Jared du Toit ended Blair Hamilton’s four-week reign atop the Canadian amateur rankings, regaining the top spot for the first time since Week 4.

Hamilton lost 14 places in the world rankings to surrender his No. 1 ranking by one spot. The senior from Burlington, Ont., was recently named the 2015-16 American Athletic Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He has posted six Top-20 finishes in seven tournaments to date and three Top-10 finishes in a four-tournament stretch at the end of the fall and start of the spring seasons.

From (L-R) Lorie Kane, Warren Sye And Bob Weeks Are The Newest Members Of Canada's Golf Hall Of Fame - Image Courtesy Golf Canada

Courtesy Golf Canada

The Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and Museum is proud to announce that Canadian LPGA Tour legend Lorie Kane of Charlottetown, two-time Canadian Men’s Amateur champion Warren Sye of London, Ont., and renowned golf journalist Bob Weeks, of Toronto, Ont., have been elected as 2016 inductees into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

Kane and Sye are being inducted under the player category, while Weeks will be inducted as a builder. With their inductions, the trio will become the 75th, 76th and 77th honoured members of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

Jaclyn Lee (Golf Canada/Josh Schaefer)

Golf Canada – Week of February 29, 2016

Golf Canada National Team member Jaclyn Lee climbed 135 spots in the world rankings and moved up to No. 7 in Canada after finishing in a tie for ninth at the Westbrook Invitational. It was the first career Top-10 result for the freshman out of Calgary.

Ladysmith's Pat Irwin (L) Was Recognized By Golf Canada As The Volunteer Of The Year For 2015 At The Golf Canada AGM In Halifax - Image Credit Shanda Harris née Irwin

Herb Fung/ Golf Canada

HALIFAX – Golf Canada announced that Ladysmith, B.C., native Pat K. Irwin has been named its 2015 Volunteer of the Year. He received the honour at the Saturday, February 27 closing dinner of the 2016 Annual General Meeting at the Prince George Hotel in Halifax.

Individuals’ paths to the game of golf can travel many routes. Golfers often recall early years on the course with parents or grandparents and credit them as sources of inspiration. Pat Irwin’s journey to the game came about in a more unique fashion – he decided to quit smoking.

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Roland Deveau of Bedford, N.S., was inducted as Golf Canada’s 113^th president at the conclusion of the National Sport Federation’s Annual General Meeting this past weekend in Halifax.

Deveau succeeds 2015 president Paul McLean of King, Ont., in leading Golf Canada’s Board of Directors. Calgary’s Leslie Dunning becomes first vice-president while Charlie Beaulieu of Lorraine, Que., assumes the role of second vice-president.

Adam Hadwin finished tied for 16th at PGA’s Northern Trust Open, his second straight Top-20 result of the season. His final-round 66 was the best score of the day and the finish marked his best career result at Riviera, which was good for a 15-spot gain in the world rankings for the No. 3 ranked golfer in Canada.

His gain of 4.95 world ranking points was his third points-paying finish in the last four tournaments. He has earned a total of almost 16 world ranking points over that span and if he can make up the 14-place gap between himself and No. 2 Graham DeLaet by the second week in July, he will qualify for one of two Olympic spots for Canada.

Fellow Abbotsford, B.C., native Nick Taylor made the biggest gain among the Top-10, picking up 28 spots in the world rankings after finishing in a tie for 26th at Riviera. That was good for 2.67 world ranking points – the second straight points-paying finish in as many weeks for the No. 4 ranked golfer in Canada.

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Golf Canada’s 2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM) is set for February 25-27, at the Prince George Hotel in Halifax.

The event will bring together Golf Canada’s Board of Directors, committee volunteers and staff, as well as representatives from Canada’s provincial golf associations and stakeholders from within the golf industry. The group will assemble for three days of meetings, presentations and discussion in preparation for the upcoming golf season.

Langley, B.C.'s Jessica Wallace Came Within One Shot Of Forcing A Playoff In The Season-Opening IOA Championship On The Symetra Tour - Image Courtesy Golf Canada

Tyler Costigan/ Golf Canada

BEAUMONT, Calif. – Canada’s Jessica Wallace finished runner-up at the Symetra Tour’s season-opening IOA Championship on Sunday at the Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon.

Wallace, a Langley, B.C., native, posted a final round 70 (-2), pushing a par-putt on 18 to just miss forcing a playoff with champion Erynne Lee of Los Angeles, Calif., who rallied with a final round 65 (-7) for the come-from-behind victory.

Kelowna's Megan Osland Is One Of Ten Canadians Including Four From British Columbia Teeing It Up In The Symetra Tour's Season Opener In California - Image Courtesy KelownaNow

Tyler Costigan/ Golf Canada

BEAUMONT, Calif. – Ten Canadians are set to kick-off the Symetra Tour’s 2016 season this Friday with the IOA Championship presented by Morongo Casino Resort and Spa.

Federal Budget Pre Consultation

Ensure the Minister of Finance is aware of the need for tax fairness for Canada's golf industry

Dear CGSA Member / Non-Member / Golf Industry Representative:

The National Allied Golf Associations (NAGA) has been focused on ensuring our industry's request for tax fairness is a priority for the new Government. We are now fast approaching the 2016 Budget, and our organization, in partnership with NAGA, has been working diligently to make sure golf is on the agenda.

We need your help to make sure our voice is heard loud and clear, and this can easily be done now that the Minister of Finance has officially launched Pre-Budget consultations. This provides an open opportunity for all Canadians to have their voices heard, and we've found that specific aspects of the Minister's call for responses can be linked to NAGA's tax fairness issue.

