This week's Canadian Open at St. George's G&CC with photos

[Ian Andrew]

(photos are from 2004)

Hole 1
This photo was taken from the location of the original tee. The first is a mid-length par up climbing all the way up to an elevated green that is steeply sloped from back to front.


Hole 2
This very long four is one of my favourite par fours in Canada. A long drive must avoid the diagonal valley and is followed by a long iron into a well bunkered green. The fairway bunker on the right is 10 feet deep!


Hole 3
This green was built by Robbie Robinson and was designed to be a Redan. The green did not turn out that way and ended up ridiculously steep from back to front and very shallow because of a lack of fill. I’ve always felt that this green is the one that doesn’t fit.


Hole 4
The 4th became a four for this event but is played member’s five to a very steep green built by Robinson. The original green is the natural plateau just beyond the bunkers in the foreground.


Hole 5
A wonderful long four where the huge Oak on the left must be avoided off the tee, the approach can not miss right because the fall off is at least 20  feet


Hole 6
The short par three has a very complicated green and the back two pins are particularly tough to find.


Hole 7
This is a very long uphill par four to an elevated green. The green features a massive false front on the right, but a shot played over the left bunker can be run into the green.


Hole 8
The gren is set up into a bowl and the green slopes very hard to the right. You can play right and pitch it into the green and make a putt, otherwise the approach must be vry precise since a side putt will always be missed.


Hole 9
The green is actually Robbie Robinsons but it was cut down in size and Stanley’s bunkers from the old green site were reproduced on that green site. This hole is very reachable since it is downhill and down wind.


Hole 10
The tee shot is either to the small plateau out of view or bombed into this hill. The green was built by Carrick and is one of the simplest on the course.


Hole 11
A beautiful hole playing down a natural valley all the way. Very easily reachable.


Hole 12
The bunkers are 14 and 18 feet deep. Thompson added 6 feet of fill to each to create the depth. The hole falls right and turns left and is one of the toughest holes to play. The real kicker is a green that is very steep from back to front. Missing short all week will pay dividends for someone.


Hole 13
A long par three that will yield some birdies since the green is quite big. Pins in the front will be really tough, but pins in the back can be chased.


Hole 14
A very long four played over a hill to a fairway that falls hard left. The green is small and surprisingly flat and at 200 yards in will be the toughest shot of the day.


Hole 15
This long uphill par five finishes at the top of the hill to a very undulating green. The hole used to finish at the bottom of the hill, but this tough final shot is one of the hardest on the course


Hole 16
I think the tiny green, 00 yards and a very uphill par three makes this close to impossible. The green is very steep and anything an inch short retreats down the slope . The toughest of all the threes!


Hole 17
This very long four can be shortened by taking on the diagonal bunker. The green is long and narrow and surrounded by bunkers. The back pin is a major test of nerve.


Hole 18
The 18th is a long four that plays uphill all the way to the green. The approach must be very precise because the green is surrounded by bunkers and the green has a great deal of slope. The clubhouse is actually across a four lane road!


St. George’s may be the best we have. I encourage all of you to watch a little this week to see how good a course we have for this years Canadian Open.

[Matt Bosela]

Great photos Ian.

It's been almost 20 years since I played St. George's for the first and only time in their junior invitational.  I really look forward to watching the Open this week to see how the course has evolved over that time and hope to get out there sometime before the year is out so I can finally get the chance to play it at an age where I'll appreciate the architecture!

I have to imagine that the pros will be quite enamoured with the place before the week is out.  It's a very special golf course.

[Dale Jackson]

Ian, great stuff, I would love to be there this week but, alas, another time.  It must have been both fun and an honour to do the work there.  Thompson had a bunker style like no one else and I am glad to see it restored at St Georges.

What was the original sand like and was the decision to have white sand yours?  What would your opinion be of a tan colour?

[Neil_Crafter]

Nice pics and great work there Ian.
My only comment is that some of the fairway bunkers look quite a way out into the rough.
Hope the Canadian Open goes well there, you should be very proud.
cheers Neil

[Dan Herrmann]

Ian,
How much Thompson is left there?   Are there design elements that we'd see at other Thompson courses?

(I've only played Thompson's Highlands Links and Whirlpool)

[Ian Andrew]

Ian,
How much Thompson is left there?

1,2 entire hole
3 Robinson green site
4 Robinson green site
5,6,7,8 entire hole
9 Robinson green site
10 Carrick green on same location
11, 12 13, 14 entire hole
15 Robinson green site
16, 17 and 18 entire hole

[George Pazin]

Thanks for the pix, Ian.

