The Tee-Off Frequent Player Program is the most respected golf discount program in Canada. Order the 2006 edition of Tee Off for Manitoba and Saskatchewan and receive a free annual subscription to Score Golf Magazine. Also, win one of two copies of the play and save golf program guide valued at $39.95. Enter the contest now. MORE >>
Wait a minute!
A CanWest news story is reporting that a leading academic has proof that the Chinese invented golf 500 years before it was first reported to be played in Scotland. Professor Ling Hongling says he found references and sketches proving it was played during the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279). Hongling says golf was played with 10 clubs including a cuanbang, pubang and a shaobang, close to the modern day woods.
This claim by the Chinese is the most recent to challenge the origins of the game. A few years ago the Dutch laid claim to the game, a position accepted by the scholars of the esteemed Encyclopedia Britannica.
When news of the Chinese claim reached the editor of the Scotland-based Golf Monthly, he told the Scotsman newspaper, "I don't think the Royal and Ancient Golf Club will be moving to Peking."
Buying a new putter?
All of us have grabbed a putter and instantly knew it felt good after a few practice swings. First impressions are important here. You can instantly determine what type of look and feel appeals to you. You want a putter that gives you confidence in making the putt, before you even hit the ball.
Decide on a putter head shape design. Determine what alignment system is going to help you visualize the line you are seeking. Insert or No Insert? What type of feel at impact feels good to you? The right putter can make a huge difference, whether you are trying to break 100 or 80. Now you know what to ask for from Santa Claus.
A new spin on golf
U.S.-based NanoDynamics will soon be introducing a new ball that promises to reduce your slice or hook and make your putts go straighter. The company says it’s the most revolutionary thing to happen to golf balls in 50 years – it employs nanotechnology to change the physics of how the balls spins. Materials in a golf ball are changed at the molecular level so the weight inside shifts less as the ball spins. The less it shifts, the straighter even a badly hit ball will go. www.ndmxgolf.com
The next protégé
Is 16-year-old Michelle Wie the next big thing in golf, a Tigress on the prowl for greatness? You would have to agree, if you consider her competitive track record, and the hype from the news media and advertisers. The Honolulu schoolgirl is believed to have signed endorsement deals worth $10-million U.S. annually making her golf’s richest females and one of the highest paid athletes in women’s sport. She is the most trumpeted teenager since Tiger Woods made his debut. For her autobiography, click here.
He's a liar
A group of golfers was searching for one of their golf balls out in the deep rough. After several minutes of laboring, the golfer who sliced his ball out into the trash declares he has found his ball, inciting another in his group to scream out, "He is a darn liar! I have his ball in my pocket!"
In case you missed it
Did you miss the 3rd Annual Golf Victoria and Vancouver Island Special Issue called "From Sea to green"? The entire issue is devoted to golfing during the off-season. There are reviews of the Island courses, tips about saving money on green fees, contests and how to dress for the weather.
With border hassles, the value of the CDN dollar, the American political situation and especially the costs of health care for traveling abroad, BC is becoming a great alternative for Saskatchewan golfers during the off-season. www.saskgolfer.com/newsletters/novindex05.php
Travel Sites Galore
If you plan to head out to hot spots this spring for a bit of golf, check out these travel websites first. After all, they've been there before you.
High MOI putters. Nano technology balls. Drivers with adjustable perimeter weighting? Trying to keep up with the latest golf technology and sorting through what's great and what's not is a full-time job for most duffers.
Golf Digest Magazine and a team of 17 experts has done the work for you for several years now. Drivers, clubs, putters, hyrbrids, balls, training aids and so on that are highly recommended are reviewed at www.golfdigest.com/hotlist
Amen Corner
"How do I address the ball? I say, "Hello, there, ball. Are you going to go in the hole or not?"
- Comedian Flip Wilson
A Saskatchewan course has been chosen the Best New Canadian Golf Course for the first time by the esteemed Golf Digest Magazine. The combination of the unique site, the routing and the preservation of the natural features allowed the architects to design a unique track at Dakota Dunes Golf Links.
Dakota Dunes chosen as Canada's best new course
Dakota Dunes Golf Links, south of Saskatoon, has been chosen the Best New Golf Course in Canada (2005) by the esteemed Golf Digest Magazine. The million plus circulation magazine ran a photo and reviewed the course in January.
The designations is one of the most coveted by golf courses in Canada and the first track in Saskatchewan to have been honored. The award is also evidence of the many other high quality courses in Saskatchewan. Staff and those involved in the creation of Dakota Dunes held a party in January to celebrate the occasion. Among the attendees was Wayne Carleton, the West Coast partner to veteran Canadian golf designer Graham Cooke.
Carleton has also done master planning or renovations at Riverside, Willows and the Saskatoon Golf and Country Club. His firm, Delta, B.C.-based firm Carleton International Golf Course Architects in Delta, BC, oversees projects in Western Canada and the U.S. Golf Digest Magazine has recognized his work five times, but Dakota Dunes is first win.
