Short Shots
KGA championship entry opens Feb. 1, KJGA March 1
With some unseasonably nice weather across the state of Kansas in early January many 
golfers have been able to hit the course and their thoughts have probably turned to playing in Kansas Golf Association championships this year.
Entry into those 2012 KGA championships is set to open at 9 a.m. Feb. 1.
This year’s 15-event schedule begins in late April with the Senior Four-Ball Championship at Mayetta’s Firekeeper Golf Course, and includes the new Kanza Players Cup May 2-4 at Wichita Country Club and the 102nd Kansas Amateur Match Play Championship to be contested July 23-29 at Sand Creek Station Golf Club in Newton.
For the complete 2012 KGA championship schedule go to www.kansasgolf.org/championships/schedule/.
Prospective contestants may enter events online at kansasgolf.org/championships/enter-online/. Online entrants will need a valid GHIN number and to have created a user profile.
Entries are also accepted by mail/walk-in with paper entry forms available at www.kansasgolf.org/championships/paper-entry-forms/. Those entries may be mailed or delivered to the KGA office at 1201 Wakarusa Drive, Suite B5, Lawrence, Kansas 66049 prior to each championship’s specific entry deadline.
Entry to Kansas Junior Golf Association events begins March 1.
As always, further information on the Kansas Golf Association and its championships is available at kansasgolf.org.
KGA expands family by one
Anyone know where we can find a pair of tiny pink golf shoes?
The New Year got off to a roaring good start for one member of the Kansas Golf Association family. KGA Junior Golf Manager/Director of Member Services Tyler Cummins and wife Dana welcomed their first child just after 2012 began.
Claire Jamison Cummins arrived at 6:23 a.m. Jan. 1 weighing in at 6 pounds, 2 1/2 ounces and measuring 19 ¼ inches. After a hectic first week of the New Year, Tyler reports mother, baby…and the new father, are doing well at their home in Lawrence.
Congratulations to the Cummins from everyone at the Kansas Golf Association!
Some Canadians want green fees deductible
A group of Canadian lawmakers is teeing off at what the country's golfers say is a decades-old unfair rule in the country's tax law.
Since 1971, Canadians have been barred from deducting greens fees for business-related golf outings. Canadian companies and businessmen can deduct hockey and other professional sports events, theater and concert tickets, and pricey meals at the country's finest restaurants, so long as they are business-related. But deducting a host of golf-related expenses—a staple of the tax code south of the border in the United States—is out of bounds.
A caucus of about two dozen parliamentarians from across all political stripes is pushing to persuade Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, himself an occasional golfer, to throw out the old law—introduced in an era when policy makers still viewed golf as an elitist pursuit. Today, golf is the country's most popular recreational activity, beating out even the national pastime of hockey, according to the country's statistics agency.
"It seems to me times have changed, and there's a chance to revisit this," said Russ Hiebert, a member of the ruling Conservative party. He represents an area south of Vancouver that is home to eight golf courses and a driving range.
Peter Stoffer, a member of the left-leaning opposition New Democratic Party, agrees. He says golf is environmentally friendly; it's a game that's often used to help raise cash for charity; and it promotes a healthy lifestyle among Canada's youth
His district, near Halifax, is home to seven golf courses.
Behind the legislative assault is an industry that has long targeted the law. The last attempt to revoke the measure fizzled in 2008, when the global financial crisis threatened to sap Canada's finances. The effort to repeal the law seemed a low priority at the time.
Canada's economy has recovered better than most other industrial countries. While Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to slash expenses to balance the budget, he has also pushed through a number of big corporate tax cuts and a series of smaller tax-relief measures.
Those include breaks for parents whose children enroll in sports and bigger tax deductions for long-haul truck drivers. The golf industry thinks the timing is right to be rid of the 1971 measure.
"As an industry, we are getting stepped on unfairly here," says Jeff Calderwood, chief executive of the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada. "No one else would tolerate it, so why should we." Mr. Calderwood said his association isn't contributing to any politicians' campaigns, and Canada's strict campaign-financing laws prohibit companies and unions from making political donations.
"I know people may see an ulterior motive but the reality is we just really like the game of golf, and we think the sport should be treated fairly as per other industries out there," says Stoffer, the NDP legislator.
-- The Wall Street Journal
