The Nova Scotia Golf Association

NSGA History

by Allan Dunlop
Read before the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society 26 March, 1998

The first part of the title, for this evening's presentation was inspired by a news item which appeared in the Halifax Herald in 1937. It reads:

Indeed the first known reference to golf in Scotland is an Act of the Parliament of Scotland, 6 March 1457 which reads in part:

...it is ordained and decreed...that football and golf be utterly condemned and stopped and that a pair of targets be made at all parish kirks and shooting be practised each Sunday.²

Thus four and a half centuries before organized golf appeared in Nova Scotia it was a subject of controversy and government regulation. The progress of golf into Nova Scotia even North America was slow. Extant written references include an 1826 newspaper advertisement for games of golf on 25 December and 1 January at Priests' Farm, near present day Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal.³ Saint John boasts a Scotsman, John White, who hit golf balls on the Courtenay Bay Flats in 1863⁴ and written records tell of three Scotsmen, all bank clerks, who laid out a small three hole course on the South Commons and thus introduced the sport to Halifax in 1873.⁵ However, the honour for what might be described as organized golf, i.e. playing grounds, a clubhouse and officers goes to the Royal Montreal Golf Club, founded in 1873.⁶

Tonight's talk will attempt to present a verbal/visual outline of the growth of the golf club/course in Nova Scotia. Time does not permit a broader examination. However, even this narrow overview of the growth and spread of the game throughout Nova Scotia may at least provide some initial indications as to why the sport has continued to prosper to the present day.

How is a new sport introduced into a region? The British military with its bases scattered throughout Canada was one such agent. There is a cultural aspect to the growth of the sport and not surprisingly those communities with a large component of expatriated Scots first saw golf appear. There is what might be termed recreational transfer whereby Nova Scotians traveled or wintered in the southern United States, were introduced to and played golf and then brought the game back to Nova Scotia.

A few examples may help to reinforce this thesis. Organized golf was first played at Victoria Park, Sydney, probably in 1895. Walter Crowe, Truro native and Sydney Mayor had seen the sport in the United States and introduced it to Sydney and Nova Scotia. The grounds were rudimentary-the grass was kept short by grazing cattle- and the popularity of cricket and baseball eventually curtailed play at the Park to the Spring and the Fall, with the Sydney Club eventually ceasing operations about World War I.⁷

A Scot, Reverend Thomas Fowler of St. Matthew's Church, oversaw the founding meeting of organized golf in Halifax on 17 April 1896. Lieutenant Colonel Anstruther, commander of the Citadel and Royal Artillery Park was first President. The club played initially at the present day Studley campus, moved to Gorsebrook, the Collins' estate in 1900 and eventually split in 1922 when Ashburn was begun at the Webb/Piercey properties in the Dutch Village area of Halifax. Gorsebrook would survive as a golf course until 1948.⁸

Figure 1.  A view of the Gorsebrook Golf Club, Halifax, N.S., looking north from Inglis Street towards the corner of Robie and South Streets. The large building in the centre background is the old Poor House, which was demolished in March 1972. The site is now occupied by the Isaac Walton Killam Children's Hospital The terrain is virtually unchanged to this day.

In Truro, AJ. Campbell, KC, returned from a trip to Montreal with a golf club and some golf balls. Shortly thereafter he could be seen in a field hitting the ball with his wife and son serving as caddy/retrievers. A club was officially organized in 1903 and by 1906 the Club was established on its present day site.⁹ Other pre-World War I courses include Wolfville, behind the Acadia campus, some say founded as early as 1895 but the best early evidence dates it to 1900.¹⁰ G.H. and J.W. Wallace are said to have brought the game to Wolfville after vacationing in the United States. An undated brochure published by the Wolfville Board of Trade has this to say of the course "Near the [Acadia] college grounds and overlooking the extent of the country on the shore of the Basin, golf links have been established, and the royal sport is engaged in by numerous lovers of the game." Of more importance is that the brochure contains two photos of players at the course.¹¹ Neighbouring Windsor, through the effort of the town Mayor, leased a site at Fort Edward for a course in 1903 and the course functioned with only a few years of interruption until 1973.¹² In the northern part of the province we know a course existed at Maccan. The ^"Thistle" club played matches with the Amherst Club which established first in the west end of the town in 1909 before relocating to its present site in 1912.¹³ Other pre-war courses include Chester, established at Prescott's Point, by brothers John and Alexander Miller, natives of Crieff, Scotland who came to Nova Scotia in 1906 to oversee their father's lumber interests.¹⁴ Brightwood Golf Club in Dartmouth was incorporated 6th January 1914 with nominal capital of $40,000¹⁵ and acquired an eighty acre site at Mount Thom, its present location. Robert Borden was invited to officially open the course which he agreed to do.¹⁶ Unfortunately, the course was not ready when the Prime Minister visited Dartmouth. Borden drove a ball off the first tee anyway. The course opened on 17 July 1914 but it would be another ten years before the full eighteen holes were completed. ¹⁷ Meanwhile back in Sydney the words of the Sydney Record concerning the Sydney Golf Club had proved partially true "...it has been the fate of every sport in Sydney to be taken up with the greatest eagerness and then to drop out of site...."¹⁸ In fact a portion of the membership, with the active encouragement of the Dominion Coal Company,¹⁹ migrated first to Lingan Bay in 1909. By 1912 they were forced to again relocate and in 1913 moved their clubhouse and constructed a new course at McLean's Crossing the present location of the Lingan Golf Club.²⁰ Thus by the end of World War I courses could be found at Sydney, Halifax, Dartmouth, Chester, Yarmouth (about 1904), Digby (opened in 1915), Truro and Amherst. The course at Fort Edward was still given over to the military and courses at Sydney, Maccan and Wolfville had ceased to exist. Not a single eighteen hole course existed in Nova Scotia.

