Unfortunately my APCD "skills", if that's what you call them-are virtually non-existent (although I keep trying)-certainly not enough to complete a real course...as the saying goes "Those that can-do and those that can't Nitpick.
BUT
If you ask Sage or Glenn they'll tell you that, after nagging them to do St. George's in Toronto they nailed it, with some pre-release nitpicking.
The same goes for Francois when he was doing Lambton (due east of St. George's...as you may have guessed I'm originally from Toronto and living out west.
My old commputer crashed, taking some of my early work with it. Shaughnessy and Capilano are both
EXTREMELY private clubs and that's the reason I'm getting up VERY early to catch the first ferry to the mainland and spend most of the day "filling in" the missing details-remember that Shaughnessy was a rush job just to have a course ready for the "Canadian Open" on the KISS tour-that's why Mike left it "open to the public" for completion (a smart and very generous move on his part!) His basic layout is very good, but there a few things missing-namely the clubhouse, the view of the Fraser River and a lot more trees...other than that it looks good...without a lot of elevation changes
The other issue is that in ten years one of the top ten courses in Canada will be apartment buildings-unlike the Glen Abbey situation that I talked about last year this one involves land that was "leased" from the Musqueam that lay ancestral claim to the land and are determined to unlock its billion-dollar potential-and who can blame them-we're talking about the second most "prime" land in the city that already has the mose expensive real estae in Canada (up in the Capilano neighbourhood). Just Google a map and you'll see what I mean! Club officials continue to negotiate a mutually beneficial compromise, but in the face of mounting evidence, they’ve also begun seeking alternatives to ensure the club’s survival. On the good side (if you can call it that) they had to do this before (the original club was a few miles east and there are a few clubs in the beighbourhood that are very good, but very private, except for the club at UBC which is a fantastic public course but is on UBC property with a virtuallly perpetual lease with the Musqueam)
As for Capilano, that's my first intended course-and Real courses are very tough to duplicate, but given my lack of experience before I release a BETA, I'm going to have our top designers Nitpick an ALPHA and then, if any Linksters live in North Vancouver and/or members of the club
they'll have a chance to nitpick the Picker-it's going to take a long time to be able to send out an Alpha-i won't do it until I'm satisfies that the guys won't laugh...and since the members seem reluctant to host another tournament (the 1981 Senior Open is the only one) I'm going to have to use "other" methods.
Yes, it's a wonderful south pano on the front nine overlooking downtown Vancouver-and coming uphill on the back nine there's another great view of the North Shore Mountains (actually they're not far from Whistler...and there are two more Palmer and Nicklaus courses up there), not to mention 3 must-see courses on Vancouver Island.
I envy "Sage, Inc."
for his (their) ability to keep putting together great courses in record time!
