Breaking the grass ceiling
Fraser brings unique perspective to her work as course designer
As one of the few women in the business of designing golf courses, Canadian landscape architect Christine Fraser is leaving her mark on the game she loves. She’s also helping to promote diversity and inclusion in a sport that’s often been slow to change,
Layered up, under a toque, and with no warm-up balls, the former NCAA Division I competitor splits the opening fairway of the public facility, then follows it with a beautifully played mid-iron approach. Her swing is elegant in its simplicity. Nicely timed with a dependable turn and classic finish, it’s a swing that travels well, as they say.
Arriving at the green, however, Christine Fraser’s playing partners are surprised. Instead of her shot yielding a 15to 20-foot birdie putt, her ball has trundled into a deep fall-off. She’ll face a delicate pitch from a tight, short-grass lie with the green running away from her. Fraser, the golf course architect, isn’t shocked.
“This is so Martin Hawtree,” she says with a smile.
For five years, Fraser apprenticed for the creator of Tarandowah at Hawtree’s design firm in Oxfordshire, England. Formerly the Royal & Ancient Golf Club’s architectural consultant on (British) Open rota courses, the third-generation English architect is Fraser’s mentor. He is also one of her biggest fans. Meeting for the first time at Toronto Golf Club in 2014, Hawtree stunned the Kingston, Ont. native by offering her a job. Before she knew it, Fraser was on a plane bound for London’s Heathrow Airport.
“I love Christine’s enthusiasm,” Hawtree said shortly after he hired her. “She has added a breath of fresh air to our office.”
Aspiring young architects would be envious of the resumé she has compiled. Fraser has worked at Lahinch, Dooks, Royal Dublin, Tralee and Doonbeg in Ireland; Royal Aberdeen and Trump International in Scotland; and at Adlington Golf Centre, Royal Birkdale and Sunningdale, among others, in England.
In 2016, Fraser’s professionalism and
concerted effort earned her a significant commission on home soil. Hawtree appointed his young apprentice as on-site architect for the redesign and construction of Toronto’s ninehole (Howard) Watson Course. On the heels of the designer’s stunning renovation of the club’s venerable Harry Colt main course, it was an incredible opportunity.
“It was nerve-racking. A bit scary, too,” Fraser says, pushing her cart down Tarandowah’s fourth fairway. “One of the most prestigious courses in the country and the Watson Course was placed in my hands. It was a big learning curve.”
She is asked for her reaction when Hawtree gave her the assignment. “Honestly,” she laughs. “Don’t f--- it up.”
More important than any assignment or bunker line, Hawtree did something else for Fraser. He inspired confidence. That has meant the world to his protégé. Women in golf course design — few as there are — must fight culture as aggressively as they fight for jobs.
“Being a 26-year-old female in this industry I had questions. What is my place here? What can I offer? Am I supposed to be here? Do I belong? Will I have to work three times as hard because I’m a young woman? Martin helped me answer many questions,” Fraser says. “He became a huge advocate for me in that sense. The impression he always gave me is you’re here for a reason. We should do this. His confidence in me was reassuring. Golf aside, I am the person I am today because of Martin Hawtree.”
To fully appreciate where Fraser is going, it’s important to know where she has been. That starts back home in Kingston. Her grandparents, Herb and Margaret Wolfram, built the public course Camden Braes near the Limestone City in 1976. It is still operated by the family today.
“It’s a fantastic place to spend the day,” she says. “The golf course is not unique, not SCOREGolf Top 100 worthy, but it’s this wonderful place that curated the love of the game for me.”
Proficient in the provincial junior ranks, Fraser received a scholarship offer to Florida’s Stetson University. During four “probably too much fun” years, she attained a Bachelor of Arts degree playing golf for the Hatters all over the United States. Her teammates talked of one day playing on the LPGA Tour. Not Fraser. While those around her dreamed of being the next Stacy Lewis, Fraser focused on being the next Alice Dye.
“College was a path into the industry. Golf was a way to get me to college, to pay for college, play all over the U.S., and see great golf courses,” she says. “Professional golf was never an end goal. It was never on my radar. I wasn’t good enough anyway.”
