In all, 38 golfers from all over Alberta were at Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club to play in the Alberta Net Amateur (Stableford) Championship.
This was the second time in the last five years that the club has hosted the Alberta tournament and golfers were impressed with the landscape and the challenging course. In the end, Mike Ross of Riverbed in Red Deer was the men’s champion. The women’s champion was Betty Fisher of Stony Plain and the Marg Ward (higher handicap) champion was Sandy Tougas of Fort Saskatchewan.
Phil Berube CEO of Alberta Golf was happy with the outcome, which included five local golfers, including Carl Palomaki, Vince Low, Tony Johnston, Greg Morrow and Ian Southern, taking on the course. He says despite being a later addition to the schedule, it was a good turnout.
“It is a revision of format to try and get back into the domain of supporting the average golfer, moving away a bit from just focusing on competitive golfers,” said Berube.
“There is momentum here, and it is great to come to Drumheller.”
He adds they are looking at featuring destination courses to collaborate with organizations to drive golf and tourism.
“It is part of our long range plan to try and get into local small communities in Alberta, work with our provincial government on getting tourism and travel throughout the province, to bring people in from other provinces and using tournaments like this to draw them in,” he said.
This model could help build a relationship amongst competitors.
“The courses may be an hour and half from home, but once you are here and stay the night, you find there is lots to do in town. We are trying to focus on building camaraderie among the participants, and you can do that when everyone is staying over in the same place, as opposed to everyone taking off and going home,” said Berube.
