Red Deer College has announced that it will be terminating its golf program as a result of budget cuts and donation reserves coming to depletion.

“It was a very difficult decision and not one that was taken lightly at all. It’s a matter of a process we were looking at the budget and the type of financial constraints that we have. We looked at all programs throughout the college so it wasn’t just athletics,” said Vice President Academic, Paulette Hanna.

The golf program was targeted particularly for its short season, a small team of about thirteen participants, the scope of competition, and yearly cost of approximately 50,000 dollars.

The cutback was not a result of poor athletic performance and RDC will be trying to do as much as they can to support their talented golfers who were even given scholarships through the program.

“We are very proud of all our athletes here and the legacy that they have left and the golf athletes are as important to us as the other athletes.”

Heading forward from the loss, RDC plans to give whatever they can to these dedicated participants.

“If they want to transfer to another institution then we certainly will support that and help them in any way that we can. As well as if any of them are looking to play golf at another institution we will do whatever we can to make those connections for them and also for some that are having a difficult time with it we always have our counseling services here because this is a huge hit to some of them. We want to make sure that they are supported in all ways.”

Although Hanna believes that golf will not return to RDC’s list of programs any time in the foreseeable future, she does not believe it will be something left behind and forgotten. Given the right resources and sustainability, RDC may eventually see the return of golf sometime in the future.