a cardiac arrest or stroke by 50%.

I’m so happy that I have a stock of Vitamin F! In summary, we should value our friends and keep in touch with them.

We should try to see the funny side of things and laugh together and pray for each other in the tough moments.

We are so very grateful for all the friends we have made through Golfaround and I know that there are many of our members who feel the same way. We were also very saddened in 2002 to lose a very special lady and friend after a courageous fight to breast cancer, Nancy Morrison. Nancy and her husband Brian were loyal supporters of Golfaround. Because we wanted to make this loss meaningful it spearheaded our first attempt at raising money for charity, hence the Cottonwood Classic.

2003 was the year we expanded Golfaround in Edmonton starting there with approximately 30 members and Shannon Chambers was our first Coordinator. Some of the original Edmonton members were Heather Bishop, Lesslie Ingledew, Jan Young. The Orientation/Social was held at Millwoods Golf Club and the wind-up was at Retail Landing a course that has supported us from day one. The weather was ugly at the wind-up, I have never been so wet and only played three holes. Oh yes I have been that wet but it came later at Lacombe as many of you will remember.

We wound down 2003 with a Halloween themed wind-up and I can still see Maria Emond, the skeleton and Cheryl Oliver, Snow White dancing to the music of Dan the One Man Band, what a fun night.

Next year 2016 is a very important milestone for Golfaround, we are 20 years young. Who would have ever believed we would be where we are today. We are very grateful to be celebrating 20 years of Golfaround and thank our many supporters who have helped us reach this milestone. Our ongoing accomplishments would be impossible without the support of our members both old and new. We never dreamt of being an overnight success, to the contrary we did not feel we had the knowledge or skills to run a golf business. But here we are 20 years later, it has taken hard work, friendships, golf Professionals, golf clubs and stick-to-it-ness to build credibility and a successful business.

We want to celebrate where we have come from so starting next month we will re-visit our journey by running the Golfaround Chronicles in the news feed. We hope it will be informative for new members and nostalgic for others, I am sure it will bring back great memories and set the stage for many more years to come.