Greetings from the Academy! March is upon us and the summer golf season is one step closer. The sporadic warm days have  teased us with thoughts of green fairways and left our palms itching to grasp our clubs once again. Traffic on the range has been up and the virtual golf simulators have been popular with everyone.

Grab your friends and treat yourselves to a game of golf on one of our 41 tour courses and play at your own pace, enjoying the company of friends and comfortable atmosphere and enjoy full service from our lounge and some of the fantastic food off our restaurant menu. Better still you don’t even have to leave the game as our servers will bring it all to you. A great little escape from the humdrum of everyday life and to scratch that golfing itch.

Speaking of the impending summer season, for those of you looking to get ahead of the game this year we encourage you to consider taking lessons with one of our Pros. We cannot stress enough how much of a difference getting an early start with lessons can make a positive difference to your golf game. It can help prevent injuries by getting your muscles and body fit to play once more and is the best way to shake off the bad habits that set in over the long winter.

We have recently also been lucky enough to be the chosen location of a number of birthday parties, corporate bookings and a few other private functions. In particular we would like to extend a huge thanks out to CN Rail who chose to host their staff party with us. They came in as a team for a Golf lesson with Blair, a Class A CPGA Pro, and then spent the rest of the night playing virtual golf, visiting and enjoying a buffet. We had a huge amount of fun running the event for them and are proud to say the event a complete success! Check up on our site some time soon to see some snapshots of the fun had at our events and bookings. For those of you who are or know someone who is looking for a location to host an event check us out, we would love to have you celebrate with us and will accomodate you in any way we can. Playing sports as a group is always a great way to grow closer as friends, team build and most importantly have fun!

Last but not least, for you hockey fans out there, we are now selling a line of NHL golf bags and golf equipment. Represent your favorite team on the course!

Cheers and Happy Golfing,
Mike Machan
Assistang Manager
The Blair Oko Golf Academy

What’s New at the Academy Feb 9, 2012

The last few weeks here at the academy have been busy to say the least. On the 5th we held our annual Superbowl party. We had a blast, the lounge was busy, the food was absolutely delicious, and tensions were high as fans cheered for their team of choice.

League play on the Virtual Golf Simulators has been great, the teams have been having a blast. Last week they were playing Torrey Pines and this week they are enjoying Pebble Beach which is perhaps the most famous golf course in the tour today.

Some of you may have noticed that the registration for our Spring and Summer Junior Golf and Junior Golf and Hockey camps has now opened up. We highly encourage you to register soon as our camps tend to fill up. The kids have a lot of fun and we’ve received a staggering amount of positive feed back on them. We have actually expanded the program each year for the last three years to accommodate the huge demand for spots in our camps.

We have also made a new addition to our website. There is now a page for the availability of our driving range. Every week we will have an updated version of the schedule up and it will list any Driving range closures and periods when the availability will be limited. Make sure you check the page regularly as we have schools coming in every day during the week so the availability of the range will change accordingly.

Last but not least we now have High-Definition cable television on all of the flatscreen TV’s in our Virtual Golf area and have a new area in the lounge with private seating, surround sound and a High-definition flatscreen that is available for private bookings.

Hope to see you in the shop,

Mike Machan
Assistant Manager
The Blair Oko Golf Academy

New Staff at the Blair Oko Golf Academy Jan 27, 2012

We are pleased to welcome Katrina Escobedo to our Professional teaching staff. Golf Teaching Professional Katrina Escobedo joins us after working with one of Golf Digest’s Top 100 Teachers, Carl Rabito. Katrina has been playing competitive golf her entire life. She grew up playing in Kentucky and Illinois, was a member of her high school golf team, and also was a member of the Division 1 Western Kentucky University Lady ‘Toppers golf team. Katrina has competed in hundreds of golf tournaments throughout her golf career, and plans to continue playing in many more local and national events. Starting out at Cantigny Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois, Katrina worked at the Youth Links focusing on youth instruction the very first year the program opened to the public. After college, she spent just over two years working at both Ko’olau Golf Club and Oahu Country Club in Hawaii. Katrina also worked at Golf Galaxy, Golfsmith, and 2nd Swing, where she gained an expertise for custom club fitting and golf equipment selection. Katrina enjoys working with students of all skill level. “My teaching philosophy is to keep instruction simple and focused on the key essentials of golf. I like to begin by listening to the student to help them identify their goals in all areas of the game. Most importantly, a swing built on sound fundamentals (grip, posture, alignment, ball position and pivot action) is a swing that will consistently perform for a lifetime.” She feels that her experience in both playing competitively and learning from other knowledgeable instructors has helped her to understand many significant elements of golf. Katrina is in the process of fulfilling her LPGA and PGA educational and membership requirements.

A New Year At The Blair Oko Golf Academy Jan 9, 2012
The new year is in and things are hopping here at the academy. The Range and Virtual Simulators have been busy, particularly over the Christmas break! We were ecstatic to have had so many of you in enjoying the holidays with us, especially the new faces experiencing the academy for the first time.
The holidays proved our new simulators and range renovations to be a smash hit with everyone! Positive feedback is still steadily flowing in, and we’d love to hear what you think too!
Golf Lessons have been picking up and people are phoning in to book lessons for February already. If you received a gift card for lessons for Christmas we encourage you to phone in soon to book the time that you’d like before it’s gone.
We’d also like to announce the start of a new program! It’s called the Fit Fore Golf Advantage! It’s a pre-season swing program designed for golfers of all ages and skill levels. After research by experts in golf instruction, sports medicine, physiotherapy and sports psychology, this program was developed to train your body to golf with maximum comfort and effectiveness through exercise, swing drills and mind power. You will learn how to prevent golf injuries for a lifetime of fun, lower your score and increase your enjoyment of the game. Start your golf season with confidence with our new Fit Fore Golf Program!

Phone us at 780-496-9534 or drop on in for more information or to book your session!

Cheers and Many Happy Returns,

Mike Machan
Assistant Manager
The Blair Oko Golf Academy & BOGA Lounge

Our First Official Blog On Our New Site! Dec 23,2011
Hey everyone, we are very excited to announce the official opening of our new site! We’ve been working the last month on creating a website that would best serve your needs and that you would enjoy visiting. We have done our best to make the site user friendly, informative, valuable and exciting.
We hope this site will serve as a central hub for everyone keeping them up to date on the latest and greatest here at the Academy. We will be posting the latest buzz from the Academy including sales and offers, announcements, golf tips, driving range closure times, corporate events and other regular updates.

Curious if the range will be open tomorrow? A few quick clicks on the site will bring out to our regularly updated range schedule.

Wondering if that sale is still going on? Wondering what our facility is like or what services we provide?

The answers to all these questions and more are all available here on our new site which you can check anytime, anywhere at your leisure.

We hope you are as excited as we are and that you enjoy checking out the site and find it a positive experience and useful tool. We would also love to hear any feedback you have on the site. If you have any comments you would like to make, feel free to post a comment, drop by the shop and tell us or send us an email at blairoko@telus.net with the subject heading: “Website Feedback”

Happy Holidays Everyone

Mike Machan
Assistant Manager
The Blair Oko Golf Academy

Above all, golf is a social sport. Get to know us and stay current on BOGA services, specials and events here. Plus, get the latest golf tips from Blair.