Figure 2. The Windsor golf course at Fort Edward with the blockhouse in the background. The photograph is from a Canadian Pacific Railway tourism brochure, about 1905, and identifies the scene as ".. near Yarmouth, N.S."

A post-war travel brochure published by Canadian Pacific Railway entitled Golf in Canada listed only seven courses in Nova Scotia-omitting Chester although by 1918 it is clear nine holes were in play.²¹ Two courses permitted play on Sunday-at Brightwood it was described as "optional" and at Lingan, if one played on Sunday, caddies were not permitted. Only Gorsebrook restricted the play of women-three days a week but every morning. Green fees ranged from 204 at Yarmouth to $1.00 a day at Amherst and Halifax. Only Digby quoted a seasonal rate-$10.00 and Gorsebrook was the single club with a professional-H.S. "Sam" Foley. The location of the courses was also given with Digby noted as "Almost in centre of town" and Lingan as "Six miles from the city, twenty minutes by Electric Railway every hour. "²²

In the period 1917-1929, thirteen new courses appeared (West Paradise- "Pansy Patch," 1917; Abercrombie and Beinn Bhreagh, 1919; Ken-Wo and Pictou, 1921; Halifax [Ashburn], Bedford and Dominion [Highland Golf Club], 1922; Bridgewater and Port Mouton [Wobamkek Beach Resort], 1924; Annapolis Royal [Albion Vale/Hillsdale], 1925; Antigonish, 1926; Parrsboro, 1929; White Point was under troubled construction (1929)²³; Dr. Bell's course ceased to exist and by 1926 Windsor [Fort Edward] had re-opened. On Cape Breton Island the sport had an erratic existence in Baddeck but was firmly established in Sydney and Dominion. On the mainland only the counties of Guysborough and Shelburne lacked courses and continued to do so well into the 1960s.

Figure 3. A view of Digby Gol/Course with Annapolis Basin and North Mountain in the background. The photograph dates from about 1928 The course was founded in 1915 and ceased to operate with the outbreak of World War II. Both the Primary and High Schools are built on part if the old course.

For convenience these courses can be broken down into a number of categories.

Private -While Beinn Bhreagh ceased to exist, at West Paradise, Dr. William Inglis Morse poured $50,000 into a nine hole course on his 400 acre estate, Pansy Patch.²⁴ This facility created the interest which led eventually to the construction of the nearby Eden Golf Club in 1940.

Philanthropic -In 1904 Yarmouth lawyer Robert Caie leased land for a golf course for a period of ten years at a fee of 254 per year. Caie died in 1912 but his wife and daughter renewed the lease arrangements. After the death of her mother, Clara Caie indicated she would donate the land for a golf course, if the town would provide tax exemption for the property. The town had no such power but when the club incorporated it included the tax free provision in its act of incorporation. This clause received short shrift in the House of Assembly. Newspaper accounts of the debate were as follows: "Mr. Hall felt that golf -players were in a better position to pay taxes than any other class. Mr. Wickwire called the game luxurious and aristocratic and claimed that players should be fined for indulging in golf instead of being exempted from assessment. Idle, wealthy people should pay taxes instead of the working man. "²⁵

Lease or lease back -This was one of the most popular means of financing facilities. At least six clubs had variations on this approach. In Antigonish an eight man syndicate bought the land for the course at a cost of $2,200 and then leased the property back to the club for ten years at 7% per annum, with an option to re-lease or purchase after ten years.²⁶ In Parrsboro American lawyer, and summer resident of Parrsboro, Joseph Jeffers constructed a course at Green Hill at a cost of $6,000 which was then leased to the Parrsboro Golf Club at 6½% per annum. The par for the nine hole, 2,711 yard course was a remarkable forty-eight.²⁷ At Annapolis Royal the course was initially called Albion Vale Golf Club. However, an agreement was quickly struck with the owner of Hillside House whereby he would build a clubhouse and maintain and operate the course-thus the name changed to Hillside Golf Club. The Club paid William Perkins, owner of Hillside House, $1,000 per annum for these services. ²⁸

