History in the Making at Hamilton Golf and Country Club “ If you have the money to spend there is no reason why you should not have one of the finest golf courses in America” - Harry Shapland Colt wrote to Hamilton Golf & Country Club prior to his visit in May 1914.
By David McPherson. Reprinted with permission from GCM. Photos courtesy of Hamilton Golf and Country Club and Brent Long.
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amed British golf course architect Harry Colt (Royal Portrush, Muirfield) predicted more than a century ago that Hamilton Golf & Country Club would become a special place and “one of the finest courses in America.” One hundred and five years on, as some of the best golfers in the world will see come June—when the course hosts the RBC Canadian Open for the fifth time—this vision is a reality. Hamilton G&CC is not only one of the oldest clubs in the Americas, but also perennially ranks as one of the top five courses in Canada. Hamilton opened in 1894. Since then, the club has hosted the Canadian Open five times. The first, in 1919, featured two of the most legendary names in golf: Bobby Jones and Francis Ouimet. J. Douglas Edgar won that event by 16-strokes – a PGA TOUR record that still stands as the largest margin of victory. The other players to win the Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf and Country Club are: Tommy Armour (1930), Bob Tway (2003), Jim Furyk (2006) and Scott Piercy (2012). For the past three decades, Rhod Trainor,
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CGCS, has been lucky to call this course home. Trainor arrived at the club in 1990. This year is his last. Is there a better way to wrap up a successful 30-year tenure then hosting his fourth PGA TOUR event on the centennial of the year when the club first hosted Canada’s national open?
“The first week of June is usually when the course begins to wake up, so there will be little time to recover from any extra activities or winter damage,”
THE DATE When the PGA TOUR announced last July a shift in its scheduling, a smile crept onto the faces of most Canadian golf fans—especially Laurence Applebaum, chief executive officer, Golf Canada, who following the announcement said: “Together
with the PGA TOUR, the new 2019 date change is a clear demonstration of our combined commitment to the game and Canada’s National Open Championship. This exciting change will inject tremendous energy into the RBC Canadian Open and make Canadian golf better.” The June date for Canada’s National Open, sandwiched between The Memorial and the U.S. Open, is not only better for attracting more top players, but is also more ideal to achieve prime playing conditions. When the new date was announced, another person whose smile widened a wee bit was Trainor. “I love the date!” says the Golf Course Superintendent at Hamilton G&CC. “Early June is when we have some of our best conditions. I remember reading an article years ago about why the U.S. Open is always held in the first two weeks of June and it said because it was often hosted at the top private courses in the Northeast and that is when their course conditions and weather are the best. Going forward, this is a much better date for the Canadian Open.” While the date is great for the turf, from a set up standpoint, it will be race against time and Mother Nature to get everything ready. “It will be a mad scramble for all the set up people,” Trainor adds.