Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Dream Job

An interesting article appeared online today: Mike Weir is involved in designing a golf course. Here's the link to the article http://bit.ly/m3caPq by Sympatico's Robert Thompson.
Obviously, a Pro, especially a PGA Pro, will provide some design insights that would enhance an architect's plan. Mike now joins the ranks of Nicklaus, Norman, Player, and a host of others who have lent their brush-strokes to golf course design.
I'm reminded of the early days here at Victoria Park East. As a young teenager in the mid-1970s, I was around here a lot; picking the range, planting trees, cutting grass, etc. and I overheard many comments - or, was spoken-to directly - by some of our members and public golfers, basically giving their two-cents worth on golf course design. "You guys should'a done this... you guys should'a done that... planted more trees here, smaller bunkers there, too many dog-legs... too much water, not enough water, bigger tee decks..." You get the picture. And East Course architect Rene Muylaert was no slouch - he designed about 30 golf courses in Ontario, including Brooklea, Glen Eagle, Pheasant Run, and Caledon Country Club.
It's fun being an arm-chair architect. But many of us don't appreciate the skill and thought-process that goes into designing a golf course. With the construction of our new Victoria Park Valley course, I was privy to seeing architect Scott Covell's planning strategies develop from Step One. And believe me, it's no armchair job!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Our New Victoria Park Valley Course



The grass is growing nicely at Victoria Park Valley, slated to openSpring 2012. Above is a picture of Hole B7 - there will be 27 holes. More pics on our website:


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Take a Kid to the Course





During the week of July 4, Victoria Park East will be participating in the "Take a Kid to the Course" promotion.





From July 4 - 10, children age 16 and younger golf for free, with a paying adult. There will also be a free golf clinic here at the East course at 5pm on Thursday July 7.



For more information, Click Here to view the official Website, or call our Pro Shop at (519) 821-2211. This great event is administered by the National Golf Course Owners Association, and Coca-Cola is the National Sponsor.

June Marches On...


It's the first full day of Summer, and the busy month of June is on the downswing. And it has, indeed, been busy.

June is our Number One month: more tournaments, more member & public play, the banquet hall is busy, business meetings try to fit a busy schedule into June before the traditional July holiday escape.

This year - as many of you can appreciate - June also got us away from (arguably) the worst April and May on record. It was cold, and incredibly wet, and so NOT golf weather! Even the first week of June proved a challenge, with some major down-pours. Even the "anyweather" golfer was tamed!

Onwards...

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Time to build an ark?

The amount of rainfall we've experienced from early spring until now has been phenomenal. Sure, we love to have our reservoirs full and the grass loves it, but last night's brief - but severe - storm, capped off a week of copious rainfall. We've never (if memory serves) seen so much standing water on our golf course, which typically drains quite well.
Above is a picture of our 2nd fairway, looking towards the green. The creek in the foreground, and the pond on the right, couldn't deal with the amount of water that appeared all at once. A few other areas on the course are similarly affected. The water has nowhere to go.
But let's keep it in perspective: it's not nearly as bad as Quebec and Manitoba a few weeks ago. And it's draining slowly but surely, so things should be OK by the end of the morning. Maybe.