Reed On The Greens June 20, 2019
Fanshawe College, Tyson Tour Tee Up Link
by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioGolf.com
2018 Junior Tyson Tour bantam boys competitors at Fanshawe Golf Club. Photo: Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioGolf.com.
The local golf industry can be disjointed at times, so it’s great to see a new link twinning Fanshawe College’s Golf and Club Management program and the Junior Tyson Tour.
This season, Fanshawe College, via the well-respected management program, will offer $500 tuition credits to the top junior male and the girls division champion following the Tyson Tour’s season-ending invitational tournament at Sunningdale Golf and Country Club.
Also, Fanshawe Falcons golf coach Colin Robertson, a graduate of the Fanshawe program and this year’s Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association golf coach of the year, will be on hand at all Tyson Tour events. On August 28, he’ll hand out Falcons swag to all junior golfers in the field at Sunningdale.
It’s a great win-win according to Rob Foster, coordinator of the Fanshawe program and a long-time friend of Tyson Tour convenor Steve Bennett who heads the City’s municipal golf system for a 10th year.
“We had some marketing dollars available, and this was a great fit,” said Foster, who managed his family’s Burford Golf Links for 12 years before it was purchased by GolfNorth Properties. Foster was GolfNorth’s general manager for two-and-a-half years, and is currently director of communications with the local branch of the Canadian Society of Club Managers.
Rob Foster
“Colin will have an opportunity to recruit Tyson Tour golfers this year, and already we hope to expand upon the tuition offerings in 2020,” said Foster.
In February, the Canadian Junior Golf Association announced the renewal of its Humber College support program, which encourages CJGA graduates to stay in Canada for their post-secondary endeavours by offering up to $56,000 in bursaries to CJGA members towards the Humber College Business Administration – Professional Golf Management Program.
A total of 56 CJGA junior golfers will qualify for a $1,000 Humber College PGM Program Bursary through a random draw. Players who are CJGA members and enroll in the Humber College PGM program within two years will be eligible to receive the bursary.
Additionally, the PGM program continues as a major event partner of four large events on the CJGA 2019 national schedule.
There’s a good chance that the winners of this year’s Fanshawe tuition bursaries will not accept them, given the fact there are many post-secondary school opportunities for student athletes. And according to Foster, this year’s winners may not even qualify for the bursaries.
“A 16-year-old boy many win the overall title, so he could, for example, have a $500 tuition credit, and could even win again next year and therefore have $1,000 towards his Fanshawe tuition. The offers will be there, whether they take them or not,” he said.
Bennett, meanwhile, is thrilled that in addition to Canada Life offering bursaries to Tyson Tour winners, the Fanshawe program has also teed up support.
Steve Bennett. Photo: Jeffrey Reed/LondonOntarioGolf.com.
“For more than half a century, the Junior Tyson Tour has provided junior golfers in Southwestern Ontario with an opportunity to compete in a tournament setting, while learning life’s lessons through golf. We very much welcome the kind provision of partial golf scholarships for our top male and female golfers to attend the Golf and Club Management program at Fanshawe College,” Bennett said.
“It’s just another example of how the local community has strongly supported the Tyson Tour for more than 50 years.”
Bennett is a good friend of the Fanshawe program, and mentors students who visit Thames Valley Golf Club to learn about the ins and outs of managing, marketing and financing golf clubs.
“What a great opportunity that is for our students to work with real numbers, just for them to understand where there are opportunities within an income statement, where they can spot problems, where they can make improvements,” Foster explained.
This is the 51st season for the Tyson Tour, which launches July 4 at the Tarandowah Junior Open. The Les Thomas Memorial tournament goes July 29 at Thames Valley and July 30 at Fanshawe Golf Club.
The three-event Pee Wee loop, an introduction to tournament golf held at the Hickory 9 layout at Thames Valley, goes July 6, July 20 and August 17.
Read more about golf at Fanshawe College here.
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Award-winning golf journalist Jeffrey Reed has covered the game in Southwestern Ontario for 40 years. Canadian Golf Hall of Fame inductee Bob Weeks said, “No one covers the golf scene in Ontario’s southwest like Jeffrey Reed.” Reach Jeffrey at jeff@londonontariogolf.com.
