The Sault Golf Club
The daunting and beautiful par 3, 17th hole at Sault Golf Club
The Final Chapter in Stanley Thompson’s Legendary Career.
It is hard to imagine that the efforts of a dedicated collection of the 35 golf enthusiasts who met on the night of June 4, 1919, would lay the foundation for what would become the final work in the revered architectural portfolio of Stanely Thompson.
The post WWI economic boom in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario provided the impetus for many in the community to develop a golf course and club for their recreation and social gatherings. Golf already existed within the region, just not on the Canadian side of the St. Mary’s River. Northern Michigan had seen golf arrive as early as the 1890’s with a number of courses built to provide the gentle game to the throngs of summer tourists flocking to the Upper Great Lakes on steamships. The American Sault Golf & Country Club was founded in 1908 and was the result of an economic boom following the completion of the Union Carbide hydro-electric plant on the southern banks of the river. Post-war stability led the Canadian Saultites to pursue the building their own club.
By 1919, the excited group of golf enthusiasts had secured a parcel of land at Moore’s Point along the St. Mary’s River. At the time, Queen Street East ended at the gated property owned by W. C. Franz who was then the chairman of Algoma Steel and thus one of the most recognized and influential people in the city. The initial group agreed to form the club and hired George Cumming to layout and build the city’s first nine holes of golf. He was brought to the Sault that summer and routed the original nine holes over the diverse landscape of the property selected. Considerable earthworks were undertaken to drain the wetland area the course would occupy and the seeding of fairways and greensites concluded in late summer. The planners built a clubhouse, housing annex, tool shed and stables to complete out the club facilities and amenities. The nine-holes were fully in play by the golf season of 1921, allowing members to play a complete nine holes and record their handicaps ever since.
The city’s golf landscape remained largely unchanged, until the end of WWII, when the Root River Golf Club opened in the north of the city. The Barsanti family provided a second nine-hole golfing option for the growing interest in the sport. This fostered a desire to expand the Sault Club, leading to the members/board soliciting the services of the most prominent Canadian golf course architect Stanley Thompson, whose architectural career ironically began shortly after Cumming laid out the original Sault routing.
Securing Thompson for the course expansion was a wise decision. He had been designing courses since the 1919 partnership with Cumming and his older brother Nicol. His career at that point was held in the most esteemed regard, as he had recently been asked to be part of the founding members of the American Society of Golf Course Architects. This elite group included his friends and colleagues Robert Trent Jones, and Donald Ross. With designs all over the Americas, but most famously throughout Canada, The Sault Club was to be yet another addition to his extensive design portfolio.
Thompson was no stranger to being invited to renovate or add holes to one of George Cummings’s designs. His mentor certainly didn’t have the depth to his design portfolio as Thompson had created for himself, however many of Cummings course contributions remain as solo efforts or updated collaborations with additions or renovations by some of Canada’s noted architects. Thompson came to the Sault in 1952 to turn the site into the first 18 hole championship course in that part of Canada. As recounted in the personal letters of former Sault Golf Club President George Constable, the task of transforming the original routing into something grander was not an easy one. Massaging the lowland area and its sticky mud was challenging and with the passing of Stanley Thompson in early 1953, the remaining work was completed by his brother Matt Thompson and opened for play in 1954. As such, the Sault Golf Club will eternally be the final project in the iconic career of Stanley Thompson.
The list of prominent Canadian architects involved with the Sault GC didn’t end with Thompson. Fellow ASGCA member Les Furber was hired by the club in the early 1980’s to develop a master plan for the course. His work involved tweaking some greens, creating a driving range and adding some ponds to Thompson’s routing. His final product is what exists as the current layout.
The challenging 9th green at Sault Golf Club
Graham Cooke is another of Canada’s famous course architects that contributes to the rich history of the Sault GC. His connection to the club is somewhat different though. Cooke is not only a highly regarded architect, but is also one of the most decorated amateur golfers in the country. His victory in the 2008 Canadian Senior Amateur at the Sault G.C. is one of his numerous national and international championships in his legendary playing career. His fond reflection of the tournament and club is found in our book, “A Century of Sault Golf.”
The Sault Golf Club is no longer the only 18 hole championship option in town, with the 2000 addition of Crimson Ridge and the 2010 opening of Silver Creek adding to the marketplace. Current head professional Jeff Hamilton has been at SGC for the past 25 years and is proud of the membership and culture found within the club. His career has taken him through the pro shops of such noted Canadian golf treasures as Mississauga and Toronto Golf. It was the chance to become a head professional that brought Jeff to the north, but it has been the committed and dedicated membership along with the wonderful Sault community that has kept him at the club. He is proud of the resilience of the membership to strive to keep the club vibrant and relevant, even during the economic downturn of 2008 and the effect it had on golf.
Hamilton’s quiet and unassuming manner is a perfect fit for the historic course. Its gentle contours and natural feel are welcoming and inviting. The subtlety of Thompson’s creation, falling as the land dictated, does possess challenge with plentiful water hazards and subtle tricky greens in play. A post-round bite and beverage at the newly branded Mulligan’s Pub in the original clubhouse and a few meters from the banks of the St. Mary’s River, is a perfect culmination to a round. Enjoying the ambience of the historic club gathering place and relishing some of the century of stories found within it is special. Being the culmination to an iconic legacy like Stanley Thompson’s is something only the Sault Golf Club can claim. Sometimes being the last can be a badge of honour.
For course information and tee time bookings contact the club here.
