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When Tom McBroom was commissioned to come in and
refurbish the Algonquin Golf Club to suit the
twenty-first century, he was blessed with a landmass
and a history of tradition that dates back to the
oldest origins of clubs in Canada. Built in 1894,
and renovated according to plans drafted by Donald
Ross in the 1920s, the original Algonquin layout was
scattered about small sections of the existing
course that border the town; with a keen eye, old
tee decks now overgrown with fescue, and directions
of play framed by trees, can be spotted while
playing the newer McBroom design. Built on three
distinct parcels of farmland that have their own
unique history, today’s layout is a 7,000-yard
championship course that has been expertly designed
to retain the old charms and traditions of the
property.
The course opens up easily enough. Finding the
welcoming fairway at the first is an easy enough
task for the unprepared, but the approach here must
carry a small pond before the green.
From there, the second, third, and fourth holes
climb up the terrain of the original course,
finishing along the fringes of the town, before
turning back toward the Bay of Fundy, where one is
granted a terrific view of the water, and the Maine
shoreline beyond, from the tee at the par-five
fifth. A good drive here will hug the fescue-laced
treeline along the right side, sloped so that drives
will bound back into the fairway. From there, a good
lay-up will be fitted between a pair of bunkers,
while a bold strike for the green must find its way
up a small neck at the green’s front. The advantage
gained from reaching the green in two is often
counterfeited by not finding the proper level. A
precise wedge will often yield a better chance at
birdie than a difficult lag putt from one end of the
green to the other.
The sixth at Algonquin is one of McBroom’s strongest
anywhere, a medium length two-shot hole that appears
straightforward from the tee, but offers several
strategic options to the thinking golfer. With
driver, the deep bunker guarding the left corner can
be carried except in a headwind, while a stand of
old forest encroaches on the right edge of the
fairway, swallowing drives played too cautiously. If
one is driving the ball well, a good tee shot can
leave an easy wedge up the hill to a very receptive
green, but the best play—though not the most
obvious, is a long iron or fairway wood to the
bottom of the hill. This leaves a flat lie for a
short iron approach, but play safely to the green’s
middle if the flag is hidden in the right corner.
The eighth presents one of the most difficult par
threes in the Atlantic, a 219-yard shot over a swell
of marshland to a green set low in what must have
been an old farm grove. There is ample space off to
the right, a popular place to miss with a fairway
wood, but the thick rough can make it difficult to
control a birdie pitch to a green running down
toward the marsh.
The opening three holes on the back nine, built on a
new 30-acre plot acquired for the McBroom re-design,
take players out to the shores of the Bay of Fundy,
and include some of the course’s most memorable
holes. Ten is Algonquin’s toughest par four, a long
dogleg left through mixed forest where drives must
carry a bunkered hill on the inside of the fairway’s
turn. While a perfect drive will significantly
shorten the hole, the green is a small elevated
target, and the fall off to the right requires extra
caution when playing even a short iron in from a
sidehill lie.
11 is another strong par four with a crowned fairway
that runs downhill toward the sea. The best play
here is a slight fade into the crown, which will
help hold the fairway and set up the first of
several dramatic approaches on the back nine, to a
green that appears to be set on a precipice
overlooking the Bay of Fundy. Even with a good tee
shot, the ocean breeze sweeping over the exposed
bluff, and no safe place to miss, hardens the short
approach.
The last of this brief stretch is the 12th,
a well-photographed 154-yard par three set on the
edge of the world, a shot that will no doubt conjure
in many players memories of the 7th at
Pebble Beach and other legendary oceanside short
holes in the game. On a day fit for mariners, good
players will find themselves pitching long irons
down the hill, trying to keep it under the breeze
and find this small cashew-shaped green, surrounded
as it is by deep traps and the wild fescue bluffs
that climb up from the bay’s banks. On calm days, it
is a straightforward short iron, but the target is
small, and the vista distracting.
13 marks the start of a quartet of spectacular
oceanview holes that truly personifies the new
Algonquin course, an amalgam of McBroom’s vision and
the traditions of the game played for a century in
St. Andrews-By-The-Sea. A par five for members and
guests, and a long par four in top amateur events,
the best drives bend with the shoreline to find the
uneven fairway. From there, it is either a long iron
or fairway wood into a green set in the corner of
the property, steps from the cliff’s edge and set
against the backdrop of the town. The safe play is
short and left into a small collection area, but the
contours of the green force a maddening decision on
the golfer that plays safely to this point. Further,
there is an old elm there that, legend has it, was a
burial point for treasures seized by the infamous
Pirate Captain Kidd, for which the hole is now
named. Trying to bump it a chip off the bank, or lob
it softly all the way to the green, is a choice made
more problematic by the bucolic background of
sailboats lolling in the town’s port. Birdies here
taste just a little bit better.
Holes fourteen through sixteen present a unique
stretch, as they run back and forth along a
prolonged slope overlooking the bay and offer three
good chances at birdie. 14 is a middle iron par
three to a broad green with subtle breaks, while 15
and 16 are both short par fours where a good tee
shot presents the chance to attack the hole with a
wedge. Leading into the 17th, a reachable
par five whose green sits before the original
clubhouse, all players have the opportunity to
finish off their round on a positive note. |
