In this section we will post updates and news related to Highlands Links and our societies progress.
Fall 2008:
During the 2008 season there was much discussion regarding the condition of Highlands Links and the need for resources to address the situation. In an effort to address the need for improvements at the course, Parks Canada hired Ian Andrew in August 2008 to assist them in developing a plan of action and to take the steps necessary to bring course conditions up to the standard that a world class course like Highlands Links demands. Ian was asked to prepare a Master Plan for restoration of the golf course and submitted this plan to Parks Canada. To the credit of Parks Canada immediate action to improve the course began in September with a 7 week tree clearing program focused on the green sites and aimed at improving sunlight and air flow around the green sites. Ians plan is extensive and starts with the basics.
Needless to say this is good news for everyone who frequents Highlands and will encourage more people to visit the course and accordingly be benificial for the course, Parks Canada and the Ingonish community.
We will post updates as they occur.
Ian has provided an update and photos on the golfclubatlas site which can be reached at:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,37083.0.html
Ian's website: http://www.andrewgolf.com/
#5 Canny Slap - Photoshop image by Ian Andrew
#6 - Mucklemouth Meg - Photoshop image by Ian Andrew
#13 - Laird - Fall 2008 - note significant tree clearing right side approaching green
In the April 4, 2009 edition of the Globe and Mail, Lorne Rubenstein's column "Golf Courses get the shaft in funding program" talks about the absense of golf within the recently announced 'Recreational Infrastructure Canada Program', a $500 million government program that targets building or upgrading hockey rinks, swimming pools and other community recreational sites. The text of the column is as follows:
GOLF: FEDERAL BUDGET
Golf courses get the shaft in funding program
LORNE RUBENSTEIN
April 4, 2009
Why shouldn't golf courses be eligible for funds under the Recreational Infrastructure Canada program (RINC) that the federal government announced in its Jan. 27 budget? The government has allocated $500-million over the next two years for building or upgrading hockey rinks, swimming pools and other community recreational sites. But it appears that even not-for-profit courses are excluded.
Repeated attempts for clarification from the office of John Baird, the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, under whose jurisdiction the program falls, have been to no avail. But indications are that courses aren't eligible.
Bob Munro, president of the Golden Golf Club in Golden, B.C., pointed this out in an April 2 letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He added that Golden and other courses across Canada "provide both an economic benefit as well as a social/recreation benefit," and that many need repair or renovation. Munro wrote he's working with his local Member of Parliament, Jim Abbott, to try to change the exclusion.
The relevant section in the budget refers to "thousands of community recreational facilities across Canada, including hockey arenas, soccer fields, tennis and basketball courts, and swimming pools," many of which probably require upgrading. Municipalities, First Nations, counties, communities and not-for-profit groups are listed as eligible for funding under RINC.
A not-for-profit society owns and operates the Golden Golf Club, which is open to the public and includes a membership component. The club wants to add a second course. Munro said it's the only course within 100 kilometres of Golden, and that it generates between $10-million and $12-million annually in direct and indirect revenue. The first phase of construction would cost $4-million.
RINC proposes contributing 50 per cent of required funds for projects if the organization seeking funds matches them, and if projects are "shovel ready." Munro said the club could match the $2-million it would request if eligible.
The Golden Golf Club is just one facility that could undertake projects if eligible under the program. Munro is casting a wide net to make sure other clubs across Canada know about RINC.
Most recently, Munro wrote to Kevin Daniels, the interim national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal People. First Nations groups own and operate some Canadian courses, including the St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino near the B.C. cities of Kimberley and Cranbrook.
First Nations facilities are eligible for funds under the government program. But their courses appear to be excluded from eligibility.
As part of the effort that Munro is spearheading, the Royal Canadian Golf Association has weighed in. Executive director Scott Simmons wrote Baird to request an opportunity to discuss the program.
"Our position is that all golf facilities should at least merit the same consideration as other sports or recreational properties in Canada (i.e. hockey arenas, public parks, baseball complexes, etc.)," Simmons wrote in an e-mail when asked to elaborate on the RCGA's position.
Jeff Calderwood, executive director and chief executive officer of the National Golf Course Owners' Association of Canada, followed up with his view.
"The eligibility criteria must be extended to all Canadian golf courses, not just municipal-owned properties as is being contemplated," Calderwood said.
Otherwise, he said, courses that receive funds would gain "another unfair advantage over private enterprise courses who must compete with them."
It's difficult to see how private enterprise courses could qualify for funds, or even that they should. The larger point is that the feds appear not to have considered the possibility that golf is a recreation, in the same way as the other sports it has deemed eligible for funds. Golf gets kids and adults outdoors for hours while challenging them in many ways.
Officials involved with RINC should consult a couple of books to understand the place and scope of golf in society. They should consider Jim Barclay's magisterial work Golf in Canada: A History. They should also read George B. Kirsch's Golf in America. Kirsch is professor of history at Manhattan College.
"The main theme of my volume is the surprising growth of golf as a popular, mainstream sport in the United States," Kirsch has written. "I contrast its image as a sport for rich people with the reality of widespread enthusiasm for the game by people of both sexes from a wide range of classes, ethnic backgrounds, and races in the United States - long before the rise of Tiger Woods."
The same analysis applies to Canadian golf. Courses contribute to the country's sporting culture, and its economy. Government officials need to appreciate this, and act accordingly.
