Top historic golf courses in Canada

Ian MacCrimmon gives GolfWest an inside look on the most historical golf courses in Canada

Golf has a very rich history in Canada. The year 1854 saw the first person, a young Scottish sailor named William Doleman, play golf for the first time on Canadian soil on the Plains of Abraham. This is the first known record of golf in Canada. It wasn't until 1870 to 1872 that golfers practiced golf in Montreal on Fletcher's Field for the first time. The men created three holes and practiced there. Then in 1873, the formation of the first permanent golf club in North America, the Royal Montreal Golf Club, was formed.

Ian MacCrimmon, director of the Golf Historical Society of Canada said back in the 1800s, golf was a sport played only by the very rich merchants and bankers and the clubs looked very different than they do today.

"The clubs were called long-nose woods and were made of a wooden shaft with a wooden head which was about six inches long and very thin," said MacCrimmon.

The first golf balls used were made of rubber and they could actually be repaired if a golfer dented or chipped it.

"If this happened, the golfer would take the broken ball to a pro and they would warm it up, add more rubber to the mould, cool it down and give it back to the golfer," he said.

A very significant event in golfing history is about to take place. For the first time since 1904, golf will once again become an Olympic sport at the 2016 summer games in Rio de Janeiro.

"A very famous Canadian golfer, George S. Lyon won his first Canadian amateur in 1898 and won about six more after that," said MacCrimmon. "He is the current holder of the Olympic gold medal for golf, which was played in 1904. It has not been played since. For golf to be coming back as an Olympic sport is a really significant event in golf."

For those golfers who are looking to capture some more of the history of golf in our country, there are three courses of great significance that can still be played to this day.

Royal Montreal Golf Club

According to the club staff, Royal Montreal is the oldest golf club in North America, having been founded in 1873. In that year, a small group of eight gentlemen sat in a dockside office and formed the Montreal Golf Club.

Eleven years later, in 1884, permission was granted by Queen Victoria to use the “Royal” prefix.
The first golf course was a 9-hole layout on Fletcher’s Field, part of Mount Royal Park, which was shared by the red-coated golfers and other citizens relaxing in what was then the outskirts of Montreal.

Royal Montreal was one of the five founding clubs of the Royal Canadian Golf Association, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1995. The RCGA is the governing body of golf in Canada and organizes the major national championships, including the Canadian Open, the first of which was played at Royal Montreal in 1904. Since then, the club has played host to the Canadian Open in 1908, 1913, 1926, 1950, 1975, 1980, 1997 and 2001. Of special note is that the Canadian Open was won in 1954 by Pat Fletcher, who served as the club’s head professional from 1955 to 1975. This was the last open victory, to date, by a Canadian player.

Capilano Golf & Country Club

The vision of a golf course on the North Shore of Vancouver - west of the Capilano River - began in the 1930s, when a young and determined Vancouver entrepreneur by the name of A.J.T. Taylor approached the wealthy Guinness family of Great Britain with a grand plan to purchase and develop 6,000 acres of choice wooded hillside in the young municipality of West Vancouver. They called this magnificent area the British Properties, set aside 160 prime acres for a golf course and the rest, as they say, is history.

While renowned for its stately clubhouse, a host of amenities for members and their guests, and service levels to match, the true strength of Capilano lies in its golf course. Designed by the estimable golf course architect Stanley Thompson, and considered one of his finest efforts, Capilano presents a challenging and artistic layout that takes full advantage of the topography and natural beauty of its location. Moreover, Capilano’s traditional design and immaculate conditioning have helped establish its reputation as one of the world’s premiere members' clubs, where the scratch golfer and the high handicapper can share a game from the same set of tees and each enjoy a challenging and rewarding golf experience.

The Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course

Stanley Thompson, Canada's master golf course architect, used his talent when he designed the original 18 holes of the Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course in 1928. The course winds along the Bow River under the snow-capped peaks of Sulphur Mountain and Mount Rundle. In 1989, the course was complemented with the construction of 9 adjoining holes, designed by Cornish and Robinson, resulting in 27 holes of championship Alberta golf.

Other famous historical courses not to miss:

Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club - Vancouver, B.C.
Royal Quebec Golf Club - Quebec City, Quebec
Fraser Edmundston Golf Club - Edmundston, New Brunswick
Victoria Golf Club - Victoria, British Columbia
Roseland Golf Course - Windsor, Ontario