Tee 2 Green with Barry Sharpe - - December 4/08

Having just arrived on the scene to take over the helm of Toronto's NHL Maple Leafs as President and General Manager; with the demands being put on him by Toronto's notoriously nosy media and with the size of a new multi-million dollar contract he's alleged to have signed with a promise to become the next Punch Imlach, it's surprising to learn that one of Brian Burke's early non-hockey assignments is to be a Keynote speaker at the 2009 Ontario Golf Course Management Conference & Trade Show at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel January 22nd.

Love the title of his speech: "Most People Don't Want to Lead; Most People Want to Be Led"

For the Ontario Golf Superintendents Association, who host this annual Conference, this will be quite a departure from last year's Keynote speaker, Dr. Frank Rossi, who provided an update on the mowing management and surface grooming (vertical mowing, topdressing, rolling and brushing) research currently being done at Cornell University in New York State.
His speech was entitled: "Putting Surface Management For Optimum Ball Roll."

Perhaps there's a tie-in there somewhere since Burke was hired to get the ball rolling at the Air Canada Center..

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Congratulations to Michael Grenier, President of Pagebrook, Inc., developer of Tobiano who received word recently that world renowned Golf Digest had selected his picturesque Thomas McBroom-designed layout overlooking Lake Kamloops as the 'Best New Canadian Golf Course' for 2008. "This is the best early Christmas present I could ever imagine," says Grenier. Earlier this fall Tobiano received the same accreditation from Canada's SCOREGolf Magazine.

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Kudos to Rogers Sportsnet TV analyst, author and former RCGA director of member services and communications, John Gordon, who has accepted a new post as Director of Communications with Clublink Corporation, the owner/operator of some 31 golf courses in eastern Canada and one in the U.S. Gordon was the former managing editor of SCOREGolf magazine and a past executive director of the Golf Association of Ontario.

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We reported earlier that General Motors had announced it was ending early a long-running endorsement deal World No.1 Tiger Woods. The contract paid Woods at least $7 million (U.S.) a year and was not due to expire until the end of 2009. But GM and Woods, who promoted the Buick brand primarily, agreed to end it earlier because, according to GM, Tiger wanted to spend more time with his family. Also, by the way, GM is looking to trim costs these days

A senior GM Canada official says the company is looking everywhere for cost savings, including from cuts in spending on marketing and advertising.

Although it has not been confirmed, the use of hockey legend Bobby Orr, who has promoted the company for several years, is also being considered, as is the one million dollar-a-year contract with Vancouver's home of the NHL Canucks, General Motors Place, affectionately nicknamed, The Garage.

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Vancouver Island's quietly evolving Highland Pacific Golf Club on Creed Road in Victoria has had it's new clubhouse selected as one of the finalists in the annual selection of Club House of the Year by Golf Inc., magazine. Bella Collina in Monteverde, Fla., Indian Wells Golf Resort in Indian Wells, Calif., and Reynolds Landing in Greensboro, Ga., are the 2008 winners in the magazine's annual Clubhouse Competition. Highland Pacific's 3,100-Yard nine hole course and driving range and house club opened in mid-summer.