Adam Hadwin picked up 32 spots in the world rankings after coming within five strokes of his first career PGA Tour victory. The Abbotsford, B.C., golfer finished tied for sixth at the PGA’s CareerBuilder Challenge after beginning the final round in third, three back of leader and eventual champion Jason Dufner. Three straight birdies to close out the front nine put Hadwin in a tie for the lead with Dufner, who then rallied for three birdies of his own to reclaim the lead. Hadwin went in the other direction with three bogeys which all but spelled the end of his chances for victory. The result was good for 7.20 world ranking points, his first points paying finish since the Frys.com Open last fall. It was also his best world ranking result since finishing tied for fifth at the Crowne Plaza event last May. The $194,300 paycheque was the biggest of his two-year PGA career.

(Golf Canada/Tyler Costigan)

Team Canada Women’s Head Coach, Tristan Mullally, added another trophy to the shelf, winning the PGA of Canada’s Ben Kern Coach of the Year award at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.

The PGA of Canada awards the Ben Kern Coach of the Year based on a professional’s overall performance in coaching; unusual, innovative and special coaching programs initiated or implemented; articles published; as well as outstanding golfers the professional has coached.

(Golf Canada/Chuck Russell)

Craig Loughry, Director of Handicap & Course Rating/Golf Canada

The 2016 golf season will see the implementation of a new Handicap cycle. This two-year cycle is effective March 1, 2016 – February 28, 2018. Below you will find information regarding the changes that have been made in the Golf Canada Handicap Manual for a quick reference Six significant changes are seen in the upcoming edition of the Golf Canada Handicap Manual, which will impact approximately 3.3 million golfers who hold a Handicap Factor® issued throughout Canada and 10 provincial associations. Those highlighted changes include:

Langley, BC's Sue Kim Who Will Be Competing On The LPGA's Symetra Tour Is A Member Of Team Canada's Young Pro Squad For 2016 - Twitter Image 

Courtesy Golf Canada

Golf Canada is pleased to announce the six athletes – two female and four male – who have been selected to the 2016 Team Canada Young Pro Squad.

Comprising the team for 2016 is: Sue Kim (Langley, B.C.); Augusta James (Bath, Ont.); Albin Choi (Toronto); Mackenzie Hughes (Dundas, Ont.) Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ont.); and Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.).

The focus of the Young Pro Squad – now in its third year – is to bridge the gap for top graduating amateurs transitioning into professional golf. The program was developed in partnership with the PGA of Canada and is generously funded by founding partners Canadian Pacific and RBC, as well as supporting partners Citi Canada and the Golf Canada Foundation Women’s Fund.

by John Gordon/Golf Canada

The mechanics and philosophy of handicapping are a mystery to the majority of golfers. A mystery vital to our enjoyment of the game and equitable competition with other golfers, but a mystery nonetheless.

To compound that, let’s get metaphysical.

We are all familiar with the centuries-old conundrum, “If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?”

Substitute “unaccompanied rounds” for that hypothetical tree and that may help you understand the recent decision by the USGA and Golf Canada to disallow solo round scores for handicapping purposes.

by Jeff Sutherland/Inside Golf

See Victoria's Dale Jackson playing at his home course of Royal Colwood and you would not be remiss to think you are watching just another solid club level amateur golfer.

In this case appearances would be deceiving.

Jackson has been involved in giving back to the game as a rules official since becoming interested in this vocation more than 15 years ago. Since then he has risen through the ranks to become a Level Four Rules Official and serving as Managing Director of Rules and Competitions for British Columbia Golf from 2003 to 2007.

More recently, Jackson has been active at the national level and since 2013 has been the Chair of the Rules of Golf and Amateur Status Committee for Golf Canada.

Surrey's Hannah Lee Is In Lima Peru With Her Team Canada Teammates For The South American Amateur This Week - Image Courtesy BC Golf

Tyler Costigan/ Golf Canada

LIMA, Peru – Four members of Team Canada’s Development Squad are set to play in the 11th edition of the South American Amateur this week from Jan. 21–24 at the Lima Golf Club—a three-time host of the event.

Jared du Toit (Photo/Alfie Lau, File)

Weekly Top-10 Rankings For Week of January 11, 2016

courtesy Golf Canada

Eric Banks lost ground in the world rankings this week, but the No. 4 ranked amateur player in Canada was the only Top-10 golfer to get his 2016 campaign underway. The Golf Canada National Team member from Truro, N.S., finished in a tie for 52nd at the Australian Master of the Amateurs Championship.

For the 10th straight week, Jared du Toit holds down the No. 1 amateur ranking in Canada.

Outside the Top-10, Tony Gil and Andrew Harrison slipped down the rankings by four and 54 spots, respectively. No new players entered the Top-20 this past week.

Ted McIntyre (Golf Canada Magazine)

It is an inspired program that has the power to change lives—to send youngsters on a path to golfing stardom or to simply introduce them to a previously unforeseen athletic pursuit; to nurture confidence in a withdrawn individual and to instill the game’s greatest virtues at a key time in a student’s personal growth.

The (GIS) program has signed up more than 2,700 schools representing more than 315,000 students, but there are gaps that need to be filled as the program prepares for its next stage of evolution, the most prominent being with the end user.

For most of the year—and in many cases for years following a program’s initial implementation—equipment and teachers’ manuals sit dormant in gymnasium storage rooms. That’s not to say the responsibility lies entirely with the schools.

PGA of Canada / Golf Canada

Continued education of certified coaches delivers added benefits to the athlete, the parents, the teaching professionals themselves and ultimately, the future of Canada’s next generation of golfers.

National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) certified coaches belong to a select group that have chosen to pursue the highest education, giving them the knowledge to excel in all areas of coaching golf.