Western Ontario Golf Superintendent's Association

WOGSA 2026

Welcome to the WOGSA for 2026. Here we are in the first week of May already and this spring is shaping up eerily similar to last spring with so much rain and cold weather. Finally we were just starting to get dried up and able to start getting into a regular mowing routine and then more rain and cold weather. That’s Ontario I guess these days, hopefully better weather is around the corner as the courses are certainly packed on the odd good weather day we have had. Our schedule is set and we have a great lineup again this year. The last two years we have co-hosted an event with our friends in the Greater London and area Golf Superintendents Association and they were such a success we have decided to once again partner with GLAGS for our first event of the season at Puslinch. From there we are back to the Kitchener area for a visit to Dundee and then to Niagara for our first visit to Royal Niagara Golf Club. Our season concludes with a special trip to a Stanley Thompson gem at Whirlpool Golf Club in Niagara Falls to help them celebrate their 75th Anniversary.

The hard working Board of Directors of the WOGSA which consists of Trevor Hunter, Angelo Capannelli (semi retired), Gavin Kellogg (now retired), James Raynor, Dan Sliasas, and Paul Powers didn’t even find time (again) to get together for our annual state of the Association meeting, who knew everyone would be so busy in the winter! But as they always say if somethings not broke, don’t fix it (you may notice that I don’t even change this letter too much from year to year), kind of the words to live by for this Association. The WOGSA mandate is to keep our meetings relaxed, fun to attend, and most importantly affordable for all our members. This continues to be challenging in today’s times with the cost of almost everything rising and venues becoming very difficult to come by. We as a group are feeling a bit more of a pinch, but we are as determined as ever to try and give our members the best value for their money.

Areas we will continue to focus on moving forward include:

• The annual WOGSA membership fee will be waived for the year, we will price our meetings fairly to cover all costs, and put a few dollars towards the Association.
• The square deposit method for accepting credit card payments will be available at all events.
• At most events, we will award closest to the pins and several cash draw prizes or a skins game (a $5.00 draw prize or skins entry fee will be included in the cost of the day) Any donated prizes or leftover cash from the event will be awarded by draw prizes.
• We will continue to contribute scholarship awards to several key industry institutions.
• Our primary goal as always is to run affordable, relaxed and informative golf events for our Members and Guests to gather, network, and hopefully learn a bit in the process.

Let me take a moment to thank our hosts from 2025 which include Jerry Richard at Craigowan, Steve Sibbald at Hidden Lake, Paul Brown at Guelph, and of course the now semi retired Aldo Bortolon and Ken Malcolmson at Lookout Point, your commitment and support of the WOGSA is greatly appreciated.

The WOGSA lineup for 2026:

• Thursday June 4th – Puslinch Golf Club – host Ryan Surette (co-hosted with GLAGS)
• Thursday July 9th – Dundee Country Club – host Ashley Binkle
• Monday August 24th – Royal Niagara Golf Club – host Kyle Griffis
• Monday September 28th – Whirlpool Golf Club – host Andrew McQuillan (Billy Glashan Memorial Tournament)

Lastly our one important reminder, PLEASE CONFIRM YOUR REGISTRATION FOR AN EVENT, IF YOU NEED TO CANCEL, PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL TO CONFIRM. In these busy times it is extremely important to our host clubs and to the Association to have accurate numbers for our events. Clubs charge the Association for the numbers given at registration so if you sign up and don’t show up, the Association is still on the hook for your fee for the day. It is getting increasingly harder to get onto courses so the easier we can make it for our hosts, the better. If you need to update your contact info please do so and return it to us so we have all your current information. As always if you know of someone who may be a potential member, please forward our info to them. We look forward to seeing you at a WOGSA event this year.

For the WOGSA,
John Taylor - President