Why did Dakota Dunes win?
It was the great site and the way we preserved the natural features in the routing, design and construction. The land had so much potential and building a course that accentuated that potential was a challenging task. The natural wind swept sand dunes at Dakota are unlike anything you will find in Canada. Very reminiscent of a UK links course, we let the natural features determine what the course was going to be. From the very first moment I stepped onto the property, I knew we had the site to create a world-class golf course.
The challenge and goal was to preserve and enhance the natural features, which I think is one of the main reasons it won. One of the most exciting aspects of the project was routing the golf course that took some time and numerous site visits. You could stand on the high sand dunes and picture holes in all directions. Our goal was to route the course to work with the land and move as little dirt as possible. The combination of the unique site, the routing and the preservation of the natural features allowed us to design a course that provides a different look and feel from hole to hole.
Dakota Dunes was judged on its shot values, design variety, resistance to
scoring, memorablity and aesthetics. Of these qualities, which do you think this course most excels?
It excels in all those areas, but it is hard to match the memorability of Dakota Dunes. When I think of Dakota Dunes I think of the rugged sand dune formations that were formed over thousands of years and the large dune depressions throughout the course. I feel the course works well with the terrain, as there were lots of times on site that I questioned whether I was doing too little or doing too much. There are still enhancements I want to make to the course and some of the originally planned bunkers I took out may appear in time.
Can you suggest a signature par 3, par 4 and par 5 hole and why that particular hole? Is there one hole that stands out overall?
I try not to get too caught up in identifying signature holes. Dakota Dunes provided so many opportunities to create great golf holes, I just hope the 18 we built are unique and memorable in there own way.
The par 3's on the course each have there own attributes, but I would say that the 15th is the most talked about. When we discovered the canyon where we built the green, I knew that we had an opportunity to create a great Par 3. An existing natural beach was used for the green, so it was just a matter of cutting in the tees on the high sand dunes that surrounded the canyon. Our goal was to disturb as little as possible around the green and consequently the 15th green is the smallest on the course.
The Par 4 - 12th is a wonderful hole from start to finish. The natural valley that we ran the fairway through is surrounded on both sides by large blow-out areas and sand dunes. The green is perched between two additional natural blowouts that we made into bunkers and is one of the strongest at Dakota. It could be the most challenging Par 4 on the course and certainly one of the most memorable.
I really like the way the par-5 2nd hole turned out as I was able to cut in some wonderful bunkers and blow-out areas in the fairway and around the green. Some of the strongest bunkers on the course and with the shorter length of this hole, it does provide an opportunity for birdie or eagle at the start of the round. I also feel the 18th hole is a good Par 5 finish. The green was set in a natural bowl and the high sand dunes behind, provided an excellent opportunity to cut is a very dramatic bunker to finish the course.
What does this honor mean to you and your firm? To golf in Saskatchewan?
Graham Cooke and I always felt that Dakota Dunes would be a special course and it was only a matter of time that golfers ventured to Saskatoon to discover it. Personally, it is a great achievement, as I put my heart and soul into the project and it will hopefully lead to more projects on sand based sites in other parts of the world. Dakota Dunes was my second home for a few years and I enjoyed every minute of it.
It is also great for golf in Saskatchewan as this award is a first for the province. There are a number of strong golf courses in the province and I hope that the exposure that Dakota Dunes will receive from this award will bring deserving attention to the many fine courses in the area.
What was different unique with this project architecturally and how did it show up in end result?
The site was the most unique aspect of this project from an architectural standpoint. At Dakota, unlike any other course I have worked on, there were so many natural holes and it just was a matter of finding the best ones. On most projects we have to create holes by moving dirt and the land available for golf can restrict creativity. This was not the case at Dakota, as we had a considerable amount of land to route the 18 holes and therefore we could incorporate the most dramatic features of the site into our design. One of the first things we did was identify potential green sites like the 15th and see how we could best route the course to utilize these sites. The majority of greens and fairways were stripped of the existing vegetation, shaped based on the existing contours and prepared for seed after irrigation installation.
What was also unique is the greens were constructed out of the existing site sand and no drainage or gravel layer was installed. Typically, we construct greens based on USGA recommendations that include subsurface drainage, a 4-inch gravel layer and 12 inches of a specified sand/organic matter rootzone mixture. This was not required at Dakota and the superintendent Darren Crilly has done an exceptional job with the maintenance of the course. Also with the sandy nature of the site, only minimal drainage was required in the fairways and bunkers. I wish all my projects were like this.
The end result is each hole has its own character and feel. From the naturally flowing fairways that one colleague of mine termed 'alive", to the "blow-out waste bunkers" that were essentially cut out with a small excavator in the natural existing depressions and also in the design of many of the green sites to preserve the links feel.
I utilized the natural contours of the land in the design of many of the greens, such as the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 14th, 15th and 18th holes. One of my favorite greens is the 9th. The green was designed around an existing mound on the left side, to create one of the more pronounced putting surfaces on the course.
