Does anyone know anything about this in montreal?

[Matt Kardash]

I always new that the city Of Montreal destoyed a golf course called The Montreal Municipal golf Club(where Billy Casper won the 1967 Canadian open) when they were preparing to build the Olympic Stadium and cater to the '76 Olympics. My father puts the doors in at the Olypic Stadium, so he one day asked someone there if they could give him the plans of the defunct golf club. So basically, they gave them to him and the other day he showed them to me. Considering I'm only 20, i don't know much about this course. Does anyone know anythting about this course?

What's interesting is that they turned the course into a park, so the course is literally still in-tact. If you walk thru the park, the tree-lined alleys that were once fairways are clearly still there. Whats amazing is when you go to the Olympic stadium observatory, you can literally see the entire routing of the course. They could literally add a couple of bunkers, cut the grass, and bring back the same course, so it seems.

I'm pretty sure no one here knows anything about this course.
Just felt like giving it a shot.

[Forrest Richardson]

Sounds like a good novel. Or discovery.

[RJ_Daley]

Matt, may I suggest you use the modify button and add, does anyone know about this, "In Montreal".  Jeremy Glenn lives there and being a GCA and all, I bet he knows plenty.  I even think he lives near there if it is the park just east of McGill University.

[Forrest Richardson]

Do the plans list Albert Murray as the designer? He is credited with work in Montreal, including municipal work there.

[Craig_Rokke]

Indeed, C&W credit him with the design of the "Yellow Course"
at Montreal Muni.

[Matt Kardash]

I'm not sure who's credited as the designer. All the writting is very small and the writting is kinda smudged. All I know is that there are two courses. I think the yellow was the second one to be built. I think the other course was the red course, i think that's the one that hosted the open.

[Matt Kardash]

here's a picture i found of the Maisonneuve park, where the course once was....you can basically see the tree-lined fairway, i think an old cart path(the one to the left of the big one) is actually still being used as a bike path

http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/parcs/repertoire/photos/0085P000.jpg

[Matt Kardash]

I just found this from an article

Second, the U.S. media would have us think that Bethpage Black is the first-ever municipal golf course to play host to a national open championship. Not so. Some 35 years ago, Billy Casper beat Art Wall in an 18-hole playoff to win the Canadian Open at Montreal Municipal Golf Course. Designed by Albert Murray, head professional at Royal Montreal from 1905 until his death in 1930, the Yellow Course was hailed as "one of the finest public golf courses in North America" by the PGA. Some of the players disagreed, describing it as "arid waste" and "the skid row section of the Gaza Strip."

interesting indeed

[Mike_Cirba]

Matt;

Now that you've solved the design mystery, any chance of getting me her phone number?  



Either will do.  

I may also oppose your "restoration" efforts unless you promise to keep the roller trails open.  

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Matt,
Lakeview in Toronto also hosted the Open, though I am not sure if it was designated a muni then, but it is now.

Best,

[Matt Kardash]

Mike,
I'd love to get her number for you but since we are in Montreal there's probably a 50% chance that she is french speaking. Might be a problem for you.  
Then again, love has no language.hahaha

[Mike_Cirba]

Matt;

Dites-elle que je pense qu'elle se déplace avec la grâce et la beauté d'un cygne.  

[JohnV]

Matt, In actual fact, the first municipal to host a national open is located in St. Andrews, Scotland.

[Jeremy Glenn,]

Seeing as to how it was in 1967, I would imagine the Canadian Open was held in Montreal to coincide with the Expo 67 world fair.  I would also imagine, as you state, that the construction of the facilities for the '76 Olympics spelled its doom.

The course is more or less "intact", with corridors and most raised features still easily visible.  It is now Parc Maisonneuve.

Unfortunately, I haven't been in that part of town in about 10 years, so I don't know all that much about the course in past or present state.  However, Parc Maisonneuve is the most important parc in eastern Montreal, and one of the biggest parcs of the city.  It is hugely popular to the nearby citizens (in some of the poorest neighbourhoods of Montreal).  Even as a golf course architect, I would be quite reluctant to restore it.  

From the little I saw of it, I would also stronly agree with the "Gaza strip" description...

Mike,

She's most probably french, if from the neighbourhood.  And with all due respect to her, if you think she's cute, you really need to get to Montreal soon.  

[Mike_Cirba]

ahhh, Jeremy...I hear you.  

My reaction as it were, must be from those long, lonely hours examining photographs of golf courses!  

[Matt Kardash]

I actually take the bus past the park everyday on my way to school(some call it a school, i call it a warzone.. if you knew anything about Concordia University you would know what i'm talking about..hehe)...however i 've only actually been in the park one time.
I never said i wish the place should be restored though, i was just merely curious of the course's history i guess. I wouldn't want to destroy that lovely park.

[Dan Kelly]

Matt;

Dites-elle que je pense qu'elle se déplace avec la grâce et la beauté d'un cygne.  

Mike --

You can tell all that from one picture?

Man, you're good! I haven't seen so much photographic insight since that Bridge thread. (At least in this picture, there aren't any obviously artificial mounds -- though possibly your trained eye would see something I'm missing.)

I do wonder: If either of these jeunes filles has "la grace et la beaute d'un cygne" (sorry; don't know how to do them-thar diacritics), what's the need for those elbow pads and knee pads?

To ward off lonely golf nuts?

[Mike_Cirba]

Dan;

Nothing artificial in that photo.  Compared to the mounds of "The Bridge", I'd have to say in my most professional opinion that I'll take the ones in this photo without pause.  

And no, the defensive gear is needed simply to protect against wayward golf balls from guys like Matt Kardash trying to play the remnants of the 12th hole of Montreal Muni.  If you look closely in the background, you'll see what looks like Matt on that former tee area with his clubs and trolley after smoking one past the pedestrians straight down the middle.  

[ian]

Another great example is Earl Bales Park in Toronto; you can see the only (and obviously lost) Charles Alison course in Canada. Mounds, greens, bunkers, and tree lined fairways are all there to be seen.

Lakeview Muni held the 1934 Canadian Open.

[Jeremy_Glenn.]

Matt,

I live about two blocks away from Concordia (downtown campus).

If ever you want to go grab a beer, drop me an e-mail.  The golf season's a long way away...

[Matt Kardash]

haha c'mon Mike, the last time i pulled my bag i was 13