DRUMMONDVILLE, Q.C. – CN and Golf Canada announced the continuation of the CN Future Links Community Tour on Friday with a visit to the city of Drummondville during its 200th anniversary as part of CN’s dedication to junior golf and the community.
“Golf is an excellent sport for our young students to get involved with and we are thrilled to have CN engage with our community through the CN Future Links program,” said Johanne Marceau, General Director of the Corporation des fêtes du 200e de Drummondville. “We are extremely excited for our 200th anniversary and are thankful to have CN share in the celebration through the Community Tour.”
Close to 50 students from Frédéric-Tétreau Elementary celebrated with a CN Future Links Field Trip event at the Drummondville Golf & Curling Club in honour of CN’s recent adoption of 15 local schools in the Drummondville region. Students received lessons in safety, putting, driving and chipping from Head PGA of Canada Professional, Claude Gamache.
As part of CN’s focus towards safety, each of the schools adopted into the Golf in Schools program (valued at $475) will receive an all-encompassing rail safety demonstration from CN’s partner, Operation Lifesaver, a national organization dedicated to keeping Canadian kids and the public safe around all rail tracks.
The celebration at Drummondville Golf & Curling Club marks over 150 schools adopted through CN’s school adoption program since 2013, reinforcing their vision of helping communities share in the health and safety values associated with junior golf. The Drummondville region was the second of three communities visited in 2015 by the CN Future Links Community Tour, a nation-wide event that brings the values of junior golf to regions across Canada—Kamloops, B.C. was the first stop earlier this month.
“Junior golf has provided us a valuable platform to make a significant impact in key communities like Drummondville that are along CN’s network,” said Claude Mongeau, CN President and Chief Executive Officer. “CN is pleased to be part of Drummondville`s 200th anniversary festivities and to take an active role in helping Golf Canada and the PGA of Canada share the values of golf across the country.”
As a follow up to Friday’s school adoption, the CN Future Links Community Tour is gearing up to unfold from June 27–28 in the heart of Drummondville at 150 Rue Brock (parking lot 3), engaging community youth and attendees in various golf activities in addition to rail safety tips from CN Police.
“CN continues to move the needle in terms of initiating creative ways to expose golf to Canada’s youth,” said Jeff Thompson, Golf Canada’s Chief Sport Officer. “The Community Tour is a very exciting national initiative for introducing golf in fun, community-based festival environments across the country—an engaging method of taking the sport directly to youth.”
Current CN Future Links programming includes the Learn to Play program as well as mobile clinics, PGA Jr. League, Girls Club, Field Trip and the CN Future Links Championships. As part of its investment in Canadian junior golf, CN is also a proud supporter of Golf in Schools.
In 2014, CN Future Links junior golf activities were conducted at 455 golf facilities with more than 7,000 juniors registered in the Learn to Play program. In addition, 160 golf facilities took part in the Junior Skills Challenge running more than 3,200 juniors through qualifying events. More than 56,000 youngsters participated in more than 1,200 mobile golf clinics across the country. Since 2006, more than 1.2 million children have been introduced to golf through the CN Future Links program.