A Tip of the Hat to Rene Muylaert

[Peter Pallotta]

The name Rene Muylaert probably won't mean anything to anyone outside Canada, or to anyone outside southern Ontario actually. But I felt very grateful to Mr. Muylaert today - lovely day to play golf, played Victoria East: built in the early 70s, playable, enjoyable, architecturally-sound, easy to walk, pleasant to look at, inexpensive, well-maintained (on a modest budget, I imagine), using the natural terrain well (and with few signs of much earth-moving, at least to my eyes), 6,500 yards from the back tees - well spread out over many dogleg Par 4s (380-420), some short and some long (195) Par 3s, and reacheable (525) Par 5s, all fit into a smallish piece of property (135 acres) without any of the holes feeling cramped together, or the course, even on a busy day, feeling crowded, and with good pace of play with a good percentage of young and female golfers. I mention all those details because, from other courses of Mr. Muylaert's I've played and from what I've read about him, that was pretty much what he did time and time and time again, on all his courses, and usually on modest budgets. Starting in the early 1960s and up to his death in the early 2005, he designed/built about 50 courses, I think almost all of them in Ontario.  According to a blurb I just went to find, not one of his courses cost more than $4 million in total (with that high-end being a very rare occurance - I can't imagine many of his courses costing even half of that.) The same blurb had a quote from this modest man himself: "On every job, I learned a little more. I didn't work under anybody. I did it my way. I tried to follow the land."  He built a lot of good courses. I don't know how we quantify a man's contributions (I'm sure it's probably dumb/ill-advised even to try). But god bless you, Rene Muylaert -- your work continues to bring pleasure to maybe hundreds of thousands of people every year. I think it is men like him who are the heart and soul of any profession.  A tip of the hat to Mr. Muylaert.  He tried to follow the land.

Peter

Btw - even for people who know Mr. Muylaert's work, Victoria East isn't a course that comes to mind. Its name comes from the fact that it's on Victoria Street, on the east side of the street. 

[Gary Slatter]

A TIP OF THE HAT TO YOU MR. PALLOTTA wherever you are!!   
Rene and his brother Charlie were superb and I also used to enjoy ANY of their courses. 
I'm not sure of the connection but I think the late George Clifton (pro) was related by marriage to Rene or Charlie, I often saw them together at places like Nobleton Lakes (could have been a spectacular course) or "Chinguacousy"  or Bayview.

Regardless their name should be high on the list of Ontario designer builders!   and you are correct that many thousands still enjoy their work.

[Ronald Montesano]

We just played Tangle Creek in Barrie, Ontario, for the CISAA championship.  Proving that talented golfers can overcome bad coaching, our girls team won its third consecutive title as the lone USA team in the league.

Tangle Creek (and Barrie, for that matter) are a great base of operations for the Simcoe region.  Although not as well known as its neighbor to the northeast (Muskoka), Simcoe has great golf, great water sports, great everything....along with really, really friendly and polite people.

TC is a Muylaert design.  He is also the builder of two reclamation courses, Peninsula Lakes (Niagara region) and Copper Creek (somewhere up north.)  Modified by author...thanks for the correction.

http://www.teeingitup.com/architects/rene-muylaert.htm

and

http://www.londonontariogolf.com/inthenews/viewtopic.php?p=126&sid=8b3aa9c9b2a89894361bcd96c705756a

[Paul Stephenson]

Living in Southern Ontario I must have played at least 15 of Muylaret's courses.  Diamondback, Mill Run, and St. Andrew's Valley are 3 of my favourites.  Although with St. Andrew's Valley I think the builders took Muylaert's design and ran with it.  I'd be surprised if they came in under the $4 million price tag.

Howard Watson is another guy who I think should be recognized for his work in the area.

[Guy Nicholson]

As they say on Facebook, "Like."

[Peter Pallotta]

Paul - yes, I've played those as well, plus Nobleton Lakes (quite a bit years ago) and, lately, Vic East about 5 times in the last two years. I guess I knew/recognized Mr. Muylaert's name from all that playing, but it really wasn't until the other day at the low-key, modest, virtually unknown Vic East that I thought to myself: hey, this man designed a lot of good good courses, sound tests that manifest (if not in a spectacular way) all the principles of good architecture. And yes, then there's St. Andrews Valley - a very fine and very tough course.

Peter

[Bryan Izatt]

Ronald,

Slight correction.  I believe that Copper Creek is credited to Doug Carrick, not Rene Muylaert.


Peter,

What are you trying to say about St Andrews Valley?  Does it not manifest "all the principles of good architecture"?  Or is it less low-key and modest than Muylaert's other designs?  Or ...........?

Are you living in Guelph now?

I never would have thought of Muylaert's greens following the land - using St Andrews Valley and Tangle Creek as two examples.

[Peter Pallotta]

Hi Bryan - yes, I thought to make that slight correction too, but then thought that RM might've been talking about another Copper Creek further north that I never heard off.  On St. Andrews Valley, I think it is a very good course and very tough test (one I enjoyed playing a lot), better and tougher than the other courses of his that I've played and architecturally-sound; and yes, it feels less 'modest' than say Nobelton and cetainly than Vic East. (And yes, after a lifetime in toronto we moved to Guelph a couple of years ago).  And I don't think I'd argue that his greens 'followed the land' in maybe the way you meant it (or the way we tend to use the term around here): they get pushed up a little and and tilted a little etc, but, again, I think in a playable, enjoyable, architecturally-sound way that doesn't mar the landscape, that doesn't try too hard, that fits the overall shape of the land (which he does use well in its 'natural' state for the general layout/routing).  
Peter