WINNIPEG – Golf Canada is pleased to celebrate Golf Mentor Academy by honouring them with the Future Links, driven by Acura Facility of the Year Award for the 2017 season.
The Golf Mentor Academy, located just south of Winnipeg, earned the award for its outstanding success in delivering Future Links—Canada’s junior golf program. Under the direction of PGA of Canada professionals Glen Sirkis and Adam Boge, The Golf Mentor Academy excelled in delivering Future Links programming.
“Golf Canada is pleased to recognize the impressive accomplishments in junior golf by the staff at Golf Mentor Academy,” stated Jeff Thompson, Golf Canada’s chief sport officer. “Glen and Adam demonstrated excellence with their Future Links program, and we’re proud to celebrate their achievement as one of leading junior facilities in Canada.”
More than 2000 juniors participated in the Future Links suite of programming at the Mentor Academy, including Junior Skills Challenge, Girls Club and Learn to Play. Through the online reporting tool, students received complimentary PUMA hats as a reward for graduating each of the four stages of the Learn to Play program.
.@pgaofcanada professional @adambogepga accepting the #FutureLinks Facility of the Year along with Glen Sirkis at #Winnipeg’s Golf Mentor Academy ??⛳️ pic.twitter.com/V0MGlMh5QS
— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) April 28, 2018
Part of the success of the program stems from conducting several Get Linked initiatives, connecting the golf course with local schools in the community. In 2017, Golf Mentor Academy conducted eight in-school visits in the Winnipeg area and hosted one field trip to their facility. In total, Sirkis conducted nine of the 192 Get Linked initiatives conducted in 2017.
“We’re thrilled to be receiving the 2017 Future Links Facility of the Year Award – it’s a great feeling to celebrate the growth of junior golf at our facility and across Canada,” said Sirkis. “We’d like to thank our staff that helped us achieve this award and reach over 2,000 juniors at our facility.”
Golf Mentor Academy is the fifth Canadian golf club to receive the Future Links Facility of the Year Award. This marks the second award for Sirkis, who also received the inaugural honours back in 2013.
“On behalf of the PGA of Canada and its 3,700 members, I’d like to congratulate Glen Sirkis, Adam Boge and their staff on the Future Links Facility of the Year award,” said PGA of Canada CEO Kevin Thistle. “It’s important for PGA of Canada professionals to be recognized for all their hard work in growing the game of golf in Canada through the Future Links program.”
In 2017, Future Links programming was conducted at 548 golf facilities with more than 83,000 registered students. Since 1996, more than 1.4 million children have been introduced to golf through the Future Links junior golf program.