The country’s top amateur men’s golfers are in for a true test as Royal Colwood and Gorge Vale Golf Club are set to play host to the Canadian Men’s Amateur Golf Championship from Tuesday through Friday at the two courses.
The field of 240 will be in for a treat, say the respective superintendents who have worked hard to prepare the courses for the prestigious tournament.
“For this time of year, considering we didn’t have any rain [all July], we’re doing fine. It would have been nice to get a bit of rain,” said Don Singlehurst, a Royal Colwood employee since 1991 and superintendent since 1999. “You rely on irrigation this way, but it really is a double-edged sword.”
The veteran superintendent got his wish Friday as the Victoria area saw its first rain in 34 days.
“The weather is perfect, it helps with conditions and the growth, but at the same time it’s nice to get supplemental irrigation through rainfall. That’s just one aspect of it.”
Royal Colwood measures in at 6,721 yards from the back tees with just one par-5 on each side. One hole where Singlehurst believes the field will not make up any ground is the par-4 446-yard 12th hole.
“It’s a blind tee shot and narrow landing area that slopes to the right with a very undulating green,” said the superintendent, whose crew has let the rough grow in anticipation of the event.
“We stopped cutting the rough about two weeks ago, trying to get some density,” said Singlehurst. “We’re going to be at about three inches, but it’s not going to be consistent. There will be areas of the course that are definitely thicker and more challenging than others.
“The growth rate is not the same from one area to the next. Having said that, if we had shut it down a month ago we would have had real tough rough in some spots and not so much in others.”
The Royal Colwood greens will be double cut and rolled and Singlehurst and Co. will have them rolling at 10.5 on the stimp meter.
“There is actually a myth in golf, that everybody wants it to get faster from Day 1 to the end,” he said. “Most tournament directors want consistency and smoothness for the duration, right from the practice round to the final round. Conditions will always get faster, that’s just the way it is with elements.”
Singlehurst’s crew has been busy and like any championship, it’s really the calm before the storm, as they ramp up more detailed preparation.
The same goes for Scott Wheeler’s Gorge Vale crew.
“It looks good rigt now. I’m pleased with where we’re at,” he said. “The weather has been pretty easy. These aren’t difficult conditions at all. The summer has been warm, but humid. The humidity has been up so we’re not losing a lot of moisture.
“I’m pleased with it and now it’s a matter of keeping the place firm and fast. We’ll be monitoring soil moisture on fairways and greens and keeping it as firm as we can,” added Wheeler, who has been at Gorge Vale since 2007.
He promises the course will be a tough test over the first two days of the 72-hole event, which will solely be played at Royal Colwood the last two days.
“Our rough is up, we’ve let it go. We might trim it up once just to even it up, but it’s a tough test,” he said. “There isn’t a flat lie on the place.
“It flows nicely. It’s a beautiful piece of property,” Wheeler added. “The greens are good, lots of undulation, so the key will be staying below the hole and hitting fairways because the rough will be difficult. It’s going to put a premium on accuracy.
“They are going to enjoy it,” Wheeler said of the competitors. “They can all bomb it off the tee, but you have to be able to keep it on the short grass.”
And like Royal Colwood, No. 12 will take down a few competitors at Gorge Vale as the 423-yard par 4 features out of bounds left and right.
“It’s a tight, tough hole, but there isn’t a weak one on the property,” Wheeler said of Gorge Vale, which features plenty of elevation changes and measures in at 6,820 yards from the tips.
Gorge Vale is a par-72 course, while Royal Colwood plays to par-70.
CHIP SHOTS: Sixty-seven golfers will tee it up this morning at Royal Colwood in the one-day qualifier for the Canadian Amateur. The top finishers will earn spots into next week’s tournament. … Practice rounds for the players are schedule for Sunday and Monday at both Royal Colwood and Gorge Vale.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
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