Fore! Golfing at Historic Places
It's the height of summer! If you're already an avid golfer, and
even if you aren't, did you know there are golf
courses in Canada that have been designated historic places? These
golf courses not only have buildings constructed in some
interesting architectural styles, but the courses themselves have
some landscape designs that can both sooth and challenge a
golfer.
In Woodstock, New Brunswick, for example, there is the Woodstock Golf and Curling Club.
This golf course's nine holes cover almost 19 hectares, which
include natural hazards such as evergreen forest and swamps. Play a
game of golf here and you are taking part in a tradition that began
in 1887, when the Scottish minister of the local Presbyterian
Church, Reverend G. D. Ireland, introduced the sport to the town.
Shortly after this a group of enthusiasts got together to form the
Woodstock Golf Club, and the newly formed club then purchased land
for their new golf course. Though it has been redesigned several
times in its lifetime, this golf course is considered one of the
oldest in Canada.
In Edmundston, New Brunswick, the Fraser Edmundston Golf Club has been attracting golfers since
1926. Considered one of the most beautiful golf courses in
the Maritimes, it has 18 holes, incorporates a railroad track into
its landscaping, and is sited in the middle of the city of
Edmundston. It has been the location of some major golf
tournaments, such as the Canadian Amateur Golf Championship in 1956
and 2002, and the Roch Voisine Celebrity Golf Tournament.
Celebrity figures such as Moe Norman, Roch Voisine, Quebec actor
François Pérusse, and former NHL coach Jean Perron have golfed
here.
If you live in Ontario, perhaps you might want to visit the
Roseland Golf Course in Windsor. Built
in 1926, this 18-hole golf course is one of a few Canadian golf
courses to have been designed by renowned golf architect Donald J.
Ross (1872-1948). Ross is golf's most famous architect, and helped
make the game more challenging because he had creative designs -
such as wide fairways and small greens shaped like inverted saucers
with lots of mounds and hollows - with the natural beauty of the
surrounding landscape. Ross was invited to design the course in Windsor by entrepreneur and
businessman Henry James Neal, who also helped create the Essex-Kent
Boy's Golf Tournament that still runs to this day. The Roseland
course's design is typical of Ross's work with distinctive
creativity and natural beauty. The golf course is special because
the original design remains unaltered, and is one of only 15 Ross
designed golf courses in
Canada.
It is worth noting that golf courses were brought into Canada's
National Parks in the early part of the 20th century,
and some of the more famous of these places - with superlative
views that might distract even the most diehard of golfers -
include one in Jasper (opened in 1911 and redesigned by another
golf course architect Stanley Thompson in 1926), and one in Banff
Springs (designed by Stanley Thompson in 1927). An example of
the golf club buildings constructed in national parks can be found
at Riding Mountain National Park. Built in 1932, the Golf Clubhouse there retains its distinctive
and original rustic Tudor-Revival inspired design which by then had
become a standard feature of the aesthetic look of national parks
buildings.
For golfers on the west coast there is
the Victoria Golf Club in Oak Bay British
Columbia. This golf course has 18 holes, covers 38.1 hectares, and
has spectacular views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the
mountains of mainland BC and Washington State. The Victoria Golf
Club was formed in 1893 by a group of very avid golfers who were so
enthusiastic that before they had a proper golf course they played
on grazing land belonging to a man named Joseph Despard Pemberton.
For almost fifteen years, the Victoria Golf Club merely leased the
land so they could golf on it, but in 1906 this change when the
members then purchased the land they had been using from the
Pemberton Estate. The Victoria Golf Club also has the distinction
of being the oldest golf club in North America west of the
Mississippi River, and the course was designed by noted golf course
designer Arthur Vernon Macon. It also has a 1929
Tudor-Revival style clubhouse, which was designed by the locally
important architect Charles Elwood Watkins.
As we can see, Canada's historic golf courses have a certain
charm. Not only is the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape
is of particular importance for a golf course, but also the
specific design of the various holes. Combine these features
with buildings of architectural and historic interest, and
associations with important people in the world of golf, as well as
the overall longevity of the sites themselves, and you get places
that form key parts of our cultural heritage. So go out and
visit an historic golf course, and maybe even play a round or two
before summer slips away.