I've always been intrigued by what Tom D says about the routing of St George's in The Confidential Guide..., something to the effect of how Thompson used the hills and valleys in a different manner than most architects would have. I wish I could remember it specifically, it was a comment I thought was worth exploring.

[Dale Jackson]

Thanks for the pix, Ian.

I've always been intrigued by what Tom D says about the routing of St George's in The Confidential Guide..., something to the effect of how Thompson used the hills and valleys in a different manner than most architects would have. I wish I could remember it specifically, it was a comment I thought was worth exploring.

Interesting George, to me the genius of Capilano in Vancouver is the routing, Thompson took a piece of land that is literally on the side of a mountain and routed the course in a way that it never feels that way.  I have not played many Thompson courses but he was obviously very talented in that area (and others).

[Tim Johnson]

Should be great to watch the Open at St Georges. It should get good reviews from the pros. It will be interesting to see what pros will show up in 2012 now that Hamilton is hosting it. No Tiger but I am interested if Furyk will show up again.
Looking forward to se St Georges over the weekend.

[Ian Andrew]

10. Things about St. George’s that you may not know.

1.   Every single green was rebuilt in the mid 1930’s because the turf failed. While the contractor and costs were documented, there is no mention Thompson providing any supervision.

2.   The 17th and 18th were originally back to back par fives


The old 4th would have looked like this

3.   The fourth was the best four on the course and they changed the hole for the 1968 Canadian Open. The green is still there in the second landing.

4.   The 16th used to have a boomerang green with the lower part in front of the right bunker.

5.   There were already 8 bunkers removed by 1938 and bunkers were removed at a pretty steady clip in the 60’s and 70’s.

6.   The bunkers on the left of the 12th hole were made deeper when Stanley Thompson added an extra 6 feet of fill to both the original hillocks

7.   The clubhouse was not on the other side of the road because the golf course was in a dry county and the clubhouse was in a wet one, it was relocated there to sell houses since this was the first Toronto course not on a rail or streetcar line

8.   The original clubhouse location was between the 1st green, 2nd tee, 10th green and 11th tee which would have left returning nines

9.   The 15th hole was a long four and finished with a blind green behind a large bunkered rise on the right. The green is still there, but the rise and bunkers are not. I have a great photo of it.

10.   The original par three third was blind from an elevated tee. The rebuilt hole was designed by Robbie Robinson to be a Redan but the hill did not generate the projected fill and they revised the design to what it is today.

[Dale Jackson]

Ian, was the course better when first constructed, or, on balance, were the changes improvements?

[Ian Andrew]

Ian, was the course better when first constructed, or, on balance, were the changes improvements?

1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 16th are pretty much the same.
The 17th and 18th are par fours - from the same location as the par five tees.

The 3rd, 4th and 9th were far superior holes.

The 3rd Green was a great one and is the biggest loss


The 4th played to the top for visibility, or you played safely to the left and had to carry the bunkers blindly to the green


The 9th green was a real beauty, set on a knoll, but the hole was very short for a five


The 14th green was set along the creek before it got altered by the storm sewer, it was far better when the creek was directly in play
 

Tom Doak loves the 15th, I prefer the original hole. The tee shot position had to be prefect for the approach not to be blind.
 

It was a better course in my opinion and the original one would be another step better than the current one is. That said it’s still arguably the best we have.

[Ian Andrew]

Brent Delahoussaye shot an 8-under 62 today with a 28 on the front.
Wet conditions made for easy scoring and the average score was under par.
Early predictions of a single digit final number are pretty much out the window.

[Wayne_Kozun]

Wet conditions made for easy scoring and the average score was under par.

This must be due to excessive irrigation as we have not had that much rain in TO for the last several weeks, at least not in the east end.

[Ian Andrew]

Wayne,

We've been dumped on three times in the last week - 2 inches in one hour on the week-end- so I think it all depends on where you are.

[Bryan Izatt]

I was out there in this afternoon.  What a beautiful looking course.  It's astounding that the whole field went low, but it was a perfect day for scoring - hot, humid, cloudy and not a breath of wind. 

I don't buy the notion that the course was playing soft.  The fairways that I walked on felt firm underfoot and were very tightly mown.  Approach shots into greens didn't seem to be tearing into the greens, but also weren't running out or spinning back a lot.