Enrolling at the University of Guelph after she returned to Canada, Fraser earned a Master’s degree in landscape architecture. Her final year was lifechanging. A series of events where karma intervened in her favour set the wheels in motion on her chosen career. It began with her thesis. Writing on sustainable golf design, she applied for and was awarded the Stanley Thompson Society’s inaugural graduate scholarship. With the money, Fraser made a sojourn to Scotland. She mapped out stops along the way for herself at St Andrews, Royal Dornoch and Trump Aberdeen.
“I went over to play golf and study classic links. I called it data collection,” she says, with a wry smile.
Her other stroke of good fortune came when a phone call interrupted an interview she was conducting for her studies with John Banbury, Trump Aberdeen’s superintendent. Fraser couldn’t help but ascertain that it was the course’s designer, Hawtree, on the line. While researching her thesis, his name had come up routinely.
“John helped put me in touch with Martin,” she says. “It was all such a pivotal part of my transition into design. If I’m not awarded that scholarship, I don’t go to Scotland, I’m never at Aberdeen, and I don’t become acquainted with him. Everything lined up because of the Thompson scholarship. For that I’ll be forever grateful.”
The eighth green at Tarandowah is a sublime study.
A compelling alternative to traditional green construction, it features not a single bunker. Protection for the slightly crowned putting surface is provided by medium to steep falloffs, bold contouring and tightly mown grass surrounds. As Fraser surveys Hawtree’s unique land canvas, memories of her work at Adlington Golf Centre in Cheshire, England, come flooding back.
A nine-hole, par-3 new build, Addington’s Heritage Course, like the eighth at Tarandowah, also has no bunkers. It too uses dramatic movement around the greens to provide challenge and intrigue. As he did with the Watson Course at Toronto, Hawtree assigned Fraser to oversee the project start to finish.
“It came out of a practical idea of reduced maintenance,” Fraser says. “We decided the best way to keep it really minimal and cost effective was to eliminate bunkers altogether. It was a wonderful challenge. The goal was to make the golf course appealing, memorable and challenging but also esthetically interesting without bunkers.”
Alice Dye is the first lady of golf course design. Her work with husband Pete — Alice and Pete died just under one year apart, in February 2018 and January 2019 respectively — at courses like TPC at Sawgrass in Florida, Crooked Stick in Indianapolis and PGA West in La Quinta, Calif., more than earned her that title.
“Alice Dye was a pioneer,” Fraser says after a solid drive on Tarandowah’s 10th hole. “She paved the way. I’d like to do more research because, honestly, I don’t know enough about her.”
Dye, a fabulous player who won the Canadian Women’s Seniors Championship twice (1983 and 1984), served one term in 1997 as president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. Dye sought to make it an influential tenure. The first woman to be nominated for the position, she advocated for more gender equality among the ASGCA rank and file.
Unfortunately, the late designer’s efforts accomplished little. Twenty-three years after her presidency, only two women, Cynthia Dye McGarey, the Dyes’ niece, and Jan Bel Jan, who finished a two-year term last year as the second female ASCGA president, are listed as members.
Fraser is not deterred by this. Even if diversity and inclusion across the golf industry still has a ways to go, she is very happy to let her work speak for itself when vying for jobs.
“I feel I have a lot to offer. I feel like I have unique experience and also a different perspective in terms of who I am and what I believe is important,” she says.
She seeks to promote that. Fraser’s website features a page called Social Impact Offerings. She describes it as “a unique opportunity to implement elements of social responsibility into golf course design, and expand clientele by advocating for inclusivity and equality, reach a high sustainability standard, and minimize outdated esthetic expectations often ingrained within golf’s culture.”
The platform is quite visionary.
“That’s what sets me apart from other architects, I believe,” she says. “Within that, there is an opportunity to consider how course design impacts the female experience. It’s an extension of architecture where forward tees and things like bathrooms aren’t just an afterthought but an important consideration to include in the design and operational process.”
The reference to bathrooms requires clarification.
