Women’s Day brings message equality through golf
Three-time Olympian Beckie Scott admits to being a “not-very-good” recreational golfer.
But her message to women attending the second annual Women’s Day during the week of the Shaw Charity Classic will be one of wellness, equality and empowerment — whether in the boardroom, in professional sport or on the golf course.
“It is the understanding that your place is everywhere,” says the cross-country skier who won 17 World Cup medals and Olympic gold in Salt Lake City (after two medallists ahead of her were disqualified for doping) and silver in Turin, Italy.
Scott will join two other retired Olympians (and gold medallists) — hockey player Cassie CampbellPascall and speedskater Catriona Le May Doan — at the Aug. 28 event.
Scott’s more recent professional focuses are on Ski Fit North (encouraging Indigenous youth to cross-country ski) and as a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Her work today has a strong mental health message with physical, land-based, outdoor activities as the foundation.
“Good physical health leads to good mental health.” And that, she says, includes golf: “It’s outdoor; it’s social. So many elements are positive.”
The Shaw Charity Classic Women’s Day event begins at 7 a.m. in the player’s lounge at the Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club with a buffet breakfast and panel discussion with the three Olympians.
Breakfast will be followed by nine holes of golf or a golf clinic.
Shaw Charity Classic executive director Sean Van Kesteren says last year’s success of the networking event means twice as many women will be participating in the nine-hole golfing portion of the day.
“We don’t see a lot of women playing during Wednesday and Thursday’s Pro-Am, so this is a way to get more women involved, to see the golf course, and to have fun.”
This year, 104 golfers are expected to take to the links, with each team playing with a local celebrity.
Another 30 women not choosing to hit the course will join Champions Tour pro golfer Rod Spittle — a competitor in this year’s Shaw Charity Classic — for a golf clinic. The 62-year-old Spittle, who did not turn pro until 2004 after spending 25 years as an insurance executive, was the Canadian Amateur champion in 1977 and 1978 and has won once on the Champions Tour.