The fairways didn't seem to be inordinately narrow to me, and the corridors between the trees was more generous than I thought it would be.  The rough was dense, but in many instances only for the first few yards off the fairways.  The players I saw recovering from the rough around greens or from the sand were remarkably good.  Perhaps this meant that there weren't any holes to run up big numbers and there were a number of birdie holes.

What struck me about the greens is that most appeared to be relatively flat but significantly tilted.  Although that should make cross slope putts difficult, perhaps it makes up and down-hillers easier.

I thought the 15th was one super par 5.  It didn't yield many birdies for those I saw go through there.  The green site is a killer even with the front centre pin they were using today.

The 16th looked like a brutal par 3 to hit - and, in fact the few that I saw go through didn't hit it.

The 14th left me a little disappointed.  Based on Ian's picture and description and that in the program as well, I expected to see a hole with a difficult second shot leading to possible disaster.  You would think that a 480 yard par 4 would yield a long second.  But in reality all the groups I saw go through (with the exception of Weir) had their ball bound down the hill, often to 150 yards, or in the case of Daly to 100 yards.  I'm betting that almost all the field was able to get their drives out to 280 yards and get the turbo boost down the hill.  I bet there were many drives of 350 yards and more on that hole.  The design of the hole and the placement of the hill enables that.  And, the hill kicks the ball to the right side (not the left as in Ian's brief description) which provides a better angle to the green.

"Hole 14
A very long four played over a hill to a fairway that falls hard left. The green is small and surprisingly flat and at 200 yards in will be the toughest shot of the day."

[Ian Andrew]

I found out Camillo and Goosen hit wedges into the 2nd green.
I'm not sure that the current game identifies the most skilled player any longer.

[Eric Smith]

I found out Camillo and Goosen hit wedges into the 2nd green.

478 P4.  Wow.  

[Wayne_Kozun]

Wayne,

We've been dumped on three times in the last week - 2 inches in one hour on the week-end- so I think it all depends on where you are.

I guess so - last Saturday in southern Scarberia we had thunder and threatening clouds but no more than a trace of rainfall.

[Bryan Izatt]

And, there's no turbo slot on the 2nd, is there?  I guess those fairways  really were firm and fast yesterday - maybe less so today though.  

Maybe the current game identifies the best players with a different set of skills.  What's amazing is their ability to hit it those prodigious distances and keep it in the fairway.  On 14 yesterday I saw Daly, Singh and their third player lined up in a row down the right centre of the fairway at 330, 350 and 380 yards.  The effective width of that fairway can't be very much because of the slope of the hill, but there they were, in the centre, at those distances.

[Ian Andrew]

Wayne,

We've been dumped on three times in the last week - 2 inches in one hour on the week-end- so I think it all depends on where you are.

I guess so - last Saturday in southern Scarberia we had thunder and threatening clouds but no more than a trace of rainfall.

We just got a major storm roll in and through - but fortunately its going south of TO.
We've been hammered every days for close to a week now.

Ian

[Bryan Izatt]

Can Carl Pettersson birdie 18 to turn in a 59?      On another hot, humid, cloudy almost windless day on a rain softened golf course.  Apparently there are no architectural defenses against the tour players under these conditions.  These guys are good.

[Bryan Izatt]

No!

Some shred of sanctity for a classic golf courses is preserved.

[Jeff Shelman]

I didn't watch much on Thursday and Friday, but have been watching for a while today.

Boy the golf course looks very cool and very interesting.

[Jeremy Rivando]

I was lucky enough to spend Fri and Sat at St George's and the golf course looked fantastic.  It's too bad the tournament received little attention due to the weaker field but that shouldn't take away from the obvious quality of the course. 

It was wet out there and the players took advantage, I really didn't think the rough was too severe as Lorne Rubenstein pointed out, I saw a few punch outs, but regardless, fairways hit should always be relevant.

Bryan: 
Concerning 14, I can start by stating that it's my favorite on the course and I agree that those long bombs you refered to render the hole somewhat defenseless but I watched about 15 groups go through.  Of those players I watched 2 pro's take a triple bogey 7, I saw 0 birdies, I would certainly argue that there were many possible disaster's lurking on that hole once your drive was out of position.  From what I saw later in the day very few players had less that 180 into that green.  I'm guessing you'd be hard pressed to find another par 4 out there that gave up two triples.

As Ian stated the hole would be even better if the green was sited closer to the hazard but it's still one of the great par 4's in Canada.

And maybe some thanks to Ian, it was great to see that they played the Par 3 6th from the up tees, forcing the players to control the spin with their wedges and creating some difficult back pin positions.