This is my first attempt at a photo tour; please excuse its many shortcomings. My home course near Toronto celebrated its 100th birthday this year. The 9-hole Guelph Country Cub was established in May 1912. To this day, it is not clear who designed the course, but some of the old timers say they heard rumours it was Stanley Thompson's older brother, Nicol. The course was private for some 80 years, but has been public/semi-private for the last 20. It had an early moment of glory way back in 1916, when it hosted a special match between Canadian George Lyons (winner of golfing gold in the 1904 Olympics) and US Amateur and Open champion Chick Evans. They played the 9 hole course twice, and Evans scored a 69 to beat Lyons by 6 strokes. The course was built on a farmer's field, but starting in the mid 1930s and throughout the 40s and 50s, hundreds (maybe thousands) of trees were planted. Otherwise the course has not changed much at all; according to the long time pro, the first 8 holes are exactly as they were when the course first opened; only the 9th hole was changed, in 1995 (to accommodate some real estate development/housing), but it still utilizes much of the original fairway. I find the course fun to play, and it has many interesting holes/features that smack of the very early days of golf/design (e.g. two blind shots on one hole, the Par 5 2nd.) The greens are not particularly inspired; let's call the contours subtle, and they almost all slope from back to front. You'll also notice the almost complete lack of fairway bunkering,which I don't miss at all. There are two sets of back and middle tees; the course is a par 71, and tops out at 6,100 yards. The green to tee walks are very short, the whole course quite compact. I like very much that the course is 100 years old and virtually unchanged; Mr. Anonymous designed a course that has provided many generations of local golfers fun and challenge and good fellowship, and what more can you ask. Some photos:
The opening hole, a 370 yard Par 4. Gentle, but if you don't drive it 270 it is best to lay up shorter off the tee, because others wise there are downhills lies and bumps and rolls to deal with.
The second is a lovely 510 yard Par 5; a good (blind) drive will get you over the hill (first picture) but unless you bomb it about 300 yards, your 2nd shot will also be blind (second picture); from there if you decide to lay up, you'll see this (third picture):
The 320 yard Par 4 3rd hole plays back up the hill. (First picture). A decent drive will leave a short pitch.
The 4th is a tough hole - it plays on the first 9 as a 440 yard Par 4 (and on the second 9 as a shortish par 5). The challenge is that. while the hole plays downhill, the land slopes back up just around where most tee shots will land. I have never had less than 200 yards in, to a punch-bowl like green.
More later, I'm afraid I will time out.
Back - the 5th is a shortish Par 4 that I couldn't get a good picture of. The 6th and 7th holes are back to back Par 3s, playing (on the first 9 set of tees) about 158 and 185 respectively. Here's a picture of the 6th:
The 8th is an interesting 320 yard Par 4, interesting in that it is a 90 degree dogleg right which you can't 'cut off'. The best play is to aim for the 150 marker and hit it there. (Bad photo - as was the one of the uphill shot you have left.)
I wish I had a good picture of the 9th; the two tier severely sloping green is the best on the course. I was below the hole and hit my first putt about a foot past, and it rolled back/down the slope to within an inch of the hole (and the greens are not fast).
Anyway, that's the mini tour. As I said to Ron, I know now how hard these are to do well.
Peter