The fairways were cut razor tight, yielding impressive roll on landing.
Greens were flawless and bunkers wellsanded and carefully tended. Gleneagles was in prime shape for the 2014 season.
Wait, what? Gleneagles? In West Vancouver?
Indeed, and as golfers we can rejoice, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Forget almost everything you thought you knew about the North Shore's little gem, gather around and hear my testimony.
Having served local golfers since 1927, Greater Vancouver's fifth oldest continuously operated public golf course has a storied past and was well known for its charming eccentricities.
B.C.'s premier golf architect of the day, A.V. Macan, was brought in to produce the ninehole layout. Having already established a firm reputation by designing a number of prominent B.C. courses, including Marine Drive (1922) and the original Shaughnessy (1926-27),
Macan's grasp of the local landscape and climate conditions made him the ideal choice for the new Gleneagles golf course.
Over the decades, Gleneagles had its ups and downs, and was acquired by the District of West Vancouver by municipal plebiscite in 1958. In the late 1990s, the course's historic connection to the community began to be recognized and the District of West Vancouver committed funds to improve the facilities, both on course and off.
Then slowly, all at once everything changed.
The Panabode Great Hall was completely rejuvenated, a lovely restaurant added with a lounge and patio, and a new pro shop incorporated into the main structure. Today the hall has regained its position as the western North Shore's festive focal point for weddings and group occasions.
With improved turf care and pace of play management in place, the playing conditions of Gleneagles Golf Course in West Vancouver match the majesty of the setting. The first hole (at right) at 455 yards from the back tees, is bisected at the landing area by Larson Creek, named after the Swedish family that settled the area in the early 1900s.
Removal of the old pro shop has allowed the first tee box to move back all the way to Orchill Road and turned number 1 into an earnest par-5.
Daily management of the course is handled by Monaghan Golf Inc., a Vancouver-based public golf course management specialist. Their local courses include Vancouver's Langara and Fraserview and they understand the demands placed on public courses by recreational golfers.
Some of their most important improvements have been the creation of an actual tee time advance booking system and the addition of a starter and course marshall to assist with pace of play.
Turf conditions were taken firmly in hand when Dan Henegar, West Vancouver's Manager of Parks Arboriculture and Horticulture, came on board after eight years at the Capilano Golf and Country Club.
A new mission — to become the best nine-hole course in Canada — was articulated.
Greens are top-dressed weekly and regularly aerated. Standard golf course turf-management practices have been implemented and resulted in a more consistently playable course. It has taken time, but it has paid off enormously.
I hadn't played Gleneagles in a while and I was joined on a recent Saturday by friends Dan Rothenbush, Dan Foster and David Hanley.
I fully expected to find what I knew from previous form: it was a sunny day but had been a damp week, so tee shots were bound to plug. Casual water would be an issue on holes 3, 4, 7 and 9 and greens would be sluggish. Well.. .
The starter was cheerful and expecting us. We teed off and wandered out to the fairway, and you could tell the fairway from the rough.
The short grass was cut tight to the ground and as healthy as at the best courses in town. The rough was lush, uniform height and you could tell where it began.
This was Gleneagles as I had never seen it before.
There was no casual water. Shots didn't plug. You got roll on your ball after it landed. The greens were in exceptional shape. It was everything you could pray for and then some.
It was the same all over the course. Tee boxes were well-grassed and healthy. Fairways were close cropped and fast with the rough clearly visible.
On the second hole, for example, the short fairway grass gave us the choice of putting from 10 yards or so in front of the green if we felt it was a better option.
On the third hole, Cardiac Hill, the gradual slope was
The number 2 at Gleneagles (top photo) is a challenging hole, but if you land short of the green, improvements in turf management give you the option of putting from the fairway. The third green (at right) is best approached after laying up with an iron. clearly fairway and the upslope clearly rough.
It let us know that we could attempt the summit if we chose, but it was a high-risk low-reward strategy for most recreational golfers.
Hit your second shot first and you'll arrive at a better result.
Casual water was a historic problem at the bottom of the fourth hole hill and a blind landing area meant that many tee shots were lost to the gods. No longer.
Even after a damp week and just over 24 hours of dry weather, the base of the hill on the fourth hole was dry and firm.
Gone was the perennial swamp at the left side of the seventh fairway. Gone too were the turf problems on the fifth tee that had existed since Charlemagne was a wee lad.
The landscape was the same as before, but the playing surfaces were stunning, as good as some private courses. It's now no surprise to learn that Gleneagles was named in the top 4 Best 9 Hole Courses in Canada by Canadian Business in 2013, and among the best in Canada in 2014 by Canadian Golf Magazine.
It was so wonderful, we had to play the back nine. The District of West Vancouver and the team at Monaghan Golf deserve a standing ovation from golfers everywhere, of all abilities, for elevating the course conditions and playability of Gleneagles to what is surely the finest in its long history, and it's still only $25 for nine holes on Fridays and weekends.
The ever-affable Brian, manning the till in the pro shop, said he had lived in West Vancouver for more than 30 years and never seen the course in better shape. I must agree.
We are truly lucky to have this gem in our midst. Finally, the conditions of the course match the majesty of the setting.
If you haven't made the trek to "The Glen" in a while, don't take my word for it, play it yourself. You will be amazed.
Viewed from the patio of Larson Station Restaurant, the apple trees on the sixth fairway (above) are survivors from the original orchard that once stood on the site. Today Gleneagles Great Hall (at right) has regained its position as the western North Shore's festive focal point for weddings and group occasions.
