Bill McKinley has been the 1st Assistant Golf Professional at Canterbury Golf Club since 2009. He was named NOPGA Assistant of the Year in 2011 and just recently voted by Golf Digest as one of the Best Teachers in the state of Ohio. Having long demonstrated a passion for the game of golf, I know him because he reached out to this site after we published a course profile on Canterbury in 2008. In various correspondence since, he has shown an equal fervor for classic golf course architecture. That may be even a little unusual too: many ace players I talk to hate the very things I appreciate – the partially blind aspect of the one shot 14th at Harlech, central hazards, Prestwick, the list goes on and that’s just from conversations this year with strong players.
Bill is different and he embraces the squirrelly lies at Canterbury and its wicked greens. The predicaments that Canterbury hands out are amusing, as I saw first hand in an August round there. These words were issued after a player missed his approach long right to a back right hole location at the first: ‘If I can get my chip within fifty feet, I will be happy. “ At the second, in regards to a thirty foot putt from back right to a back left hole location, ‘Be careful – your putt breaks fifteen feet.’ You get the point. Despite how softly Herbert Strong’s holes rest on the landscape, get out of position and you end up with some real head scratchers. Like Southern Hills, you won’t appreciate the booby traps that Strong and Way laid across the course until it is too late. Hogan found out the hard way, suffering an 8 at the 8th all without a penalty stroke. He finished one shot out of a play-off for the 1946 US Open.
It's always neat when a course you really like also has the knack for producing top tier champions. I can only imagine what the win here during the 1973 PGA Championship meant to Buckeye native Jack Nicklaus. Yet, that was forty years ago! How does a proud club like Canterbury that has hosted thirteen majors continue to thrive and flourish, especially in strained economic times? That’s a tough question with which many clubs with classic courses struggle to address. Bill addresses the issue neatly when he notes that happy members lead to new members. I have stopped in to Canterbury several times since 2008 and can personally attest to the refinement that the course continues to go through under the watchful eye of Bruce Hepner. Right at the top of restorers, Bruce’s various tweaks continually improve the playing experience and signify loud and clear that Canterbury is a well run club. It must be, as it employs and attracts top people across its golf operations. Bill is clearly one of the eloquent speakers on behalf of the club.
GolfClubAtlas.com takes particular delight pleasure to turning the spotlight on a club like Canterbury, both for what it has meant to golf over a sustained period and for the manner in which it continues to extol the game’s best virtues. Hope you enjoy this month’s Feature Interview.
Best,