Jacques Sévigny, Chairman of the provincial Rules Committee, proudly accepted the finalist’s plaque on behalf of Golf Québec at the Gala des Mérites du français.

Since 1990, the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) – commonly referred to as the “language police” - has been rewarding companies and organizations that are promoting the French language in their work and business places. Since 1998, this recognition has also been extended to those who favour the dynamic use of the French language in their information and communication technology.

Every four years, the USGA and R&A review the rules of golf in collaboration with Golf Canada. Each time, the Golf Québec and Golf Canada volunteers who specialize in the rules and their application are solicited to translate the books that are published by the USGA to make sure that everything is available to French golfers in their own language.

This year, this project took on an unprecedented scale as, on top of the regular rules book that is normally printed for the use of certified referees, a new edition was also created to simplify and democratize the information; making it easily accessible to golfers. There is also a book on the decisions that were given while applying the rules and another document that is specifically designed for those who train the referees.

All this documentation is quite technical, we would even dare say that it has a legal character, and it needs to be translated and proofread by a team of Québec volunteers who are neither linguists nor translators (for most of them) in their daily jobs. They simply share a burning passion for the game golf, its rules, and the rich heritage of the French language. We would like to salute their contribution in this long-term project and thank Diane Barabé, the Chairperson of the national Rules Committee, Jacques Nols, and Jean-Claude Gagné.

This spring, training webinars were conducted in French by Jacques Sévigny and Édouard Rivard to help Québec’s aspiring referees with their academic preparation for the Levels 2 and 3 certification exams.

In addition, it was unfortunate to see that the new online Level 1 rules training and exam were only given in English by the R&A. In an effort to address this issue, the training module was fully translated in the spring by the group of Golf Québec referees under the supervision of Jacques Sévigny. It is now possible to acquire the first level of rules training, online, in French.

Golf Québec is proud of the work that was accomplished by provincial referees to make the Rules of Golf available in French. At the recent Gala des Mérites du français hosted by the Office québécois de la langue française, Jacques Sévigny was presented with the finalist's plaque for the promotion of the French language in a corporation with fewer than 50 employees.