By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

When Kaleb Fisher was appointed course superintendent at Chilliwack Golf Club just over a year ago, he was asked to come up with a long-term plan for the golf course. 

“I took over last November and at the first board meeting I went to, the board and (general manager) Bryan Ewart said to me, we need to think forward and we want to task you with some long-term planning goals and try to figure out what we want this golf club to look like in the future,” Fisher recalled in an interview.

So Fisher went to work coming up with a plan and a year later, that future is now in focus.

At its recent annual general meeting, the club approved an ambitious project put together by Lobb + Partners. The British-based firm recently opened a British Columbia office headed by Vancouver-area pro Oliver Tubb, who happens to be a friend of Fisher’s. 

“Oliver reached out to me when he found out I had moved back from Alberta and said, ‘hey, if you guys are ever thinking about doing anything, we’d love to be involved,’” Fisher said. “At that point I reached out to him and said, ‘hey, there might be something here where we could do something cool’. . .one thing led to another and they shot us a proposal of what a master plan would cost and then we were kind of off to the races.

“The board approved the idea of us being involved with them and here we are 12 months later with an 18-hole master plan and the promise to go toward a new irrigation system.” 

One of the main goals of that master plan is to make the course more appealing to golfers of all abilities and reduce maintained areas by about 30 per cent. For starters, new front tees of about 5,000 yards will be constructed.

“We are trying to make sure that every person who plays at our club is experiencing the same quality of playing area and really enjoying what we are presenting,” Fisher said in an interview. “That is the big thing for us, making sure that everybody out there is enjoying the game and no matter where they are playing from they are enjoying what we have to offer to them.”

The routing of the course will not change. Five new greens will be constructed and the number of bunkers on the course will be reduced to 46 from the present 57. “We kind of looked at the whole course and said what works and what doesn’t,” Fisher said. “A lot of these older bunkers are in areas where now it is penalizing say a shorter hitter or older player and now your lower handicaps or even some of your mid- to high handicaps are flying over these areas.

“We could have gone out there and said the number of bunkers we have now is perfect and we just need to change the location, but it turned out we don’t really need this many bunkers. But the bunkers that we do have we want to make sure they are really, really good.”

More naturalized areas will be introduced, especially between tees, to help reduce maintenance costs and enhance the visual appeal of the course. Work will likely begin next spring and Fisher does not think play will be impacted. The plan includes construction of a new 19th hole should one hole have to be closed during the work.

Chilliwack Golf Club opened in 1958 and was designed by Vancouver’s Ernie Brown. It has played host to a number of notable events, including the Canadian University/College Championship and the B.C. Junior Girls & Boys Championships.

DATE CHANGE: The last of six PGA Tour Canada qualifying schools scheduled for 2023 will be back at its regular location at the Crown Isle Golf Resort in Courtenay. But the Crown Isle Q- School, which in the past has been held in April or early May, will go June 6-9 next year. That’s a week before the season-opening event, the Royal Beach Victoria Open at Uplands Golf Club. 

“We’re still finalizing some things but the overall theme that you will see once we release our schedule is that we are really trying to make it player-friendly,” said Scott Pritchard, executive director of PGA Tour Canada. Moving the Q-School to that date certainly helps (players) from a cost perspective.” The other five Q-Schools, two each in Florida and Arizona and another in California, are scheduled between late February and mid-April. Keith Dagg, longtime tournament director with the Victoria event, said the change in the Q-School date is great news. 

“We’ll now get some of the guys who didn’t get through qualifying school come down here to play in our Monday qualifier,” Dagg said. “Now they can come here and have two chances to get into the tournament. It’s a really smart move the Tour has made.” The qualifier for the Victoria event will go June 12 at Gorge Vale Golf Club.

FOR SALE: Bald Eagle Golf Course in Point Roberts, Wash., was listed for sale this past fall for $12.5 million US. The course closed in early November for winter maintenance. “We have had some interest,” said general manager Tracy Evans, who is a realtor and has the Bald Eagle listing. 

She said the present owners plan to re-open the course in the spring if it does not sell between now and then. The course superintendent and one other member of the grounds crew are working over the winter on the course, which was open from June until the end of October after being shut down for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

OSLAND SIXTH: Kelowna’s Megan Osland tied for sixth at the Cactus Tour’s Arizona Women’s Open played at the South Golf Course in Sun City. Osland closed with a three-under 69 to finish the 54-hole event at one-over par. That was three shots behind winner Betsy Kelly of Blaine, Minn. Belinda Lin of Surrey tied for 26th and Mary Parsons of Delta tied for 35th.

CHIP SHOTS: Bryce Barker of Vernon Golf Club tied for ninth at the Asher Tour’s Longbow Classic in Mesa, Ariz. Barker finished the 54-hole event at eight-under par, six shots behind winner Matt McCarty of Scottsdale. Barker earned $1,600. Langley’s James Allenby, Trevor Yu of Vancouver and Tanvir Kahlon of Langley all made the cut, but failed to cash. . .Duncan’s Tristan Mandur shot a four-under 68 and won a Vancouver Golf Tour Winter Tour one-day event at Northview Golf Club’s Canal Course in Surrey.