12 Hole
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12 Hole
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Nine-hole layout transformed into 12, forming new 39-hole facility in Longueuil, Que.
New 12-hole golf course has its place in Saskatoon
Saskatoon golf course reduces its hole count
Flooding shuts down Kitchener, Ont. golf courses
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In our last issue, we published a state-of-the-industry report which looked at golf as it stands today and what might be in store for tomorrow. It’s no secret that two of the game’s greatest opponents are the cost to play and the amount of time required to play it.
Jack Nicklaus, perhaps the greatest golfer of all time, has said maybe the time has come to seriously consider 12-hole courses as the standard for new construction. The shorter layout would both be easier on the pocketbook and would take less time to play.
Someone, it seems, has been listening. In Saskatoon, a new 12-hole golf course is ready for its first full season. The Greenbryre Golf & Country Club had once been an 18-hole facility, dating back to 1979, but has re-emerged at two-thirds its former length.
The golf course ownership didn’t simply trim six holes from its existing layout, but scrapped the former track altogether to shape a brand new golf experience. The project goes hand in hand with a peripheral housing development.
The 12-hole golf experience had its test run late last season to rave reviews. Golfers were able to finish their round in a timely fashion, and several were able to squeeze in the dozen holes early in the morning before heading off to work. Greenbryre has also been booking several corporate tournaments for this season. The companies choosing to play their annual event at Greenbryre realize that many of their employees play little or no golf and can complete their round before fatigue sets in, not to mention the possible embarrassment an additional six holes might bring.
Of course the option to play a full 18 holes still exists for the traditionalist who will simply play either Greenbryre’s north or south six a second time.
Existing 18-hole golf courses across Canada which may just be getting by or are struggling amidst several other championship-length courses in their vicinity might want to pay attention to what is happening at Greenbryre and at other 12-hole facilities in Canada and the United States.
If they’re struggling to attract new golfers and are losing others to age and competition with neighbouring courses, reducing their size to 12 holes could be a viable option one day down the road. Courses that might go that route could possibly carve out a niche market for themselves to attract the “can’t afford” and “have no time” would-be golfer.
The 12-hole golf course fits into that “thinking outside the box” mode of reasoning when it comes to addressing the viable future of the game.
To read about Greenbryre’s take on its 12-hole strategy, turn to page 6.
Construction begins for Surrey, B.C. outdoor athletics centre. Facility to serve as premier sports destination.
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Zoning amendment clears way for indoor baseball facility in Penticton, B.C. Facility to include 5,000 square feet of artificial turf.
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Vandals carve up green at Windsor, Ont. golf course on back-to-back weekend nights. Culprits undo repairs, cause further damage.
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Port Elgin, Ont. sports park project nearing its second phase fundraising goal. Ball diamonds, playground already built.
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Hemlock trees in Ontario threatened by invasive aphid-like insect found in two regions. Insect sucks sap from trees' needles.
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Prestwick turns back the clock, brings back 12-hole layout used to host the first Open Championship
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John Huggan
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John Huggan
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Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club
PRESTWICK, Scotland — In every other respect, it was just an ordinary October Wednesday in Prestwick 162 years ago. But down at the local links, a golf competition was about to be born. Three weeks prior to Abraham Lincoln being elected the 16th president of the United States and only months before America would indulge in the ultimate oxymoron, a Civil War, eight competitors, seven Scots and an Englishman, were readying themselves to tee off.
The tournament was played over 36 holes and there was no halfway cut (so no World Ranking points were awarded). But this was the beginning of what is today golf’s most historic event, the Open Championship . Which was, at least for that first playing, a misnomer. No amateurs were allowed to enter, only professionals.
Not until the night before the second playing of the event in 1861 was it resolved that moving forward the event would be open to all the world. That reference is still to be found in the Prestwick Golf Club minutes book and probably led to the expression “the Open.” The first event, however, was actually not an Open. It was invitational, a bit like the Masters and merely an effort to find a successor to Allan Robertson, the so-called “champion golfer of Scotland” who had passed away the previous year.
The commemorative cairn marks where the first shot in the 1860 Open Championship was struck.
“Robertson was the first player to break 80 on the Old Course at St. Andrews,” says Ken Goodwin, Prestwick secretary. “He never lost a money match playing his own ball. He never lost a money match with a Morris as his partner. The members at Prestwick, more for their own amusement than anything else, thought it would be good to have an event to identify the new champion. There was no enthusiasm from St. Andrews or Musselburgh, so they did it themselves. Most of the good players would be coming to Prestwick to caddie for their gentlemen in the autumn medal. So they would be here anyway.”
