I recently took a quick road trip out to the Atlantic Coast of New Hampshire and Maine. We went at just the right time as the colours of the leaves were perfect. I played golf at Cape Neddick Country Club and Prouts Neck Country Club, the following video has some footage of both courses, as well as my commentary provided as I was playing. This video was shot with my Nokia e70 camera phone provided by Harmony Mobile.
This was my first short golf film, made after a fun day playing with three friends of mine who are CPGA pros. It was filmed at Weston, in mid-August 2006.
What with global warming having a rather dramatic on winter here in Souther Ontario, today was the first time that I’ve played golf in Ontario in early March. With some friends from Toronto Golf Nuts I went to the Burlington Springs Golf & Country Club which was the closest course that was actually open.
The weather today was fantastic for early March, well fantastic if you forget that the environment is rather out of whack. Sunny with temperatures in the high 60s or high teens depending on whether you’re metric or not. The course was a little wet from rain overnight, but in general was in decent shape.
The course itself is quite nice, for an affordable public golf club. The landing spots off the tee are generous, which makes it fun for those of us who struggle with driving accuracy. There’s a decent mix of par 3s, 4s, and 5s, with doglegs, modestly rolling hills, and water in play on just under half the holes. The greens were of modest size, although due to the early part of the year we had to play off temps.
In general it’s a fine club, with friendly staff, and relaxed atmosphere. Certainly for golf in early march, it has few competitors. However given that good weather comes so rarely this time of year, it was quite busy, so best to get a tee time in advance. Here’s a quote from their website:
For over 40 years Burlington Springs has offered the most picturesque round of golf in the area, providing a challenge to novice and experienced golfers alike. With several newly renovated greens, enlarged tees and Merion Bluegrass fairways, we offer you the best playing experience available at an affordable price.
Located 5 kilometers north of Hwy. #5 (Dundas St.) on Cedar Springs Rd, we are within easy driving distance of Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga and Toronto via the 407, 401 and QEW.
Located in Fort Mill, South Carolina, the name of this golf course is what initially grabbed my attention: The Regent Park Golf Club! The idea of golfing at a club with the same name as Canada’s first public housing project really appealed to me.
Add to this the fact that the course was amazing! It reminded me a little of Osprey Valley Resorts here in Ontario, as it’s an under-priced public facility in great shape and provides great fun to golfers who aren’t afraid of a little risk and reward.
What’s also hilarious about this course is that it was built on land that was once owned by Jim and Tammy-Faye Baker, the crazy television evangelists who went bankrupt just over a decade ago. Adjacent to the course is a Bibleland theme park that was originally going to expand to the land that is now the course, but the Baker’s bankruptcy changed all that.
To quote from their website: Regent Park Golf Club is located 12 miles south of downtown Charlotte, one mile off of Interstate 77. Bordering the North Carolina / South Carolina state line, the course travels through the two states and three different counties. The course was designed by Ron Garl and is Charlotte’s most challenging and beautiful 18-hole public course. Regent Park also offers the most complete practice facility in the Charlotte area.
Regent Park Golf Club & Academy
While in Florida recently, we met up with members of our family who are members of the Dunedin Country Club, in Dunedin Florida. I always knew Dunedin as the winter home of the Toronto Blue Jays, however I was quite enthused to find a great municipal course with a vibrant history. I’ll be sure to spend some time playing this course. To quote from their website:
Designed by all-time great golf course architect Donald Ross, the course was carved out of citrus groves and was opened for play January 1, 1927. Beginning in 1945 until 1962 it was the PGA National Golf Course. Features of the course include: 6,565 yards long with teeing areas of varying distances for each hole; driving range, putting green, chipping and sand trap practice area; complete golf shop; resident PGA pro and assistants; storage for member-owned carts. Numerous golf groups are available for members to provide guaranteed tee times and opportunity to immediately enjoy the full golf benefits of the Club. There are locker rooms for men and women.
While on a golf road trip, after visiting the World Golf Village, I played a round at the St. Johns Golf Club, which is located in St. Johns county, just outside of St. Augustine Florida. The course is well designed, with 27 holes, winding around towering pines, natural vegitation and numerous ponds which make for some challenging shots. When we played we saw tons of wildlife, including a large gator sunning itself on the 14th tee. As far as municipal golf courses go, this one is well worth playing, affordable and enjoyable, a great representation of the quality golf to be found in north east Florida.
Recently while on a golf road trip, I came across the Cocoa Beach Country Club, which is located on a peninsula surrounded by the Banana River Lagoon at the western end on Minutemen Causeway in Cocoa Beach Florida.
It was an interesting course, well maintained, and with a nice clubhouse. There are three nine hole courses, and the Banana River and the seventeen lakes that are located on the golf course at the Cocoa Beach Country Club provide a habitat that attracts an abundance of waterfowl and other birds. The birds are definitely a factor, although not in an unpleasant way. When I was on the driving range it often seemed as if one’s shot would hit one of the many birds passing by.
