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The Bogey MenHomeCanadian golf designers Doug Carrick, Thomas McBroom and Graham Cooke create some of the toughest courses out there by letting their personalities come to the fore. Getting you to misjudge or misfire (and then come back for more) suits them to a tee.
The Great Equalizer Doug Carrick likes to level the playing field, but only in the metaphorical sense. 1. Carrick loves to taunt golfers with carry bunkers that protect the best line from which to approach the hole. “You have to be able to hit a cut off the tee to be in the ideal spot,” he explains. “Then you have to hit a draw to avoid the two carry bunkers.” 2. This quintessential links look – riveted traps created by layering sod – came from Carrick’s visits to the world’s great courses, like Turnberry, about an hour from The Carrick. “I get my inspiration from older courses,” he says, “though some may think I do modern work.” 3. Carrick got the idea for the chipping hollows around the greens from Ireland’s Ballybunion Golf Club. “They are fair because the average player finds the hollows easy to deal with,” he explains. “But for the good player, they offer a number of options. Sometimes golfers have a tough time choosing the right one.” 4. Feeling golf should be a fair test, Carrick typically makes his hazards visible off the tee. Chalk it up to the fact that he grew up playing the quirky Uplands Golf Course in Toronto, constructed just after World War I. “When you stand on the tee, you know exactly what you need to do,” he says. “Then it is just a question of whether your abilities match the demands of the hole.”
The Player Winner of the Canadian Mid-Amateur Championship title a record seven times, Graham Cooke knows what it takes to beat the best golfers at their own game. 1. Cooke constructed this green to allow for a safe approach or a more valiant shot with birdie potential. “Golf offers us 18 chances at success,” he explains. “Not many sports are as generous – certainly not life.” 2. For Cooke, the best courses let players enjoy themselves, regardless of ability. “I use the word ‘entertainment,’” he says. “It is important to incorporate imaginative feature shaping into the design. Players want each hole to paint a picture that they get to become a part of.” 3. Embracing the game’s arbitrary nature, the back of this green has a kicker slope that can propel a ball back toward the middle. “I love that kind of thing,” Cooke says. “I remember seeing a skins game where [now deceased U.S. Open winner] Payne Stewart hit the worst shot in his group but caught the slope at the back of the green. His ball ended up closest to the hole.” 4. “This hole will scare some people,” Cooke explains, noting the pond that protects the right side of the green. Those brave enough to try to draw the ball over the water will be rewarded with the chance at birdie or the potential of a watery grave. “Where there’s water, there is also drama,” he adds.
The Illusionist Thomas McBroom creates features that trick the eye – not to mention the golfer. 1. On this hole, McBroom took his cue from legendary Canadian designer Stanley Thompson, who used artificial features that mimic their surroundings. Thompson’s bunkers at the Fairmont Banff Springs look like the melting tops of mountains. McBroom’s bunkers replicate the whitecaps of the sea. 2. McBroom has a soft spot for classic courses where the player doesn’t go back to the clubhouse until the end of the round. “It’s all about keeping golfers within the experience,” he explains. “I’m tired of courses where you play for two hours, grab a hot dog at the clubhouse and then head back out.” 3. McBroom jokingly refers to the rollercoaster putting surfaces on his earliest courses as part of his “hallucinogenic phase.” These days, more subtle contours allow the greens to be played at much faster speeds. 4. “This was one of the worst pieces of land on the property,” McBroom notes, adding that swampy ground once covered the area where the green resides. “But you wouldn’t guess that now. And that’s the aim of any good golf designer.” Write to us: letters@enroutemag.net The Experts Corner Brook cornerbrook.com/tourism/tourmain.html Getting There Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz offer convenient daily non-stop service to Deer Lake from Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. |
