Over fifteen years ago, Burnaby’s Golf Operations Department recognized that the number of players taking up the game of golf was not going to make up for the numbers of players leaving the game.  Burnaby’s golf population was starting to decline.

With this situation in mind, it was decided that we could no longer wait for the future golfers to come to us, and that we had to take a basic level of introduction and instruction out into the community.

Over the past several years, Burnaby’s Golf Operations department has worked hard to take golf out to the children of Burnaby via the schools’ physical education classes.  In conjunction with the Burnaby School Board, Burnaby Golf has exposed the game of golf to students at the grade 5 and grade 10 levels throughout the City of Burnaby.  The basics of the program are as follows:

When thinking about a driver, and gaining distance off of the tee, we need to first think about why this would be a good idea for your game?

The reason we want to help you hit it farther, is to help you hit more greens in regulation (GIR). If we are not going to hit any more GIR because of direction issues, it might not be worth the pursuit. 

The first step is to see what your club head speed is now. Club head speed is a great way to measure your potential for distance. Once we have your maximum club speed, simply multiply that number by 2.6 and that will give you your potential carry distance. 

If we run that scenario out with two different swing speeds:

90 X 2.6 = 234 and 92 X 2.6 = 239

We can see that just a 2 mph swing speed increase, you will have a potential to hit the ball 5 yards further.

So, how can we do this?

Warning signals and potential cart shut down can happen when you enter a restricted zone. Please stay 20 yards away from all Greens and Tee boxes unless you are on a cart path. Areas such as green surrrounds, tee boxes, rough terrain and parking lots have restricted zones and you will hear a warning signal when you enter them. Once you hear the warning buzzer or see the "restricted area" message please remove your cart from the area as soon as possible. 

We are all excited that the Province of BC has entered Stage 3 of its restart plan! Even though restrictions have been relaxed, Golf Burnaby is still taking measures to ensure the safety of our guests and staff.  Maintaining physical distancing has been fairly easy to do on our courses, but for everyone’s safety we are still trying to minimize congestion around and within our Pro Shops and permitting only 2 guests at a time in our shops for the time being. We are still recommending masks for our indoor spaces and for those who are not fully vaccinated. Other safety protocols include regular sanitization of common areas, offering roll-down dividers in power carts, and following directional signage to maintain social distancing. We all have different comfort levels so remember to wash your hands and respect everyone’s personal space.

Did you know? We have fog misters installed at every stall of Driving Ranges at both Burnaby Mountain and Riverway Golf Courses. It's COOL to practice in Burnaby. 

Beat the heat and stay cool in Burnaby! Swing by today and hit a bucket of balls!

Water and electrolytes serve very important roles in the maintaining proper functioning within the body, and sweating can lead to excessive loss of both critical nutrients and electrolytes if not properly replaced. Dehydration adversely impacts health and exercise performance. To avoid excessive fluid and electrolyte losses, a person should begin exercising in a well-hydrated state. This means prior to strenuous exercise, drink approximatively 20 fl oz (500 ml) of liquid to ensure proper hydration at the onset of exercise.

Golf Burnaby teaching professional, Michael Caan shot an incredible 59 at the Meadow Gardens Golf Club in Pitt Meadows. Needless to say this is his lowest score ever! His 13 under par happened this past Friday during a friendly game of golf with his buddies.
“You have to play perfect golf and luckily for me, Friday was my day of perfect golf”
Michael has eyes on taking his game to the next level and playing golf on the Mackenzie Tour, but, due to travel restrictions in our region, he will continue to play on the Vancouver Golf Tour for the time being.
“If I just keep plugging along, good things are going to happen”
If you see Michael at the Riverway golf course and driving range please take the time to congratulate him on this recent accomplishment. The entire golf Burnaby Team couldn’t be more proud! Congratulations Michael!!!

When choosing your target the most important factor is having trust in your decision. Confidence is crucial and the more you practice the more you will understand your swing tendencies. The first step is finding a target that integrates your swing tendencies. This means if you typically miss the ball to the left, you should consider choosing a target down the right side. However, when there is a hazard down the right hand side in this scenario, favour more the middle to left hand side because trees will be less penalizing than the hazard.
In essence we are suggesting that you choose a target strategy that favors the least penalizing side of your normal shot shape. These strategies will lead to better decisions and ultimately lead to lower scores.
The more you practice the more you will trust your swing! Swing by the driving range today to work on your swing.

Alignment is often overlooked when a golfer is trying to problem solve a poor shot. If you become very good at aligning your golf club to the target, you will have an easier time creating a repeatable swing. If a shot is missed to the right, or left of the target, always ask yourself if you aligned there first, before blaming your swing for the mistake.

Throw down an alignment stick, or even just reference the edge of the mat the next time you are practicing. If you feel like you are aligning left or right of where you know the alignment stick is pointing, then you are more than likely to miss align on the golf course.

Whether you're an avid golfer or just starting out, having a solid grip (connection to the golf club) is one of the keys to having success on the golf course. 

Styles: whichever style you use, make sure your hands are together. You should not see any of the club grip between your fingers, or between your hands.

Thumbs: having a "short thumb" is when your thumb is touching the index finger bottom knuckle. This helps to promote a consistent grip for every swing. It also helps with stability at the top of the golf swing.