Golf Canada’s annual general meeting (AGM) was held this weekend in Calgary, where a new policy on diversity in the game was unveiled.

Appropriately, the venue was the Grey Eagle conference centre on the Tsuu T’ina Nation.

The new policy acknowledges the great variety of Canadians who now play the game. While Golf Canada officially represents about 320,000 players from 1,400 clubs across the country, it’s known that more than five million Canadians are active players. Given that golf is now an Olympic sport and is played in virtually every country in the world, diversity is, in fact, a reality.

Patrick Kelly, who is a First Nations member and president of the British Columbia Golf Association, told a wonderful story during a panel discussion on diversity. It concerned his home club, Gorge Vale on Vancouver Island, and the relationship the club had with two First Nations communities whose traditional lands were adjacent to the club.

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“At times the club had problems with young people hopping the fence at night to play soccer on the sixth green,” he told the audience. “The club manager came to me to ask if I would go visit with the Nations’ elders to see if we could get the partying stopped because of the damage it was causing to the green.”

“In the course of the discussions with the elders, I realized that there had never been a First Nations member who was also a member at Gorge Vale. I talked it over with a group of friends and we decided to invite a number of First Nations youth to join the junior golf program at the club.”

“Since then, we’ve had no incidents involving damage to the sixth green. And some young people are getting their first exposure to some of the basic tenets of the game: sportsmanship, responsibility, and fair play.”

It’s just one example of the kind of message that Golf Canada hopes to spread in the coming year.

“We’ve gotten involved with both the Tsuu T’ina and with the Alexander First Nation in the Edmonton area,” incoming Golf Canada President, Leslie Dunning, told me. “We’re going to see if we can get more First Nations members involved in the game for the same reasons that Patrick Kelly talked about.”

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“After all, Redwood Meadows, southwest of Calgary, is built on Tsuu T’ina land. There is a place in the game for First Nations members of all abilities, just as there is for any other Canadian who wants to play the game.”

Another member of the panel, Tiffany Gordon, has just finished 27 years of service at Cottonwood Golf Club. She’s taking on a new role as a teaching professional at Heritage Point.

“When I started, not nearly as many women played golf as are playing the game today,” she told us. “I want to continue to inspire more young women to take up the game and to realize that it’s a game you can play throughout your life.”

Encouraging diversity is a worthy goal. As usual, the first step is often the most difficult step. But once that step is taken, the path, and the progress, gets a little easier every day.

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