CN Future Links has a lot to offer
Golf Canada and the PGA of Canada have combined forces to produce CN Future Links, Canada’s official junior golf program focused on getting kids involved in golf and keeping them engaged for life.
The program has been around since 1996 and has produced some of the best Canadian golfers of this generation including LPGA Tour rookies Rebecca Lee-Bentham and Maude-Aimee Leblanc, as well as Nationwide Tour player, Adam Hadwin and former world No. 1-ranked amateur, Nick Taylor.
As good as it is to see CN Future Links graduates competing among the best in the game, it may not be the best way to gauge the success of the program.
To get the most honest answer, we have to ask questions at the source. The golf course. Are more kids coming out to the course and getting involved with the game? Are they being given appropriate instruction and feedback on their progress? Are we keeping up with the times in terms of the technology the kids and instructors are using?
The best source for answers are the PGA of Canada professionals that are on the range day in and day out working with these kids. Their comments are vital to the growth of the program and without their dedication to helping kids grow within the game of golf, CN Future Links would not exist.
While the program is always progressing, the feedback collected suggests the program is on the right track.
“I have been incorporating parts of CN Future Links into my junior programs for years but the transformation the program has gone through has made it an absolute must,” said Judy Boutin, head professional at Cardinal Golf Club in Newmarket, Ontario.
“By using the online tools in conjunction with the manual I feel that my staff and I are providing the absolute best information and instruction to help develop the talents of the next generation of golfers. It’s an exciting time to be working with junior players.”
Glen Sirkis of Tuxedo Golf Course in Winnipeg, Manitoba echoes Boutin’s sentiments.
“The CN Future Links Learn to Play website is a must-have to take your junior program to the next level,” said Sirkis.
“Using the report cards as a benchmark and showing junior golfers their progress through each of the program’s seven stages really helps encourages them to try and get to the next level. I use the CN Future Links Learn to Play curriculum in all my junior programs; I taught over 300 juniors this past year and expect even higher numbers in 2012.”
Convincing a golf professional to tinker with his or her junior program is a big ask, however, the proof is in the results.
“We partnered with CN Future Links this year to enhance our junior program and we saw results from the very start,” said Calgary Elks Lodge and Golf Club head professional Wayne Fairbairn.
“We had people signing up based on the fact that our program now had a great structure with a detailed breakdown of what we were doing. It was also very easy for parents to see which class their children belonged in based on age, their respective skill set and how we accommodated to each age group.
CN Future Links makes tracking progress easy, with the ability to keep a database on each and every junior, detailing when they started and how they have developed their skill set over time. We already have families enquiring about 2012 which is very exciting and we can’t wait to see the turn out.”