In The News

February 15 , 2005

ABOUT THE ARCHITECTS

Jack Lally – Jack Lally Golf Consultant

While some people might think of retiring at age 64, Jack Lally is having too much fun to consider the idea. The Port Hope resident, who has had a hand in building 20 golf courses over the last two decades, has also learned to be a patient man.

Some fifteen years ago he was invited by Jason Kunii, a businessman with a passion to build a golf course, to see a piece of land he had purchased with the idea of developing such a dream. “Jason Kunni found the land. He had been down to Augusta to watch The Masters in the 1980s. He came home and started his search for a parcel of land that resembled Augusta National and he certainly found it, especially on the back nine,” says Lally, noting the land also has the look of another great American course, Pinehurst.

Kunni and Lally walked the 200-acre property together on numerous occasions as the days passed and a routing for the 7,100-yard design came together. The rolling topography and mature forest lent itself to so many natural green and tee sites that they moved very little earth to create the look of the natural terrain that defines today’s site.

“In my view the eleventh hole is the prettiest I have ever seen. It was set there by Mother Nature; we just finished it off with some tee decks, a green, a few large yawning bunkers and a pond that one must carry with their tee shot,” Lally says.

Although the front nine will allow for the odd wayward tee shot, the entire back nine is cut out of the pine and cedar forest. The dwarf blue fairways that Lally designed are generous in width but beware of the thick blue grass roughs and especially the fescues on the rolling hillsides. All the par-5s are long and solid three-shot holes.

A great variety of hardwood trees, from maple to oak, contrast with the pine forests, reminiscent of the timeless courses at Pinehurst in North Carolina. Lally says the towering white pines remind one more of a classic Group of Seven painting than a golf course. The diversity of these trees and their majestic beauty add an instant maturity to this golf course.

Lally broke into the golf business caddying at Scarboro G&CC as an 11-year-old at a time when caddies could play on Fridays – of course that was his favourite day of the week! As a 19-year-old he took his first job as a pro working as an assistant at the former West Hill Golf Club, which is now a subdivision. Lally worked in several pro shops before developing the urge to build and design golf courses.

He was working at Glen Cedars GC near Markham in 1986 when its owners were considering building a new facility. He was given the job of designing and overseeing construction of the first 36 holes at Deer Creek Golf Club in Ajax. Other courses in his portfolio include Heather Glen GC in Ashburn, Golfer’s Dream GC in Port Perry and Spring Creek GC in Pickering. Lally is currently working on a new project, Bellemere Winds GC at the north end of Rice Lake near Hastings.

Jason Miller – Miller Golf Design

Jason Miller is the man behind the bunkers and the challenging green complexes at Black Diamond GC. The Collingwood area-based golf course architect has worked his magic crafting a series of memorable bunkers, ponds and subtle greens complexes through fescue-framed meadow holes and tree-lined fairways into a strategic design.

“The greens complexes were designed to be fair to the average golfer, first and foremost, but add some challenge to the low handicap golfer who is trying for par or better,” Miller says. “The greens vary in size, but subtle slopes within the putting surface and more dramatic slopes outside of the putting surface will force all players to stay alert.”

Miller is one of Ontario’s up and coming architects. He has spent the last 12 years developing his own company, Miller Golf Design, in Clarksburg, just south of Thornbury. “Initially I look for a parcel of land that nature has left its design on. It’s my philosophy that the architect is there to subtly enhance that original work,” he says. “When I’m done I like the landscape to look natural, not contrived.”

He played golf as a child at Westview GC in Aurora, but never seriously thought about a job in the golf industry until the early 1990s. At the University of Guelph, Miller took Geomorphology, the study of landforms and processes and then worked for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food in the Ontario Institute of Pedology Soils Division, mapping provincial soils. In 1990, he landed a job computer-designing log homes. A year later, he accepted a position doing computer design for Golf Shape Development Inc., after building a log home for then owner Jamie Tipping. Miller would go on to buy out the golf construction company in 1993 and form his own company.

Miller has honed his craft on golf course renovation projects and new courses throughout the Georgian Bay, Collingwood and Grey Bruce counties, as well as numerous projects throughout Ontario. His first solo project was Stone Tree just south of Owen Sound, then North Granite Ridge GC near Huntsville, Highland Glen GC in Flesherton, The Landings GC in Kingston and most recently The Links at Pipers Glen in Port Elgin that opened last summer.