“I played a golf course recently where the ladies’ washrooms were closed. No one told me in the pro shop,” Fraser says. “Guys, of course, can kind of go along, do their thing, no bother. But for me, that affects my experience, especially if I get to the 13th hole and I have to go. There are opportunities in management decisions, maintenance decisions and architectural decisions that can and should better consider the female experience.”
To address that, Fraser remains a strong proponent for more women in the game and, by extension, across the industry. And that is happening.
Participation rates continue to rise provincially and nationally in Canada. During this ongoing pandemic women and junior girls have been significant consumers of tee-time inventory. At the game’s highest levels, Suzy Whaley closed out her tenure last year as the first woman president of the PGA of America. Diane Dunlop-Hébert, a past president of Golf Canada and Golf Quebec, was one of seven women the Royal & Ancient Golf Club named in its first group of female members in 2015. It ended 260 years of male exclusivity. And, in December, the International Golf Federation elected Annika Sorenstam as president. The 72time LPGA Tour winner succeeded Peter Dawson and oversaw preparations for golf in the Olympics in Tokyo.
“You’re seeing the numbers climb. You’re starting to see programs cultivate leadership. It all circles back to concentrating on getting more women to play,” Fraser says.
None of this is to suggest there hasn’t been frustration. Being a woman in golf course design and a self-admitted feminist, Fraser grapples at times with giving so much of herself to an industry that doesn’t always reciprocate her views. She chooses not to let it define her.
“Not one event or series of events has affected me negatively. More often it’s been these microaggressions or small comments or, the entire time I was in England, I never walked into a single boardroom and saw another woman. Not one,” she says. “To me, people choose to pursue golf careers because they love the game. This is a passion for me. I want to be a golf course architect because I love it. And that was nurtured from playing, first at Camden Braes. I still believe we’re on the right path.”
Someone Fraser will default to as long as she maintains status as a course designer is Hawtree.
For a few holes on the back nine at Tarandowah she has engaged her playing partners on her mentor and his philosophies. It’s been a compelling deep dive. She has extolled numerous virtues of what Hawtree considers important for movement, contouring, strategy and esthetic. Also the kind of person he is.
“His personality and his golf courses are one in the same,” Fraser says as she makes her way onto the 12th green. “Martin is not a minimalist in any sense but his designs aren’t complicated. They’re not complex. Take this green site. This isn’t complex but there is a high degree of strategy involved. His work is so subtle. It’s so subtle you don’t know it’s good, the way he fits it so seamlessly into a landscape.”
It’s the sort of design influence that will provide Fraser with a point of difference in the marketplace. At least her business partner thinks so.
Jeff Mingay, a Toronto-based course designer, says Fraser is unique in what she brings to a job site, drawings and client meetings. Forming an alignment two years ago, the designers work independently and collaboratively based on schedule and circumstances.
“As a woman with collegiate golf experience, Christine has a valuable perspective along with the knowledge she gained working for Martin Hawtree as part of one of golf architecture’s most historic firms,” Mingay says. “That isn’t something many architects on this side of the Atlantic have on their resumés. I can tell you this: The years Christine spent with the Hawtree firm, I’m certain she soaked in more than she even realizes currently.”
Working together is proving fortuitous. The Mingay/Fraser design team has been hired to execute a long-range plan for Beaconsfield Golf and Country Club near Montreal starting this summer. The full-course audit includes use of historical aerial photographs to restore Stanley Thompson’s bunkering and mowing lines. They will also add forward tees.
“We’re both so excited about the assignment. The club unanimously voted for our presentation and made it known my involvement in the project was really powerful and part of the reason Jeff and I got the job,” Fraser says.
“Beaconsfield has quite a large women’s component to their membership and wanted someone on board that would look out for them.”
Back to her game at Tarandowah, Fraser taps in on the final hole. She calls Canada’s only Hawtree design a “movable feast” and that her mentor “has truly gifted Canada with this design.”
Perhaps one day someone will say something similar about one of her projects. Until then, Fraser will continue to offer her bespoke services to the game she loves. And as one of few women in the male-dominated profession, she’ll be proud to do so.
“I feel like I have unique experience and also a different perspective in terms of who I am and what I believe is important.”
CHRISTINE FRASER
GOLF COURSE DESIGNER