Almost 170 of the best male and female junior golfers in Alberta - including Innisfail's Courtney Dickson - gathered at Calgary's Bearspaw Country Club for the 2014 Alberta Junior Championships.
Running from July 8th to 10th, the provincial championship tourney, presented by the Frank Lindsay Foundation, included both the girls and boys championships for the first time. The girls' championship ran for three days while the boys was a four-day event.
“Courtney is one of those athletes I have seen that I know will be a good golfer,” said Jim Boomer, head professional at the Innisfail Golf Club. “At the local club level, she has excelled on the greens and works hard to improve her game.”
Dickson shot +51 (193) after the second day of golf at Bearspaw and narrowly missed the cut to golf the final day of the championship.
“She made a commitment to golf in provincials and worked hard to get there,” said Boomer. “As a Grade 11 student, Courtney is a player to watch for in the future.”
Dickson is a multi-sport athlete who was named Grade 11 Athlete of the Year at the Innisfail Jr/Sr High school in 2014.
“Courtney is a quiet leader,” said Narsh Ramrattan, vice principal of the high school. “On court, she collects her teammates and calms them down. She is coachable and very modest about her achievements.”
During the school year, Dickson won a bronze medal in mixed doubles badminton, was the MVP for the girls' golf team, and was a member of the basketball team as well.
The Innisfail student has been golfing since she was three-years-old, learning the game from her father and mother.
“I really like to watch the different techniques they all have. Every one plays a totally different game,” said Dickson, who works and practices at the Innisfail Golf Club. “In the end it all comes down to the mindset you have when you go into it. If you go into it and say, ‘I'm not sure' but if you go in and say, ‘I can win this' or ‘I can place top five' then it makes it a lot easier on yourself.”
