Dale,
Interesting that the short club history posted at Shaughnessy's web site makes no mention of Macan, at all. Too bad. Well, I guess the club's erased enough of his original design now that there's no point in mentioning the course's original architect.
And, Im pretty sure Macan did some redesign work at the old Shaughnessy Heights course prior to designing the new Shaughnessy.
Wayne,
Yes, #7 at VGC was originally a par-3; the original tee is intact, too, up and to the right of the current fairway. (You can still play the original hole, which is cool.) This made three par-3s in a row at VGC - out on "The Point" - back in the day.
How about the green at #7, too? Some of the coolest contour anywhere.
Ian,
You say Lakeview remains a good course. But its a mere shadow of the Strong course that hosted Canadian Opens, right? I havent been there in years.
Tom MacWood,
I've driven past Peace Portal a few times, but havent yet stopped in to see it or play it. I've heard from a few people, including Richard Zokol, that it's quite good. Interesting, too, that part of the course is actually in the United States! How many courses can claim to play through two countries?!
During the early, pre-1910 era, at VGC, the course changed almost annually; Victoria golfers played different routings and different sequences of holes almost each year I recall. Theres little doubt Harvey Combe had a lot to do with any alterations made there about 1910.
Macan renovated some holes at VGC on (at least) two occasions, during the 1930s and 50s. I know for sure that he redid the par-5 12th, which featured a green tilted from front to back that received a lot of criticism. Funny story: Reportedly, Macan fiercely defended the design of this green, which apparently lead one critique to give up, and say something like: We'll wait til he dies, then redo it!
Macan died in 1964, but it wasn't until the 1980s that the 12th green was redone; the new green looks "1980s" as well, unfortunately.