Hand watering turf at the RBC Canadian Open. Photo credit: Golf Canada Archives
Water And A Delicate Ecosystem Make The Canadian Open A Challenge by Robert Thompson
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ndrew Gyba knew that taking the superintendent’s position at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville came with a series of unique challenges. First of all, Glen Abbey, a Jack Nicklaus design that opened 40 years ago, was partly built on a flat plain, with the most interesting holes plunging into a river valley where air circulation and light have been a challenge since the course’s inception. But more than that, Gyba had no experience preparing a golf course for a PGA Tour event, and, as practically anyone who follows golf in this country knows, Glen Abbey was created for the RBC Canadian Open, and has hosted the tournament regularly throughout its history. “You hear the horror stories about how difficult the tour will be to deal with,” Gyba says. “And they knew I was coming in with zero experience at a PGA Tour event. But they offered a lot of help. They just want to put the best product out there for the week the tournament is here.” This year Gyba faces interesting challenges. A spring with little rain has turned into a summer with nearly no precipitation, and water use is always a delicate balancing act for the Canadian Open. “There was a time, I think, when the science of using water wasn’t really understood,” Gyba says. “What we’ve learned is that water can kill a course if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
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How to create a playing surface—greens and fairways—that measure up to the consistency of what the PGA Tour’s best expect, while also allowing the course to be played in corporate events leading up to the tournament is a challenge. Also, how and when water is used is key. Bill Paul has seen it all when it comes to the Canadian Open. The long-time tournament director, who now works trying to locate or create venues for future tournaments, has attended or been part of every Canadian Open held at Glen Abbey since its first in 1977. Paul says the course’s conditions have always been a challenge, but they’ve improved as the years have passed. “I think in the early days the guys were experts in their time,” says Paul. “But now the superintendents are better educated. The tour guys are better. And there’s more of a science to maintaining the course. They’ve certainly taken a really thoughtful approach to how water is used.” Water has long been an issue for Glen Abbey, which is set in a residential community, with Sixteen-Mile Creek running through the valley holes. The course has a mix of holes that have poa greens, and others where newer bentgrass was used following the ice damage of 2014. It makes for an interesting mix and raises the question of how Gyba gets consistency out of two different types of grasses. “How do you get a new bentgrass green to react the same as