This year as part of our 25th anniversary celebration, we have planned a weekend trip to Montreal and Quebec City to play two of Willie Park Jr.’s best North American courses. Willie Jr. either created or modified some 50-plus golf courses in Canada and the U.S.
Also this year Willie Jr. is being honored with induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame. This is a long overdue as Willie was one of the most prolific creative forces in the expansion of the golf in Great Britain throughout the last 25 years of the 19th century.
He moved on to North America in the early 20th century, beginning with the great Maidstone Course on Long Island.
After a brief trip home, he returned to New York in 1916 where he was contacted by Edson Leroy Pease, president of the Royal Bank of Canada. Edson hoped Willie Jr. would look at a property in Montreal for a golf course. Willie Jr. loved the property and contracted to build the new Mount Bruno golf course, which was finished in late 1918. He was named “Golf Master” of the course.
The course was quite successful and Willie began to pursue other projects, leaving his nephew, Frank Park Glass, as Mount Bruno pro. He would go on to create or modify six more courses in Quebec, nine more across Canada and 44 throughout the U.S.
This year, Aug. 23-26, we will play three of Willie’s best, starting with Mount Bruno, which has become the most prestigious club in Quebec, and moving on to Royal Quebec, a 1917 creation, plus one other yet-to-be-chosen course.
Our hosts, Claude Gravel and Jocelyn Vachon, are both fine players and golf historians. Jocelyn is the expert on Willie Jr.’s work in America and a longtime member of Mount Bruno. Claude is a longtime member of Royal Quebec and hosted the GHSC members at the 400th Anniversary in 2008.
We plan both competitive events and social golf and of course wonderful social events at each club.
For non-golfers, there will be lots to do both in Montreal and in “Old Quebec”, the 400-year-old city, largest settlement of the French in North America.
Plan to come this summer. You will remember it always!
Doug Marshall
Information and updates, plus registration forms when available, can be found at: GHSC 25 Anniversary