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It's back to the future
Shaughnessy returns to old course setup and championship pride to hold the Canadian Open
By Paul Ramsdell, PNGA Media
After first revisiting its past, Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club is now boldly and visibly preparing for a bright future.
The private golf club situated on 162 acres overlooking the mouth of the Fraser River and Strait of Georgia in Vancouver, B.C., will gain international attention as it prepares to hold the Bell Canadian Open in September.
To get to that point, the vision for the 18-hole layout first developed by Arthur Vernon Macan more than 45 years ago was brought back to life, as was the overall condition of the course and the membership.
Today, a stern test of a 7,010-yard, par-70 will await the world's best golfers, who will be greeted by proud and re-energized members.
This will be the third Canadian Open at the club originally formed in 1911. The first was held in 1948 at the old Shaughnessy Heights layout, which has since been buried under houses and avenues near Oak Street.
The Shaughnessy Heights clubhouse had rooms on the second floor for overnight stays, and Macan put one to use in the late 1950s as he was doing site work on the current course.
"He used to come down to the pro shop in the evenings, and we used to have long chats," said Don Griffiths, who as a teenager worked in the pro shop and on the greens crew for both courses.
"He knew it was going to be a great golf course in his mind," said Griffiths, who went on to become president of the Royal Canadian Golf Association in 2000 and presided over the Canadian Open that year at Glen Abbey, which Tiger Woods won with the miraculous 6-iron bunker shot over water on the final hole.
Griffiths said Macan envisioned a golf course that would be difficult for the professionals, but tolerable for members.
The new course opened Nov. 9, 1960, one of the last designs in Macan's career.
"The yardage from the long tees was 6,915 yards, which was a bit unusual for the courses in those days," Griffiths said.
The 18th hole was a 473-yard, par-4 to an elevated green. The 10th hole was a 460-yard, par-4. Come September, both will play slightly shorter than 45 years ago.
Another example of Macan's foresight came on the shortest hole, the 158-yard, par-3 17th, with a severe drop off on the right side to a hollow that will make for a diffi cult up-and-down. That bank will be shaved down to severely challenge the pros.
Jerry Morris, the gardener at Shaughnessy, is a Macan history buff and can recite Macan's written descriptions of certain holes.
"He purposely didn't place a bunker to the right of the green because, 'This hole is intended to catch the player napping.'"
All of Macan's length and keenness was in place during the 1966 Canadian Open, which was won by Don Massengale even though he never broke 70. His four consecutive 70s put him at 4-under for the championship, which left some of the world's top players grumbling afterward.
"Well, Jack Nicklaus said it was too difficult and I don't think he enjoyed his visit here from what I was told," Griffiths said.
"My recollection is I think most of them found it too difficult, and I believe that's the reason that lead to the renovation."
After that 1966 tournament, the members softened up the course, and it played considerably shorter. In the past few years, however, as preparations have been underway to challenge the world's best again, some of that yardage has been replaced.
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| The pros will open with a 475-yard, par-4 at Shaughnessy, which plays as a par-5 for members. |
"The 18th has been re-established," superintendent Rob Barr said of one hole that gained some of the 300 additional yards.
Still, it might not be as difficult as nearly 40 years ago.
"The old tee box was ground level and you hit up over a saddle in the fairway," Barr said. "Now, we've raised the tee to see all the contours and open the hole up, show the bunkers on the left side and it's a beautiful sight ... Pros don't like blind shots."
Restoring the course wasn't the only necessity to properly hold a Canadian Open. People had to get excited about it as well.
"From a community point of view, not just Shaughnessy, but the whole community," said Ken Woods, the tournament chairman, "there hadn't been a Canadian Open here since 1966, and it's a national championship. I think the community here really appreciated the fact we were getting the Canadian Open, and one of the few venues that could host it was Shaughnessy."
Two key Shaughnessy components, Woods and head golf professional Scott Dickson, have experience dealing with being the host course for the Canadian Open.
"I had been (a member) at Royal Montreal when it had the Canadian Open (in 1997), and I saw what it did to the membership and what it did to the golf course," Woods said.
"What it did was it regenerated the membership. It instilled a sense of pride and tradition in the membership."
Woods is seeing the same result at Shaughnessy.
"It provides everybody with this sense of purpose. And obviously a sense of pride," he said.
It also has helped provide a full membership at Shaughnessy, which was struggling five years ago with its numbers and its course conditions.
"Where this golf course is today versus where it was five years ago ... it's an incredible difference," Woods said.
Barr said the members deserve credit for that as much as his staff does.
"This club has really stepped up to the plate and followed through on this preparation to host this event," Barr said. "The club was in dire need of retaining its status as a championship golf course. Tournament or no tournament, I think we would have started some changes. It might not have happened at this sort of pace, but it would have happened."
Woods estimates the total cost of course and practice area improvements, including new irrigation, to be nearly $2 million.
"They've seen the evolution of this golf course into a championship track," Barr said of the members. "They've been supportive the whole way and enjoyed everything we've done."
David Wood, the club's general manager, said a renewed enthusiasm among members has been the key to the whole process.
"We would never had been able to do this under the old model, no way in a million years. The members would have gotten assessed, and would have turned it down, and we wouldn't have the Canadian Open. But because we turned it around and started selling memberships, that's when it enabled us to have more money to do some of these projects," Wood said.
And now, what's being called the "Shaughnessy experience" is infecting everyone.
"The staff is excited. The shoeshine guys are happy. Everybody is happy. It's contagious," said Woods.
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