In addition to birds, there are dolphins, alligators, turtles and raccoons that make the Cocoa Beach Country Club a true habitat and wildlife sanctuary. If you happen to be in the Space Coast region, it’s worth paying a visit to the golf club, at least to hit 15 balls on the range for U$1!
I got to play at the Islington Golf Club today, which is a private course located just north of Dundas St., on Islington. I found it to be a fairly intimate Stanley Thomson design, quite playable, with some quite interesting holes.
It’s not the longest course in the world, and it’s setup on a fairly small piece of land, although it dates back to 1924, so one has to assume that even back then land/space was at a premium.
Nine decades later, there are a lot of houses that only a slice/hook/thin hit shot away. Including the notorious house that now has a large fence setup by the club to protect it. It really is literally on the course, a few metres from the fairway even. The street it is on I’m sure also gets its share of stray shots. In general, the houses that line the course are quite nice, and interesting to look at, so on some levels I think it adds to the urban experience of golfing at that location.
I also noticed that in many cases there was really close proximity between greens and tees. Not necessarily consecutive holes, but often we were on the tee and thrown off by celebrations of birdie on a nearby hole, although we were certainly guilty of doing this ourselves.
In general the course provided a fun challenge, with a few really nice holes, and a few really frustrating holes. There were a couple really long par 3s, and a couple really long par 4s. There’s also a number of reachable par 4s for big hitters, though hitting driver then wedge is nice for this mid handicapper. The par 5s were nice risk reward holes.
An excellent development in golf course design and maintenance is harmony with the surrounding environment. Decreasing if not eliminating the use of pesticides goes a long way to helping not only the surroundings, but the people playing the course as well. Ecological approaches to golf are only a good thing and can only help the long term sustainability of the sport. With that in mind check out this article, quoting from two parts of it:
Oldfield became the 13th course in South Carolina to get the stamp of approval from Audubon International, and the group’s Shawn Williams says the numbers are increasing. In the Palmetto State, 49 courses are registered with Audubon on the way to certification, Williams said.
Audubon International, which is not affiliated with the National Audubon Society, is an environmental education organization dedicated to sustainable development.
…
Audubon certification involves six ongoing steps, including satisfying questions about safe environmental planning, water conservation and wildlife and habitat management.
“The new-school superintendents, the younger guys coming up, are taught more” about environmental awareness, Shawn Williams said. “What I consider the baby boomer generation, they take a lot of pride in their yards, are more socially aware. They take more awareness about golf’s evolving nature.”
Source: SLAM! Sports - Associated Press
This is a totally crazy story. Makes you think social unrest in the UK is rampant. To quote the article:
A HISTORIC golf course has hired private security guards to patrol its greens after coming under siege from young vandals.
Malicious incidents, including one in which a young player’s golf clubs were stolen by youths, have forced club officials to spend £2000 every month on security.
Duddingston Golf Club has also hired a watchman to spend the night at the club after three break-ins in the last six weeks.
General manager John Elvin said: “We now have to pay guarded security around £2000 every month just to protect ourselves from these vandals.
“The flags are stolen from the golf course, the tee markers are destroyed or thrown in the burn, they ride bicycles and motorcycles across the greens and cars have even been left burned out.
Source: Scotsman.com
This is an interesting technology described in this press release. It combines GPS tracking with WiFi connectivity to provide a golf course not only with ubiquitous internet access, but more importantly, each golfer can have accurate yardage information regardless of where they are on the hole or course. To quote:
GPS Industries, Inc., a leading innovator of Wi-Fi wireless and GPS-enabled multimedia communications and management solutions for golf facilities and residential communities, announces that GolfBC, the largest golf facility operator in Hawaii and Western Canada, will install the Inforemer Wi-Fi GPS Golf Business Solution at its Furry Creek Golf and Country Club, located near Whistler, British Columbia (BC), site of the 2010 Winter Olympics. This installation was arranged through GPSI distributor, Northstar Golf Technologies, Inc.
(more…)
Today I was (finally) able to play my first round of the year. A friend of mine took me out to the Board of Trade South Course, which is an executive length 9 hole track.
At 1688 yards per 9 holes (from the blue tees), it’s not long, but there are 3 decent driving holes, the 3rd, 4th, and 6th. The 6 other par 3s are not easy, and require accurate short irons, otherwise getting up and down is difficult, due to sand traps and water hazards. While accuracy pays off, the errant drive can be recovered with an approach shot from an adjacent fairway. This is a friendly course for beginners.
The greens were in great condition, all things considered, and the course as a whole was otherwise dry. The pro shop said the East course will most likely open on the 20th, and the West course shortly thereafter.
Playing an executive length course like the South at Board of Trade was a good way to start the season and get the swing warmed up again, while focusing largely on putting and the short game. After all, that’s where the scoring is…
This is a rather absurd article. Has to do with the class conflict that exists in the UK. Golf club officials worried about people camping on their course with their caravans. Ever see the movie Snatch? In that movie Brad Pitt lives and belongs to a caravan community. To quote from the article:
Golf club officials have dug a trench to prevent an influx of travellers on to their championship links course.
The measure was taken after scores of travellers set up camp in a council car park next to the practice ground at Conwy Golf Club on the north Wales coast.
