A course where a 6 is par for the course

SPECTATOR GOLF

So what about those rumours swirling in local golf circles that GolfNorth has sold or is about to sell Mystic Golf Club in Ancaster?

“They are just that. Rumours,” says GolfNorth vice-president Mike Turner. “There’s nothing happening there at all.”

Well, nothing happening at Mystic isn’t entirely true, though. Turner confirmed he pulled the trigger on one project there this year he’d been thinking about for a couple of seasons.

Since the course on Jerseyville Road first opened, even before GolfNorth owned it, golfers have felt that the 639-yard par 5, 10th hole was either hard, very hard, incredibly hard, or just plain stupid.

The original operators of the course told me it was designed to be a par 5 that no one on the planet could reach in two.

That may explain why it’s a long hole with the last 100 yards or so making a bit of a left turn and with a carry over a deep ravine to a green that appears to be almost sitting on a ledge. “I have the original drawings in my office for Mystic, and the green on that hole was at the 100yard marker, straight ahead,” said Turner. “I have no idea how and when it got moved to the left like that. It would have been a pretty good par 5 if the green had been at the 100-yard marker.

Building a new green is probably not an option at this point, so they’ve changed the 10th hole to a par 6, which makes the course a par 73.

“The back two tee decks weren’t being used because the hole is too long,” said Turner. “From the back decks no one could even get to the layup zone in three. I said, ‘This is ridiculous because you’re beating up on the front two tee decks and everyone is still making sixes and sevens and eights, and they hate the hole.’ ”

The logic behind the move is pretty simple when you think about it.

“By making it a par 6, you can move the tee decks back again and use the whole golf course and people won’t be ticked off,” said Turner. “If they make a seven, oh well, they made a bogey instead of a double. And the thought process of it being a par 6, to me, was pretty cool. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t thinking about it, but if you take the stroke average on that hole I’ll bet it’s sixpoint-something, so it warrants it.”

Turner admits he doesn’t know if Mystic now has the only par 6 in the province. Black Bear Ridge Golf Course in Corbyville in Eastern Ontario used to have a par 6 but they’ve converted it back to a five. WHOLE-IN-ONE: Aces in the area include Doug Stevenson on the 130-yard seventh hole at Scenic Woods with a seven wood, and Graham Eley on the 130-yard 17th hole at Willow Valley with an eight iron.

Garry McKay is a veteran, award-winning golf journalist and ex-sportswriter with The Spec. Garrymckay1@rogers.com