I know many on here have an interest in Highlands Links and I'll continue to share things as I find them.
The Evolution of Highlands Links
Stanley Thompson conceived the idea of getting Parks Canada to build new golf courses as a make work project for the people of the area during the depression era. He saw the government as one of the last sources of available money to build a golf course. He sold it to the government as a way to take the hardest hit communities and put those people back to work. The end result would be a new source of permanent income and employment for the community.
Stanley Thompson convinced Parks Canada to build, not one, but two great courses in the boundaries of their Park. Since it was a make work project, the construction at Highlands Links was largely done by hand and was limited to one steam shovel and one truck to make sure it employed the maximum number of people.
While the course was supposed to be completely inside the Park, Stanley selected areas outside the Park for inclusion in the golf course. Many people were forced to surrender ancestral homes in order to supply Stanley Thompson with the land to build a golf course. Most ended up on the construction team, since it took a very long time for them to get reimbursed for the land that was expropriated and these people needed income to survive.
While we think of this great course as Stanley Thompson’s Mountains and Ocean course, it also represents one of the more practical routing he ever conceived. Most of the holes of the golf course are routed where Thompson was able to find soil. While we still cringe at the thought of Thompson taking people’s land for his course, he must have clearly seen that if he did not use their farm land, there was not going to be enough money to complete the project.
Since most of the site was not treed, Thompson was able to recognize the opportunities he had for natural holes. He routed his holes in over and around the great flowing contours to deliver a series of stunning golf holes. He also was careful to avoid as much bulldozer work as possible to keep the costs down to a minimum. Stanley Thompson came out each month to inspect the progress. He changed anything that he did not like and often would gather the men to change greens or bunkers to create the design he was looking for.
His lead foreman was originally Hennie Henderson, an Engineer, who was given the task of clearing the site and organizing the distribution of soil around the property. This was eventually taken over by Geoffrey Cornish. Cornish supervised the removal of 12,000 cubic yards of topsoil from the 6th fairway and at least another 700 cubic yards of topsoil brought down from further up the Clyburn Valley to be distributed over the site. The soil was used for the greens, the tees and to cover the rocky part and some of the hills on the fairways. The rest was done by hand.
The course was seeded to fescue and New Zealand Bent, but the fescues quickly died out giving way to poa annua that is predominant today. Thompson also sent Ken Gullan to give the course “a definitive links look” He transplanted Marram grass from near by to some of the “seascape holes.” That work was mostly confined to the 6th and 4th holes.
The course came in slightly over budget and was built for around $180,000. The budget including the bridges was around $167,000 including overruns.
The Major Changes till 1982
In 1967 Cecil MacNeil constructed the blue tee on the 11th hole that changed the hole to a par 5. The 13th hole was previously changed from a par 5 to a par 4 so the course remained a par 72.
In 1974 Cecil MacNeil and his crew excavated the pond on the 12th hole. The area had been wet previously and this formalized the pond.
The big change in 1974 was the rebuilding of the 13th green. It was done to elevate the level of the green in an attempt to prevent flooding. The original green was approximately two to three feet lower than it is today and was bowl shaped. It featured a swale that ran diagonally from front right to back left of the green.
In 1979 the Park Superintendent at the time asked Cecil MacNeil to close 27 bunkers in order to make the operation more efficient.
In 1980 the large bunker behind number 8 was closed.
In 1982 Stewart Best created the pond on the 6th hole to take care of drainage problems found on the 6th fairway.
I'll be curious to get people's reaction to the expropriation that took place.