The action was similar to that taken in August at Poundbury, the Prince of Wales’s village in Dorset.
Then, contractors employed by the Duchy of Cornwall dug a 400-yard ditch to prevent travellers gaining access to land.
(more…)
Found an interesting article aboug golf in Afghanistan. The Kabul Golf Club has been re-established, and while it may not be as lush as most, it certainly has its fair share of hazards. However when in Kabul, the options for playing golf are little. So the Kabul Golf Club is an oasis of sorts for golfers in the region. To quote from the story:
“Several Afghans persuaded the new government to allow the club’s reopening and have leased the grounds for 20 years, although so far they appear to have invested relatively little. A U.N. employee donated several sets of clubs, and a de-mining agency agreed to check the course for old land mines.
Landscapers have dragged away most of the weapons and shrapnel that littered the grounds, though a rusted Russian tank still stands sentry atop one of several hills ringing the course. A large metal shipping container has been brought in to replace the old clubhouse, now a bombed-out shell.
Despite the challenges posed by the nine-hole course, about 100 diplomats, aid workers and other foreigners paid a small fee to golf here last year. With the club’s second season about to begin.”
Source: Birmingham News
Always happy to read more news about Arnold Palmer returning to the Weston Golf and Country Club, to commemorate his win at the 1955 Canadian Open, which was his first professional victory.
Today the Globe ran an article confirming that Palmer will be playing in the Return of the King pro-am to be held at Weston in September. To quote the article:
“Palmer, whose charisma helped take the PGA Tour into the sporting big leagues, will play on Sept. 12 in a pro-am dubbed the Return of the King along with Canada’s first member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, Marlene Stewart Streit.
Then the next two days, the Kings & Queens Senior Amateur Championship will be held at the Weston. The new event on the golf calendar is being inaugurated by the Greater Toronto Area Golf Association to benefit the Hospital for Sick Children as well as junior golf and underprivileged kids.”
For more info, keep an eye on the Weston GCC Website.
Not to be confused with the Innisbrook golf course in Tampa Bay Florida, the Innisbrook golf course in Barrie Ontario is a fairly easy 4505 par 64 course.
It is located in the south end of Barrie on the Corner of Huronia road and Lockhart drive. The bent grass greens and well maintained fairways add to the speed of the course.
The course was not busy at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon when we played, which gave us a lot of time to play a very relaxing game. The terrain was fairly flat, with appropriately placed sand bunkers and very few water hazzards. The sand however was so hard that it wasn’t really a factor in the game. It could be treated the same as landing in the semi-rough.
Osprey Valley is a golf resort North of Toronto in Alton Ontario. With three courses, the resort has a lot to offer, and I recently had the opportunity to play its Heathlands Links course.
An attractive links course designed by Doug Carrick and built about 10 years ago, it was reminiscent of Whilstling Straits and Shinnecock Hills, in that there was ample amount of fescue, threatening punishment for straying ever so slightly from the fairway. With that said, of the 3 resorts at Osprey Valley, Heathlands is the only one in which walking is permitted, thus making for a pleasant golf experience regardless of score.
Earlier this morning I went on CBC Radio to promote the five municipal golf courses in Toronto. What with summer now in full swing, the municipal courses are a great place for beginners and experts alike to get out and play. Owned by the City of Toronto, these courses have a character all their own, and are quite affordable, as well as TTC accessible.
Now that I am a member of a private club, I am even more grateful for the municipal courses and how they’ve provided for the early development of my game. In addition to a recording of the radio segment available via the link below, we also have course reviews of several municipal golf courses on this website.
Listen to the Radio Segment! (In Real MediaFormat.)
Humber Valley is a moderately difficult 5446 yard par 70 golf course. It is run by the City of Toronto’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation, and is located on the west bank of the Humber River in Rexdale.
Humber Valley opened in 1957, when 40.9 hectares were aquired from Summerlea Golf Club, becoming the second public golf course in Metro Toronto to be operated by the City. In 1992 the course had a $1.25 million dollar renovation which included fairway re-alignment, an automatic sprinkler installation, and many new tees and greens.
Accuracy is crucial on this couse, especially on the final three holes, two of which are par 5. These par 5 holes gave our group the most trouble. The course was quite busy on a friday afternoon and required a fast pace to be maintained. In comparison to the Don Valley course, Humber Valley had many more small rolling hills.
Scarlett Woods is a par-62 executive course in north western Toronto, 10km from downtown in the Humber river valley system. It is run by the City of Toronto’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation.
Scarlett Woods presents a chance for the beginning golfer to taste what a real course is like. At 3750 yards, and slope of 93, with 8 holes longer than 250 yards, including several dog’s legs and tee-offs over ponds, it presents a good sample of a full game, from woods to wedges to putts, from long dog’s legs to short 80 yard pitches from the tee over water hazards.
Occasionally quite challenging, and somewhat busy, Scarlett Woods requires a good pace to be maintained, as set by the starter, and verified throughout your game by the rather agressive but (in our case) relatively witty course marshall.