For a player, what advantage do newer courses like Dakota Dunes have over older, well-established courses? Does this course have something for all skill levels of golfers?
From a design standpoint, it is very difficult to match some of the great old courses designed by many of the well-known architects like Stanley Thompson, Alister MacKenzie, Donald Ross and A.W. Tillinghast. They created wonderful courses on some great properties, but I think the genius in their work is shown in the way they routed their courses to disturb as little of the land as possible and they let the land dictate what the course would be. Nothing was forced. I think Dakota Dunes invokes much of that philosophy and is a course that looks, plays and feels like it has been around for a long time. If there is an advantage to newer courses, it might be in the way they are constructed to provide the superintendent with the framework to maintain the course to the highest levels.
With a site like Dakota it is easy to make the course challenging, but I feel we did a great job in making the course very playable and enjoyable for everyone. Strategic, patient play will be rewarded and negotiating the wind, the bunkers and mastering the ground game and accepting strange bounces and awkward lies is what Dakota Dunes is all about.
The majority of holes allow players to pick their preferred route based on their ability. A number of greens are open at the front to allow players to run the ball up onto the surface or have soft mounds that can be used to direct shots onto the putting surface, much like the links courses of Scotland. We tried to make the landing areas as generous as possible and provide a number of tee sets of varying distances.
One of the things I love about Dakota Dunes is that it changes from day to day depending on the wind conditions and just when you think you know how to play a hole, it will jump up and grab you. The people of Saskatoon are very lucky to have a course like Dakota in their backyard and I hope everyone enjoys the experience.
The notoriety of the blonde, busty sex symbol Mae West continues to grow in Saskatchewan and abroad - at least among golfers.
Last fall, the 8th Hole at Waskesiu Golf Club - dubbed Mae West after the buxom Hollywood actress - was chosen by readers of Score Golf Magazine as one of the"Best par 5s in Canada." This beloved course was designed by legendary Canadian architect Stanley Thompson and built in 1935. It's a member of the Stanley Thompson Society.
"From start to finish, it's 600 difficult yards and rated by the RCGA as the toughest hole," said head pro Derrick Tallon. "We also believe it probably mirrors Mae West's beauty and personality."
As for West, she began in burlesque and continued on stage and in films to treat sex in a broad and humorous form - a novelty in her era. As a result, she was constantly battling against censorship and production codes. Many of her one-liners, such as "Come up and see me sometime," have become classics. Her plays include Sex (1926) and Diamond Lil (1928). Among her films are She Done Him Wrong (1933) and opposite W.C. Fields in My Little Chickadee (1940). She was the Marilyn Monroe or the Madonna of her day.
When golfers play the 8th hole "Mae West," they are met with two buxom hills - one on each side with sandtraps - and just a hint of a flag in the distance. So make sure to keep your drive up the middle to avoid any unfortunate kicks towards the trees. Be sure to trust the yardage when approaching the green because the view can be very deceptive. It's said, "A par always feels good on Mae West."
To further honour Mae West and the 8th at Waskesiu, the club has recently dubbed the valley leading up to the green, "Silicon Valley," said Tallon. The hole is one of six in a challenging series of holes, from the seventh to the 13th and only one of several signature holes including the 1st Hole. It's called the Lobstick Hole because of a large, trimmed tree in the middle of the fairway that acted as a landmark years ago.
Around Saskatchewan Links
Regina-based Prairie Links Golf Corp. has a new manager of golf operations Rich Patterson, the owner-operator of Madge Lake Golf Course at Duck Mountain. He replaces Tim Zado at Deer Valley. The Canadian Junior Golf Association (CJGA) is pleased to announce its 2005 graduation list. The following Saskatchewan golfers will begin their freshman collegiate careers as members of their respective golf teams at the NCAA level or NAIA level. Men: Carter Hilkewich, Ryan Wiebe and Jonathon Slusar (NAIA), plus Ladies, Ashley Olynick, (Division 1) and Shay Yalwega (NAIA).
Billion Dollar Man
Thirty-year-old Tiger Woods, the world's top golfer has 46 PGA Tour Titles, including 10 majors, and has earned about $66 million U.S. in prize money. It doesn't stop there. Add another $500 million U.S. for scads of endorsements from Nike to Golf Digest.
Last Year Forbes Magazine reports that Tiger has a net worth of $295 million and that he should surpass a billion by 2013. Meanwhile, in the February issue Golf Digest Magazine predicts his current net worth is about $547 million and that it should reach a billion by 2010.
Woods has also brought in fatter television PGA Tour deals and bigger tournament prize money for all players since he came along.
Tiger Woods rules at the game of golf
If you don't why, you may be interested in winning the glossy table top book "Tiger Woods: How I play Golf" published by Golf Digest. It's a great book valued at $49.95. For your chance to win, click here now. MORE >>
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