[Tommy_Naccarato]

While discussing the possibilites of the GCA 2004 Canuck Classic, another fellow GCAer and myself started discussing Victoria Golf Club which is located on the most southwesterly tip of the island.

I have see pictures of this Coombe course for some years, mostly in Pacific Golfer and Motor Magazine, and after visiting the website, I can say that it certainly looks like a very neat old design. It's only 100 yards of golf course that features crossing the fairway on a few holes to gain access to the next hole!

Have any of you played it out there?

http://www.victoriagolf.com/


Look carefully at the following images and see how the course plays.

[SteveTL]

Some strange looking connections there:

17 to 18
10 to 11

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I walked a few holes 5 or so years ago and would say without hesitation that it passes the walk in the park test. It looks like a pretty good but not great course. I would play it all day in a heartbeat if back in the area though.

[JNC Lyon]

Architect is A. Vernon Macan, who also did Gorge Vale in B. C.

[JBStansell]

According to my research, A.V. Macan worked on Victoria Golf Club in 1930 and again in 1955.  The original course, however, was laid out by Harvey Coombe in 1893.  

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Coombe is the architect, and Macan did work on the course.

Steve, why do you think those are strange connections? Merion does the same at hole #2-3.

I like that kind of quirkiness in a routing! Especially one on just 100 acres!

[SPDB]

Now this is what I call a skyline green!
(pat mucci - take note)

[Tom_Doak]

I've played it, and reviewed it in The Confidential Guide.  A beautiful setting, but the 18 holes are pretty tightly packed together:  some architect could make himself a bundle (and ruin what's left of the design) by undertaking a "safety audit" for the club.  

Not worth going all the way to Victoria for, but certainly worth playing if you are there, just for the gorse and the views and the seventh green!

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Tom, It certainly looks somewhat impressive. Do you think someone has already altered the course before?--as in maybe ruined a green or two or three?

What about Marine Drive Golf Club which is also Macan? From the looks of the it, some of the bunker placement n the holes looks sort of fun and challenging, and the club claims:
"A players' club, where rounds of less than four hours are the order of the day".

www.marine-drive.com

[Tyler Kearns]

Tommy,

    If we're planning on going all the way to Vancouver, why not reach for the stars--Capilano G. & C.C.? This is definitely one of Stanley Thompson's best, and a good example at routing a course to render a site with substantial elevation change, very walkable. Further, the setting must be in the top 5 in the world!! Access may be difficult, but the club does offer reciprocal priveleges to those who are members of private clubs elsewhere.

Tyler Kearns

[SteveTL]

Tommy,

I have not had the good fortune to play Merion - and am not aware of the connection between #'s 2 and 3.  Walking off a green, through another hole's line of play to the next tee seems strange.  Not necessarily bad, definately quirky - but strange to me (not to mention marginally safe).

Steve

[Robert Thompson]

Macan was also responsible for Shaughnessy, where the Canadian Open will be held in 2005. It is an interesting track, much along the lines of Hamilton, in that it will play as a par-70, at around 7,000 yards. Not nearly as much elevation as Hamilton, but an interesting course nonetheless. Doug Carrick is currently doing some work on its tee boxes.
Marine Drive is very, very tight.
You are right about Capilano being the best in the area -- a fantastic Thompson course, though not quite as good as St. George's, in my estimation. Capilano suffers from having two short par-5s, which could be easily turned into tough par-4s if the members were interested.

Robert

[Tyler Kearns]

Robert,

   I believe during tournaments the first and tenth holes both play as par 4's, dropping the overall par to 70. However, No. 1 can be stretched into a more challenging par 5 by teeing off from the practice green directly behind the tee (something that has been done in the past). I thought the scorecard had a typo when I reached the tenth tee, par 5 -424 yards, almost outdoing the 18th at Gulph Mills for short par 5's. Ultimately, the hole plays much more uphill than the eye can decipher--thus the hole would play brutally difficult as a two-shotter.

Tyler Kearns

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Tyler,
Thanks for the heads-up on Cappy, although it was sort of being planned anyway.

SteveTL,
Actually, the crossing at Merion is just across a tee--the 6th. But if you want to see a tee shot crossing the fairway of an approach, simply look at the Old Course #7 & 11--I have investigated this, and in all of my findings, from talking to people in St. Andrews to thousands here on the internet, I have never heard anyone talk of being hit by a golf ball on those holes. Maybe Tom Doak or Brad Klein can refute that, and if they did, I would enjoy hearing about it.

But yes, it is dangerous, I simply don't care. I accept the responsibility that when I step on to a golf course "Shit Happens!"  

[Jeff_Mingay]

Tommy,  

Harvey Combe, a British import to BC, laid the Victoria course out during the late 1890s, which makes it the oldest existing golf course in North America, I believe.

Macan, a long-time member of the club, made some significant changes to the course during the 1930s, and again, during the mid 1950s. As a result, there are some trademark Macan greens at Victoria, featuring some neat contour.

The problem is, the course is very short. In the 6,300 yard range, I recall. Still though, it can get windy there. The wind combined with the contour in and around the greens, and the slim nature of many holes provides quite a bit of challenge at Victoria on certain days.

It's no Capilano, but definitely worth a visit if you're in the area. A classic. Moreover, the city of Victoria is a real gem, consistently 'voted' one of the best cities in the world in which to reside. I agree.

[Jeff_Mingay]

As mentioned above, Macan designed two other significant courses in Victoria as well: Royal Colwood and Gorge Vale.

I haven't visited either in several years, but I understand Gorge Vale has suffer significant renovations. I don't think there's much Macan left, if anything.

Colwood was Macan's first layout, opened in 1913. I think the club has tried to maintain the integrity of his original design. How successful they've been in recent years, I don't know?

I'd visit Colwood ahead of Gorge Vale, if my time was limited.

[Raymond]

Tommy,

I just played it a couple of months ago. It certainly is a great walk, a good golf course, and I did enjoy it a lot. The connectors were a liitle cumbersome but not a distraction. They advertise it as the "Pebble Beach of Canada" but that is a real stretch. There were some very good holes and a some fun, interesting greens. The course only played a little over 6000 yards. Of course, any course built over 100 years ago and still in existence is a must play in my book. I'd do it again when in Victoria but I wouldn't travel there to play it.

Raymond

[Robert Thompson]

Tyler -- regarding the 10th at Capilano. While the hole does play significantly uphill, I thought it was a strong 4 when I hit driver and 8 iron onto the green. It was only then that I realized it was a par 5....

Still, Capilano is a great course and fun to play.

Best.

Robert

[Jeff_Mingay]

As I've said many times before, if they ever reclaim the large section of (lost) putting surface back right on that tenth green at Capilano, reinstall the guarding bunker there, at front right, and actually cut a hole in that section of the green, just close enough to the steep fall off at right, that hole could be a tough par 6.

Par aside, the tenth is a fine hole. Perhaps one of the best on the course, as per its original design.

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