By his own admission, Eamon McCann lives and breathes junior golf.
He loves it.
And McCann, who owns Gull Lake Golf Course with his wife Carla, loves the fact that so many youngsters have benefitted from the junior golf program at Gull Lake Golf Course.
He speaks with great pride of six-year-old Serin Girard from Red Deer, one of the 58 junior golfers in the program, who will be traveling to San Diego to represent Canada at an international golf tournament.
He is also proud of his niece, Clare McMahon, who received a four-year golf scholarship from North Carolina. He noted that the 18-year-old is an amazing golfer and took part in the junior golf program at Gull Lake for many years.
He is pleased that students from the Golf Academy at Bentley School participate in the program, as well.
“They are improving so fast,” he said.
This year’s annual Junior Golf Foundation of Gull Lake Pro-Am tournament to be held at the Gull Lake Golf Course July 15 and 16 marks the 11th anniversary of the popular event.
Eamon and Carla McCann are as excited about the upcoming event as they were the first year they held it at their course and are pleased to note interest has been great.
“All proceeds go the Junior Golf Foundation,” said Eamon McCann. “It is great. It is wonderful to have this tournament and have the pros come back year after year.”
The silent auction for the event opens on Tues., July 12 and a live auction with announcers from Sunny 94 begins at 6 p.m. Friday, July 15.
The adult/child nine-hole scramble with a pro golfer begins at 11 a.m. on July 15. A pro skins game will be held at 2 p.m. Supper will be served at 5 p.m. followed y the live auction with Sunny 94 personality, Darcy Steigel. A horse race will be held at 7:15. Pros will be auctioned off prior to this event and no team will be eliminated until after the fourth hole.
On Saturday, July 16, breakfast with the pros will be held at 8:30 a.m. At 10 a.m. an 18-hole Texas scramble will be held with two different at each hole.
The wind up dinner will be held at 4 p.m. followed by the completion of the horse race.
As in the past, the tourney will feature an impressive line-up of professional golfers.
Sandra Palmer, Sam Randolf, Adrienne White, Laura Witvoet, Brandon Regnier, Dirk Ayers, Paul Devenport and Shelby Chrest.
Brandon Regnier, former junior program participant at the Gull Lake Golf Course has attended the Pro-Am tourney several times.
“It’s always amazing,” he said, in an earlier interview.
The Gull Lake Foundation was formed to provide educational endowments to past participants of the Gull Lake Junior League.
The Junior Golf Foundation of Gull Lake is planning to raise around $15,000 this year from fundraising events. It will cost the organization approximately $5,000 for solicitation.
Money raised will go to the Gull Lake Junior Golf Foundation Endowment Fund.
Through overwhelming sponsorship from communities throughout Alberta and past program events, scholarships have been provided to many junior members.
The focus of junior league has always been to learn the etiquette of golf and good sportsmanship and to encourage the juniors to enjoy the game of golf for the rest of their life.
The foundation was spearheaded by Harold Lissel.
McCann noted that Lissel, chairman George Smith and other volunteer board members give willingly of their time and energy to ensure the program works well and the young golfers benefit from the scholarships available.
For more information about the junior golf foundation visit www.juniorgolffoundationofgulllake.ca