The roots of the modern-day Canadian Tour go back to 1970 and the old Peter Jackson Tour. With tournaments from coast to coast, the Tour developed predominantly Canadian touring pros including Canadian Golf Hall of Fame members Dave Barr, Dan Halldorson and Mike Weir as they prepared for the PGA TOUR.

Fellow Canadians and PGA TOUR winners Al Balding and George Knudson competed on the Peter Jackson Tour throughout the 1970s as well as the legendary Moe Norman.

For many years, the Canadian Tour’s Tournament Players Association was part of the Canadian Professional Golfers Association.

In 1986, under the direction of Bob Beauchemin and Ken Tarling before him, the Tournament Players Association became an independent, non-profit entity.
 
The Tournament Players Association is the governing body of the Canadian Tour and operates a series of tournaments in Canada, the United States and Latin America. The association represents more than 200 members from around the world. The current Canadian Tour membership breakdown of the Canadian Tour is 50% American, 30% Canadian and 20% International.
 
For more than 20 years, the Canadian Tour - a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours - has proven to be an outstanding training ground for PGA TOUR success. In fact a total of 172 players have gone on to the PGA TOUR after competing on the Canadian Tour representing one in 10 members advancing. In addition, 142 players have gone on to the Nationwide Tour. A number of players have also gone on to compete internationally on the European Tour and Challenge Tour.
 
Canadian Mike Weir, the winner of eight PGA TOUR titles - including the 2003 Masters - earned Rookie of the Year honours on the Canadian Tour in 1993. Four seasons later, Weir captured the 1997 Canadian Masters and BC Tel Pacific Open as well as the Order of Merit.
 
Other PGA TOUR winners who played on the Canadian Tour include Canadian’s Dave Barr, Dan Halldorson and Ian Leggatt. A number of American and International players who played the Canadian Tour have also won on the PGA TOUR including, 2005 United States Open winner Michael Campbell, 2004 British Open winner Todd Hamilton, 1978 PGA Championship winner John Mahaffey, Steve Stricker, Paul Casey, Stuart Appleby, Kirk Triplett, Tim Herron, Scott McCarron, Peter Lonard, Matt Kuchar, Chris DiMarco, Nick Watney, Stephen Ames, Arron Oberholser Chez Reavie, Nathan Green, Matt Bettencourt, Will MacKenzie, Brendan Steele, Byrce Molder, D.A. Points and Michael Bradley.
 
Canadian Tour grads that have won on the Nationwide Tour include Canadian’s Jerry Anderson, Richard Zokol, Ian Leggatt, Jim Rutledge, David Morland IV, David Hearn, Chris Baryla, Bryan DeCorso and Jon Mills. Other notable alumni to win on the Nationwide include D.A. Points, Ken Duke, Scott Dunlap, Omar Uresti, Jeff Quinney, Kirk Triplett, Steve Friesen, Bobby Gates, Brendan Steele, Jason Enloe, Peter Tomasulo, David Mathis, Roger Tambellini, Matt Bettencourt and Erik Compton.
 
Tour alumni have also won tournaments on the European, South African, Asian, Japanese, and Australasian pro golf tours.
 
At the completion of the 2011 season, Canadian Tour alumni have won 113 PGA TOUR titles and over US $450 million.