FAQs

CWGI membership is made up of wide range of women from all walks, ages, and stages of life. From retired and semi-retired, to at-home and working moms, working women, career driven, married, single, adventurous, empowered, seeking balance, need to get out of the house, walks of life. So, for whichever reason, CWGI is designed for social interaction, fun experiences and connection.

Our schedule of 9 and 18 hole games are designed to help you pursue golf. We offer weekday morning, late afternoon/evening games as well as weekends.  So depending on how you want golf to fit into your life we’ve got a game for you. 

Our members usually are a mix of beginner/novice, intermediate and advanced players, with the majority trending towards novice/intermediate.  Player levels are not solely based on how well you score since this is a social league and scoring isn’t competitive between members.  So to help you decide your initial player level consider the following: 

Beginner:

• You have never picked up a club before
• You have never taken lessons before
• You have never played a full 9-holes
• You have dabbled in golf throughout the years but have never played consistently

Novice:

• You have established a base swing but it is inconsistent and causes you to play at a slower pace
• You enjoy or prefer to play at a slower pace

Intermediate:

• You are a faster-paced player
• You are a seasoned player
• You have taken lessons
• You have a consistent swing base
• You don’t consider yourself an advanced player however you still maintain a faster pace when playing

Advanced Player:

• Similar to intermediate, however, you probably track your handicap, are a longer and consistent hitter, good scorer and often like to participate in competitions.

9-Hole league players tend to be a mix of beginner and novice players. This is self determined since CWGI does not rate nor assign league play based on skill level. Again, all we ask is that members respect the pace of play regardless of whether they play 9 or 18 holes.  18-Hole league players tend to be a mix of intermediate and advanced golfers.  These ladies generally play 18 because they feel 9 holes is not enough and they have more time to dedicate to play 18 holes. 

In all cases, when the co-ordinators are finalizing tee time groups for events they tend to send the fast paced players off first since they become the pace-setters for the rest of the pack. Coordinators also try to match skill levels within the 4-somes to aid in pace of play and comfort level for new or novice players.  As you get more comfortable with league play and get to know more of the ladies it becomes easy to fit into a group and very enjoyable to play together.  We also encourage all ladies to sign up and play with different ladies to help everyone feel comfortable and at ease. 

Simply put, pace of play means play at a good pace and keep up.  It is CWGI’s Golden Rule.  It is each group’s responsibility to keep up with the group in front.  If you don’t see the group in front of you, you need to pick up the pace of play to close the gap. This may even involve picking up your ball on the fairway if you are lagging.  Walk or ride efficiently to your next shot. Pre-plan your club selection, take any necessary practice swings in advance. When playing on or near the putting green, leave your cart or bag in such a position that it will enable you to move off the green and towards the next tee without backtracking.  When a hole has been completed players should leave the putting green immediately and not linger to chat or record score.  These small things will make a big difference in your pace of play and resolve the biggest complaint members have when they play with other members. 

Green fees are paid by yourself at the pro shop of the golf course when you arrive.  They vary course by course and the rate will be published in advance for you when you create your online booking though the CWGI website. 

A few of our courses do require prepayment as a guarantee that those who have signed up will be paying.  We facilitate this through our secure online payment processing system.  These courses generally are the semi-private and/or ClubLink courses. Any prepayments will be made clear when you register along with the particular cancellation policy for the course identified for the event.

Clinics are customized using PGA teaching professionals. All clinics are optional. Rates will be published at time of signup.

CWGI offers an easy and seamless way to book your tee times. You simply log into your member account, find the event you wish to play, and sign up. Each league game will be open in advance for a set period of time prior to the event. You can request playing partners and even tee times. Once booking is closed, the tee sheet will be reviewed by the co-ordinator, adjusted as necessary to account for any gaps in tee times, full 4-some play and matching of skill levels. Once all adjustments are made, the tee sheet is finalized and an email will be sent to you and the golf course a few days in advance to confirm final times and groupings.

We work with the golf courses to negotiate the best rate available for the required event, and many courses will offer us some form of a discount.  When you go to book your golf event online you will see each event rate published. That being said, our primary goal is not to offer deep discount golf. Rather we focus on creating a community of women golfers and offering you a variety of golfing and social opportunities with the intention of making it easy and enjoyable for you to come out and participate.

Canadian Women Golfers Inc. realizes how important it is to make it easy and comfortable for new golfers.  We offer a beginner golfer program that not only will give you a good foundation of skills, but also mentor you with other CWGI ladies who will help you with on course play to learn the rules and etiquette of the game, how to maneuver on the course, how to manage your clubs and, give you a general level of comfort on-course.  So if you are someone who has never played before and wants to learn, or someone who has tried but never really gotten the hang of it or enjoyed it enough to follow up, our beginner program is a great place to start.

Once your membership is paid for the year it is up to you to manage where and when you wish to play.  Inability to play is not a reason for refund, however, under certain situations and evaluated on a individual case basis, your membership may be suspended and postponed to the following year.  No refunds or pro-rated discounts are available.

Event cancellation policy is a topic very near and dear to us.  CWGI has built great relationships over the years with our member golf courses and this is indicative of our ability to reserve large blocks of tee times for our events. So any unforeseen cancellations or “no shows” that unexpectedly reduce the amount of ladies playing that day will have an impact on our reputation and our ability to secure these tee times in the future.  That is why we must ensure that all members who reserve tee times show up to play.  Members who do not cancel with required notice or are a “no show” will be contacted to discuss.  If members make a habit of cancelling or not showing for registered events we may suspend reservation rights to events.   So please only sign up for events you know you are prepared to play. 

Do not base your decision to play that day on the weather forecast.  In the Ottawa Valley systems can be quite isolated and quickly changing.  Your Co-ordinator will be the one to determine if a game needs to be cancelled due to inclement weather. So unless she does, please show up if you’ve booked, dress for the conditions, whether that is hot, cold or wet. Afterall golf is an outdoor sport and we Canadians are a hearty lot.

Yes you can. You can select their name(s) from the member list when you book your online event.  They will receive an email notification that they have been booked to play with you and the details. 

Yes you can.  You may invite a guest to play with you two times during the season.  This can be done online when reserving the desired event.  Simply follow the instructions to input their information as a guest.

CWGI offers a great variety of league games for 9 or 18 hole players. Our season runs from early May to end October and with up to 5, 18 hole games offered per week and 15, 9-Hole games per week there is something for everyone and every skill level.  Many of our ladies play 2-3 times per week and more, and some enjoy both the 9 and 18 hole league games.  Play as often as you like. 

We also offer clinics throughout the season to help you hone  your skills — so between clinics and opportunities to play this should give you a good foundation to help play more consistently.  Golf is a hard game to master but one thing is for sure, the more you put into it the more you get out of it. Learn, play and practice go a long way to improving and CWGI provides you these opportunities.   We like to also think we “grow” 18-hole players.  Many of our 9-hole ladies develop their skills and enjoy moving up to play more 18-hole events.

All our trips are 18-hole trips, designed to be lots of fun and a great way to meet other CWGI ladies, learn, play and connect with. For level of play, our only prerequisite is that you know how to keep up with pace of play. Our golf trips usually have 40 or so ladies participating so the course marshals monitor our pace of play and expect us to complete within 4-4.5 hours.