Play began at noon on Oct. 17, 1860—late for that time of year in Scotland—but there was no risk of the golfers not getting round before darkness. After two loops of the 12-hole circuit, they even had time for a break at the Red Lion Inn before returning to the course for the third round. All of which was completed in four-and-a-half hours.
A view of the second hole, with the third in the background
The eighth hole on the original 12-hole course.
The second green with the third hole in the background.
The Prestwick club’s “keeper of the green and club and ball maker,” Old Tom Morris, had designed the layout nine years earlier and was a strong favorite to claim first prize, the red Moroccan championship belt that cost the hosts all of £25. But it wasn’t to be. With a score of 174—55-59-60—Willie Park Sr. of Musselburgh claimed the first of what would be his four Open victories, two shots clear of Morris.
“Old Tom’s approach to course design was interesting,” Goodwin says. “There are two versions. In one, he went round with a pocketful of feathers. And in the other, a pocketful of sticks. He went out and looked for good places for greens, which he marked with a feather or a stick, depending on which version you believe. Then he would wander off and find another one. And another. If there was a sand dune or depression in the way, it was up to the golfer to negotiate it. You either went over it or round it.”
That fundamental strategy continues to apply today to the now 18-hole layout at Prestwick, which uses six of the original 12 greens. The course remains unashamedly old-fashioned, a quaint and quirky mix of humps, hollows and blind shots. And, happily, one hole has survived from Day 1. The par-4 17th (“the Alps”) that members play today is the one played in the first Open. The second on the 12-hole course, it is 385 yards and more manicured now than it was then. But golfers still play over the same hill. The Sahara bunker still sits in front of the green. And the green is still marked by an extreme slope. It is the oldest existing hole in major championship golf.
Anyway, starting Oct. 10 and lasting for two weeks this month, the original Open layout, recreated as never before, is going to be available to a mixture of members, media and, on a couple of days at least, visitors.
The original 12-hole layout for the inaugural Open Championship sits inside a eight-hole stretch on the north portion of Prestwick's current 18-hole layout.
“We’ve always had a good idea where the greens were and that the routing was,” Goodwin said. “The big problem was we didn’t have the equipment necessary to get the job done. So the whole thing was really quite rudimentary. It took a long time to prepare. But now we have the equipment that allows us to cut back large swathes of rough. We’ve done that. Take the first/12th holes. A year ago, the fairway there was covered in grass 18 inches long.”
Inevitably, some compromises have had to be made in trying to recover or retrieve the original course. At the short seventh, “Green Hollow,” where the semi-blind putting surface is in what was rough, the construction of a green was necessary. So it won’t be the same condition of the original. But even the worst green is probably better than the best green in 1860. And yes, the fairways are still a wee bit rough in places. But that is how it was back then. In those days, a lot of golf was actually played in winter. In summer, cattle and sheep were used to graze and keep the grass down as much as possible.
One other 19th century feature will be in evidence this month. Rather than the usual flags, the pins will be topped by baskets, something that will be more than familiar to those who have visited Merion Golf Club outside Philadelphia, a five-time U.S. Open host.
“Back then, you could use whatever you wanted to indicate the position of the holes,” Goodwin said. “Some courses used rags on the end of sticks. But Prestwick preferred baskets, which probably started off as small fisherman’s creels. At some point early in the 20th century, we stopped using baskets and went to flags. But this month we are recreating the original feel. Hugh Wilson, who would go on to design Merion, visited in 1910 and took the idea back to the States.”
The scorecard for the original 12 holes is another fun feature. For whatever reason, those in charge at the Prestwick club were not content with mere yardages. Not nearly exact enough. Take the first hole, “Back of Cardinal,” which is played from the cairn that sits just onside the entrance to the club to what is now the 16th green and where, in 1870, Young Tom Morris started his third consecutive Open victory with a remarkable 3. On the card, the hole is listed as a “bogey six” and “stroke index one” befitting the most difficult hole on the course. And the distance from tee to basket: 578 yards, one foot and nine inches.
The 12-hole layouts scorecard offers extremely precise yardages.
The receipt for the original red Moroccan Open Championship belt, which costs the club £25 to purchase.
Prestwick's Minutes Book details when the Open Championship officially became an "Open" champi
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