We Are Golf

By Todd Saelhof

The thank-you cards fell fast and furious across the desk of Robert Rousselle, the president of the Alberta branch of NAGA, the National Allied Golf Associations. The cards were ringing endorsements for a job well done by the Alberta branch of NAGA during the strangest times of our lives.

COVID-19, be damned.

Golf got its groove on in the face of the coronavirus pandemic with help from the guiding hand of Rousselle & Co., a group of enthusiasts committed to the sport.

"Extremely positive," said the NAGA Alberta president, beaming with pride when talking about the feedback sent the association's way for steering the province's golf industry through the health troubles of 2020.

"I received many cards over the season, thanking us for all the work we did,” Rouselle said proudly. “The comments were very thankful from an extremely high percentage of golf clubs in Alberta."

Indeed, the praise seems appropriate given the role of Rousselle and his merry band of men over the past year.

Many considered NAGA Alberta to be a driving force behind what became a successful golf season, surprisingly emerging from the worry that engulfed the industry during the early stages of the pandemic. But just how does the association fit into the golf landscape? We Are Golf is a Canada-wide coalition of the National Allied Golf Associations, aimed at increasing awareness of golf as a key driver of our economy, a steward of our environment and a vital way in which millions of Canadians stay fit and healthy every year.

We Are Golf is comprised of Golf Canada, the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada, the PGA of Canada, the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association and the Canadian Society of Club Managers. Around these parts, the provincial chapters of those five associations make up NAGA Alberta.

"Our intentions are aligned with We Are Golf," said Rousselle of his five-man cohort comprised of the heads of the provincial branches of the national bodies. "The whole intention around NAGA is to promote a united voice that represents the entire golf industry.

"Our role goes in waves," continued Rousselle, himself doubling as PGA of Alberta executive director. "We had the flooding (in 2013). We had issues with pesticide. Our role is to come in and support the golf industry and become one voice for government. We represent the voice of all our members."

Giving all golfers in the province a voice is just what NAGA Alberta did last spring with the pandemic keeping other sports on the sidelines. The outfit snapped into action at that point with an industrywide push to get golf courses open for business.

"With social distancing important, golf to us was a very safe environment," Rousselle said. "Getting back to golf was a little bit of a return to a sense of normalcy in some way."

Remember when BC tracks were open and golfers there were swinging their sticks? Remember when clubs here were closed and an online petition was drawing attention — and names — to get the game going?

"Our role was crucial," said Rousselle, adding the 53,000-signature petition fostered by Mark Graham at change. org that rallied support in their favour. "Right away, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work — we didn't go into panic mode. We brought in some key individuals to give us a hand — communications people and people who understood government.

“Then we built a strategy to be able to approach the government on all fronts. We respected everything Alberta Health Services wanted to do in relation to security, precaution, best practices … and it paid off with a key document we prepared and provided.

"We wanted to work with the government — give them the right information to make the right decisions to get us playing golf," continued Rousselle. "We didn't see ourselves as an essential service, but we definitely were looking for an exemption."

They got it, with the province allowing golf courses to open May 2 — not long after the snow lifted and the weather turned in our favour — despite the pandemic.

"I think NAGA Alberta has done an amazing job — and we're still relying on them," said Dale Tomlinson, general manager of The Winston Golf Club in the heart of Calgary. "They took out the guesswork for us at the clubs. They had industry professionals — doctors and legal consultants — put together a package of what we needed to do to ensure healthy and safe programs at the club.

"It saved us so much time. It saved us from making mistakes. They were able to draw on what courses were doing in the U.S. — what worked and what didn't. It was absolutely pivotal."

Tomlinson himself helped out in NAGA Alberta's mission by manning a survey answered enthusiastically by 80 golf courses in three provinces. Its mandate was to know what each club planned to do in the face of COVID-19 so all clubs could all be on the same page.

He called the feedback "essential" to their success.

"But I think the most important thing was NAGA hiring a consultant to help us and work with the government and work with AHS to ensure that they understood golf was safe and to assist in building protocols to make sure that all the patrons that came to the club were safe and the staff was safe," said Tomlinson, who doubles as PGA of Alberta vice-president.

"They were absolutely instrumental in providing some of the documentation and resources with regard to COVID-19 protocols — how to stage golf carts, the creation of the park-and-play model, providing information on do's and don'ts. Those grew into more normal services as the year progressed to having an absolutely successful 2020 golf season."

How successful?

Rousselle reeled off a few uplifting statistics, including how the number of rounds played went up by 17% nationally in August, while during that same month in Alberta, the count was up 30%.

"That's quite extraordinary," Rousselle said. "And the numbers in September were high, too, and retained. It's big numbers for the industry. The golf industry definitely saw a lot of hype in the amount of players — the most since the Tiger Woods era. We saw a lot of new players, a lot of consumers buying hard goods, an increase in membership. The key role now for all of us will be the retention portion. We're staying positive about the whole image."

Indeed, COVID-19 be damned.

"Where golf courses lost a lot was in weddings and corporate tournaments," Rousselle added. "But in general, the golf courses did well — and some did really, really well.

"We looked at it as a big victory for Alberta."