For the love of the game
Alex Taylor just can’t get enough golf.
The 29-year-old Welland resident works as the Manager of Junior Performance for Golf Ontario but that doesn’t prevent her from still playing the game she loves at a high level.
Taylor had a memorable 2024, highlighted by being named Golf Ontario’s Women’s Mid-Amateur (25 and over) Player of the Year.
Taylor, a member of Cherry Hill, was the winner of the 2024 Ontario Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship; placed 17th at the 2024 Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship; tied for 25th at the Ontario Women’s Amateur Championship; and, was a quarter-finalist at the Ontario Women’s Match Play Championship.
The Player of the Year awards are determined based on the BioSteel Golf Ontario Amateur Order of Merit Rankings, which utilize a points system. Points are awarded according to a player’s finishing position in sanctioned events, with event weighting and strength of the field factored in at Golf Ontario’s discretion.
It was Taylor’s first such award.
“It was really exciting,” she said. “The year (2024) was very busy and kind of a blur. I haven’t even had the time to process the year that I had. It’s been a whirlwind, to say the least.”
Taylor balanced her time on the links while taking on a new position at Golf Ontario, moving into the performance department.
“It has taken up a lot more of my time in a good way because it’s the department that I want to be in,” she said. “Basically, everything with junior golf, I oversee.”
Despite her extra workload, Taylor was determined to continue to compete.
“That was one of my goals. That’s still something that’s really important to me.”
Taylor said practising smarter was the key.
“When I had the time this year, making sure that I was practising the right things and being more efficient, not just kind of going to the range and hitting a thousand balls,” she said. “Actually pinpointing the areas I needed to work on and when I had that time to do so, being able to do that.”
Taylor feels her love for golf has grown over the years.
“Growing up before I actually started competing against other girls. We would just practice and I didn’t really love the game,” she recalled. “My dad always says it’s funny now that I work in it.
“I still play throughout the summer. It’s like I live, sleep and breathe golf which is super special and I’ve become very fulfilled through the game.”
Taylor also enjoys working with the juniors.
“I’m not a pro and I don’t really teach the kids. I do as much as I can when I’m at camps with the head coach and our coaching staff, but being a mentor and kind of giving back to what the game has given to me, I don’t even have words to describe it.
“It’s very fulfilling for me.”
Taylor, who attended Thorold Secondary School and graduated from Grand Valley State University in Michigan where she was named NCAA All-Conference Golfer three times, still has aspirations on the links.
“I have a goal of wanting to compete in a USGA event. I really want to. The last three years I’ve tried to qualify for the US Women’s Mid-Am event and I’ve just come short by a stroke or two every time. So I really want to be able to do that but I do love competing.
“I want to try and do it as long as I can before starting a family, I guess. But it’s always something I hope I can do.”
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