BCG Women's Mid-Masters Comes To Historic Cowichan Golf Club

by Bryan Outram, Inside Golf

The Cowichan Golf Club first opened for play on June 24, 1922 as a 9-hole AV Macan design on just over 31 acres in the Cowichan Valley where the Duncan mall is located today.

It was ultimately Macan who would also design the next layout that opened on August 21, 1949 eventually seeing it expand in June of 1985 to the 18-hole track it is now .

On June 24 of this year, exactly 93 years to the day it first opened for play, the Cowichan GC will play host to British Columbia Golf’s Mid-Master, Senior, Super-Senior and Stableford Women’s Championships.

Now a mature 6,189 yard, par 70, 18-hole layout, Cowichan Golf Club features a picturesque mix of meadow and tree-lined holes as it looks out to the mountains and waters of Cowichan Bay.

With tight fairways and fast, undulating greens there will be a premium placed on accuracy and control with the flat stick. Cowichan G&CC has previously hosted a number of provincial and national championships as well as its very own annual Cowichan Open, which can boast including in the field over the years such well known Canadian golf icons as Doug Roxburgh, Cec Ferguson, Vaughan Trapp, Bill Wakeham and Jim Rutledge.

Cowichan also generously helped out by offering its services as a venue for the 1991 Payless event on the Canadian Tour. The $90,000 in prize money was competed for by such future PGA TOUR regulars as Grant Waite of New Zealand and Steve Stricker from the U.S.

With its long and storied history on the island there’s no doubt the Cowichan Golf & Country Club will be a great locale and prove a fitting test for this British Columbia Golf series of Championships.

Interview With HP Norm Jackson

Cowichan Golf Club’s Head Professional Stormin’ Norm Jackson joined the club in 1990 and has been a fixture of the local golf scene ever since and includes on his resume the Head Professional of the year as voted by the BCPGA in 1993.

We asked Norm his thoughts on what the competitors should look for in this year’s BCG Women’s Mid-Master/Sr./Super-Sr. Championships.

Q: Has Cowichan hosted other championships of this nature before?

Norm Jackson: We’ve Been Very Fortunate Here To Host A Number Of Golf British Columbia Events. We’ve Held The Canadian Mid-Amateur Here As Well As The Bc Senior Ladies Championship, The Bc Ladies Amateur…So We’re No Strangers To Holding Events Of This Magnitude

Q: Do you think that’s because you’re good hosts or is it a combination of that along with the layout that you have?

NJ: Well I Think We’d Love To Say It’s Because We Are Good Hosts But I Think It Is A Combination Of A Facility That Is Very Fair As A Golf Course To The Competitors. Especially When We’re Talking About Hosting A Bc Ladies Mid And Senior Amateur It’s A Golf Course That’s A Very Good Test But Also Very Fair To The Player.

Q: What do you see as the golf course's best defence? - be it length, strategic hazards, overall design, prevailing conditions or how the course can be set up

NJ: I Think The Greens Are The Golf Course’s Strong Point, You Know, With Subtle Undulations, Very Small - So Your Short Game Is At A Premium If You Miss The Greens.

Q: Which particular holes do you see as the ones that will provide the most challenge to the players? And which ones can yield the best opportunities to score and need to be taken advantage of if possible?

NJ: I Think As Far As A Challenge Goes, Number 11 Here Will Be A Hole That Can Make Or Break A Good Round. It’s A Good Par 4 With Your Second Shot Going Over Water To A Very Narrow Green. I Think An Opportunity To Make Up Some Shots Could Come From The Fact That Our Par 5’S Are Very Friendly. Most Of The Girls That Will Be Playing In This Will Be Hitting Short Irons Into Them, So It Will Give Them Some Birdie Opportunities, But The One Thing Is We Only Have Two Par 5’S Here.

Q: Is there a specific stretch of holes that could prove crucial, i.e. an 'Amen Corner' as it were?

NJ: Actually 10 And 11…And 14,15, 16 - Can Wreak Havoc. Hitting The Ball Straight Is At A Premium On Those Holes

Q: What do you think will be the keys to a player coming out on top? Do you need to drive the ball long or more accurately?

NJ: You Have To Drive The Ball Accurately And Your Short Game Has To Be Very, Very Sharp. These Greens Will Be Fooling Some People Here.

Q: So is it a course you can attack, or is one better off to play conservatively and wait for opportunities to arise?

NJ: I Think You Have To Be Very Patient Here. If You Do Make A Mistake You Can’t Try And Get It Back All In One Fell Swoop. You Have To Be Very Patient Because You Know Some Of The Other People In The Field, Well, They’re Going To Be Making The Same Mistakes. So You’re Never Really Out Of It, So Just Be Patient, Par Is A Good Score. Sometimes Taking A Bogey And Taking Your Lumps Is A Good Score. But I Think If You Try And Attack It, You Can Make Some Very Big Numbers Here.

Q: Is there another layout you might compare Cowichan GC with for those who are not familiar with the course?

NJ: I Think I Would Say To Anybody, It’s An Old Av Macan Design, And As We Know Victoria Golf Club Is One, Royal Colwood Is One - Their Golf Courses Have Changed A Little Bit, But In The Same Sense They All Have Small Undulating Greens And That’s What I Would Compare It (Cowichan Gc) To - Maybe A Victoria Golf Club, Other Than You’re Not Playing A Seaside Type Of Links. Distance Or Length Is Not The Determining Factor, Accuracy Is Much More Important.

Q: Does the course favour any particular shot shape? Draw, fade, high, low etc.?

NJ: Well, I Think On The Back Nine - For A Right-Handed Player - If You Have A Tendency To Hook The Ball It Could Cause You Some Grief. Because All The Trouble, The Out Of Bounds, Is On The Left On The Back Nine. So If You Can Move The Ball A Little Left-To-Right, The Back Nine Might Be A Little Easier For You.