Glen Abbey Update

Announce and discuss forthcoming and recent course releases or request beta help from members.
gene_golf
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Joined: August 28th, 2019, 1:30 pm

Re: Glen Abbey Update

Post by gene_golf »

Jimbo wrote: April 1st, 2021, 9:54 pm The Clublink organization owns approx. 40 clubs, most of which are in the Greater Toronto Area (and several that are closer to the city than Glen Abbey) as well as courses in the National Capital Region (a couple of which are close enough to the city of Ottawa that they might suffer the same fate) as well as a couple near Montreal that, fortunately don't appear close enough to be in danger. I don't know how many fellow Linksters live (or lonce ived) in Toronto but the following namess might ring a bell or two:

Georgetown, Greystone, Cherry Downs, Rolling Hills, The Country Club (Boston isn't the only one), RattleSnake Point and Glendale (near Hamilton).

Each one is a Clublink course and each one is closer to Metro Toronto than Glen Abbey (or in the case of Glendale close enough to Hamilton) and one day may very well face the same fate.

If you look at my post about Shaughnessy you'll know that golf is looked upon by many as an elitist game (Vancouver is slightly over the top-we have our own issues on the island! :whistle: ) but that's the way that the world is unfolding...at least north of the 49th.
Reading through literature from 2017 it looks as if ClubLink is set to let Glen Abbey be part of natural hiking trail at same time having housing and retail properties replace golf holes.

Permanent Greenspace for All
Our plan will dedicate more than half of the site, or approximately 124 acres, for permanent publicly accessible green space, for play, walking, cycling, hiking or just enjoying nature.
But the trail is now interrupted by the privately-owned Glen Abbey golf club lands. That land, plus much more, will be permanently transferred by ClubLink for public use for the entire community of Oakville to enjoy for generations to come.

Golf course designers such as Nicklaus, the designer of Glen Abbey try to use natural features already on land plot so as not to incur cost of owner for changing so much of the property in the making of a golf course, although there are exceptions such as Steve Wynn having so much money to make Shadow Creek. Many urban planners think it is a good idea to have green areas, such as parks within city limits. In a way a golf course is like a park and where the idea listed above, "for permanent publicly accessible green space, for play, walking, cycling, hiking or just enjoying nature" goes awry in that ClubLink does not fit the bill as it is a private company and saw writing on wall that local government was going to take it over for public good anyhow. This has aspect of socialism where private enterprise has to be worried how it can operate.
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Jimbo
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Location: Victoria-but a Raven at heart!

Re: Glen Abbey Update

Post by Jimbo »

I just exchanged a text with Bob Weeks (he's one of, if not the top Canadian golf media figure-he's also into curling...)
Anyway he hasn't heard anything new-if he hasn't heard anything then there's nothing to report yet.
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Jimbo
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Re: Glen Abbey Update

Post by Jimbo »

The battle rages on-usually it's the city that's trying to convert the golf course into housing-not this time.
Here's the latest-along with links to former Canadian Open winners and Jack Nicklaus. It's interesting to note that Glen Abbey is not listed among Canada's top courses, but it's located within a relatively short drive of Toronto International Airport (as are Hamilton and the courses in Metro Toronto).

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ ... -1.6075393

The unfortunate thing is that as long as the Canadian Open comes immediately after "The Open" in Britain it's extremely difficult to get, what best could be called a "deep field". Those golfers with the "RBC" (Royal Bank of Canada) logo on their shirts will be there-that includes Dustin Johnson- because of the corporate sponsorship. RBC does a lot for the development of Canadian golf and the continued appearance of Canadians on weekends is proof...but having Wayne Gretzky's potential son-in-law doesn't hurt! Of course they also sponsor Harbour Town.

Anyway, RBC has a chartered jet available for players to get from Britain back to Toronto-but it's a major problem to get them beyond Toronto since the tour does it's western swing at the beginning. So the only tours that you'll see in the west (or the east for that matter) will be the Ladies, Seniors and the Mackenzie Canadian development tour...and TV coverage is "spotty" to say the least. It was easier when the LPGA Canadian Open was a major. There's always the LPGA Seniors I guess...

Anyway, I'm back to nit-picking a MAJOR< MAJOR project! :smile: :clapping: :clapping:
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Jimbo
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Re: Glen Abbey Update-I think we have a winner!

Post by Jimbo »

https://www.tsn.ca/bob-weeks-glen-abbey ... -1.1666004
:cheers1:

Bob Weeks is Canada's top golf writer (and a pretty good player for a southpaw! :smile: )
I'm inclined to believe him! :thumbup:
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Jimbo
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Re: Glen Abbey Update

Post by Jimbo »

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Duglis
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Re: Glen Abbey Update

Post by Duglis »

:clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping:
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