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RCGA Canadian University Championship at King's Forest GC
The top golfers at Canadian universities and colleges will converge on King’s Forest Golf Club from May 25-29 for the RCGA’s 2009 Canadian University and College Championship.
A full field is registered to tee it up at the City of Hamilton owned course in the four-day competition including 52 women (10 teams of five plus two individuals) and 104 men (20 teams of five plus four individuals).
“We’re gearing up for what should be a terrific week of golf. I think these young players are in for a real treat,” says Head Professional Jill Evershed. “This course is always a great test. I will be surprised if the winning score is more than one or two under, depending on how it’s set up and how wet the course is.”
Located in the heart of the picturesque Red Hill Valley and at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment, King’s Forest is considered one of the premier public golfing facilities in the province. The course opened for play in the fall of 1973 and was designed by former parks foreman Matt Broman.
The City of Hamilton owns three golf courses, King’s Forest GC and the Martin and Beddoe Courses at Chedoke Golf Club. Built in 1896, The Martin course was the original home of the Hamilton Golf & Country Club, with the Stanley Thompson designed Beddoe course added in 1942. The entire golf operation is now self-financing after a restructuring in 2007. The courses no longer rely on taxpayer funding for operational or capital expenditures.
The City of Hamilton has a strong tradition for hosting GAO and CJGA championship events as a way of giving back to the community and supporting the growth of the game.
Jon Mills turned professional shortly after winning the GAO Ontario Amateur title at King’s Forest in 2001 with rounds of 75-69-75-71-290 and is currently trying to get back to the PGA Tour as a regular member of the Nationwide Tour. Mills also won the GAO Ontario Junior at King’s Forest in 1996 with rounds of 81-73-74-73-301, while Jesse Collinson won the same event in 1997 with rounds of 66-72-72-73-283.
“King’s Forest has to be one of the best designed municipal courses in Canada,” Mills says. “Looking back at my success there, one thing that stands out is how conservative I played the course. I hit a bunch of 2irons off tees even a few of the par 5's. Also, players need to stay patient. Both wins there, my opening rounds were not good, but I kept patient because I knew no one would go low there.”
Back in the 1980s, the Beddoe Course at Chedoke GC hosted the GAO Ontario Junior Championship won by David Morland IV in 1986 and Mike Weir in 1988 with a hole-in-one on No. 8.
Rob Gatto, Manager of City of Hamilton Golf Courses, says the event is great exposure for the City of Hamilton and it will showcase what he believes to be one of the top municipal courses in the country. “The course was designed with the idea that it could host a Canadian Open or other significant tournaments,” he says.
King’s Forest measures just under 7,200, par-72 from the tips with a rolling layout that features some terrific elevated tee shots, lots of challenging doglegs and six holes cross the Red Hill Creek. An unusual design characteristic is there is only one fairway bunker over the entire course, but most green sites are well fortified with traps.
POINTS OF INTEREST
King’s Forest Green Fees are: $54 weekday and $61 weekends for adults and $30 seven days a week for juniors.
The competitive course record of 63 at King’s Forest was set on July 27th, 1986 by Scott Clark at the club championship with the course playing 6,946 yards, par-72. There isn’t a course record for women at this point, but that will change at the end of the month.
There is only one fairways bunker on the course and that is on No. 12
Hole No. 11 features an elevated tee shot dropping 200-plus feet into the valley that is surprisingly similar to No. 11 at Glen Abbey GC in Oakville.
King’s Forest put through 37,000 rounds in 2008. At Chedoke they had 57,000 rounds combined on the two courses.
The course features four sets of tee blocks with par for men at 72: Red at 5,580 yards, White 6,322 yards, Blue 6,765 yards and Black 7,150 yards from the tips. Par for women is 73.
The club spent $700,000 to expand its water retention ponds in the fall of 2008 and for the first time will no longer rely on city water for turf maintenance in 2009. This will result in a savings in excess of $100,000 per year.
Graham Cooke is the consulting architect for the City of Hamilton golf courses.
While in Hamilton for the championship, most players will stay at McMaster University.
The top players at the 2009 Canadian University and College Championship will be eligible to play in the World University Golf Championships that are held every two years. They’ll be held next in 2010 in Spain.
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