Stock financing -Both Ashburn Golf Club and Ken-Wo Golf Club issued bonds to finance construction of their facilities. In the case of Ashburn more than $100,000 in bonds were issued. Eventually the cash flow required to finance semi-annual payments to bondholders would cripple the club's ability to grow.²⁹ Ken-Wo also issued stock for its financing but grew more carefully and it was some seven years before running water was brought to the clubhouse.³⁰

One aspect of most of these courses is the rapidity with which they were constructed and in play. This in turn would suggest rather rudimentary layouts, certainly in the initial stages of development. The Highland Golf Club at Dominion was organized on 11 May 1922 and course architect Malcolm Martin reported he would have the course ready for play in ten days.³¹ Dr. Bell worked even faster than Martin. A note in his diary indicates the course was designed, laid out and played upon-all on 24 August 1919.³²

With the arrival of the 1930s and the depression, the development of golf courses In Nova Scotia slowed but did not cease. In Lunenburg the Zwicker family played a prominent role in both introducing the game to the area and completing arrangements for lease of land for a course directly across the harbour from the town.³³ The Eden Golf Club established in 1940, chiefly through the efforts of Judge K.L. Crowell, spent $29,000 over four years to complete the new facility (exclusive of clubhouse and land acquisition costs³⁴).

The other three courses created during this period-Liverpool, Digby Pines and Cape Breton Highland presage a new era in golf. Liverpool was very much a child of a corporation-Mersey Paper and the President of Mersey Paper, BJ. Waters, served as the club President in 1932 and from 1934-1962. Salvaged from the financial debacle of White Point Beach Company Limited, the course served as an important recreational adjunct for the tourist facility.³⁵

The final two courses to be examined-Digby Pines and Cape Breton Highlands-combine a number of factors which motivate golf course construction today. In the case of the Pines two fascinating personalities converge-George Edgar Graham, President and General Manager of the Dominion Atlantic Railway, and Stanley Thompson, world renowned Canadian golf architect.

Figure 4. Left to Right are Walter Crowe (1861-1934) and Malcolm Martin (1869-1951). Walter Crowe can rightfully be considered the Father of organized golf in Nova Scotia as he founded the first golf club at Sydney in 1895. Martin, a native of Dominion, NS, won the Maritime Amateur Golf Championship in 1914 and designed golf courses at Pictou, Abercombie, Baddeck, Sydney (Lingan) and Dominion (Highlands).

Graham (1870-1953) came to the province in 1915 and never looked back. Impatient, domineering, even dictatorial,³⁶ he was both a dreamer and a doer. He involved the Dominion Atlantic Railway and thus the Canadian Pacific Railway in the promotion of the Evangeline theme, the Grand Pre Park creation, the Apple Blossom Festival and built, remodelled or invested In such facilities as the Digby Pines, the Cornwallis Inn and the Lord Nelson Hotel to house the tourists he hoped would travel on his rail line. He was a member of this Society and to familiarize himself with the history of the province he wrote his own unpublished history of his adopted home.³⁷ He was a charter member and first president of Ken-Wo and consistent with his theme of "Keep Nova Scotia Green" he donated and had planted on the course hundreds of pine trees.³⁸ When the Parrsboro Golf Club opened, George Graham was there to present a trophy for competition -no doubt hoping that the new course would attract passengers to the car ferry "Kipawo" which sailed between Kingsport-Parrsboro-Wolfville. Graham brooked no interference. He served as President of the Nova Scotia Golf Association and used his influence to direct three Nova Scotia Amateur Championships to the new Digby Pines course.⁴⁰ The editor of the Kentville Advertiser once advised Graham that his funeral "...would be a great occasion in the Valley..." Graham just smiled.⁴¹ When Graham determined to erect a championship course at Digby, in choosing Thompson, he had found a soul mate.

When a world renowned architect such as Stanley Thompson works in an area, he is bound to leave a lasting impression. Ashburn, Truro, Lingan, the Pines and Cape Breton Highlands all have felt the touch of the Thompson genius. He designed Ashburn in 1922-but one of eleven courses he worked on that year.⁴² The same year he made a side trip to Sydney to help redesign the Lingan course. In 1930 he slipped away from his Digby Pines project to propose a redesign for the Truro course.⁴³ Thompson in 1930 was but thirty-six years old. He had been designing courses for twenty years. He was a free spirit, enjoyed good scotch, and usually about fifteen cigars a day. Not only did he name the eighth hole at the Jasper Park course "Cleopatra" but also shaped the hole with such voluptuous and suggestive contours that Sir Henry Thornton, President of the CNR protested and a discreet nip and tuck was performed on the hole to quiet Thompson's patron.⁴⁴

Graham turned Thompson loose-not always a wise decision for Thompson was not one to allow costs to interfere with his desired results.⁴⁵ On Racquette Hill, overlooking Digby Basin, 250 acres were acquired at a cost of $22,500 and the Dominion Atlantic Railway poured an additional $96,500 into the thirty-six acre masterpiece, which Thompson would produce.⁴⁶ The finished product was unique, although it mimicked in reverse the layout of the home of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Muirfield, Gullane, East Lothian. The first nine at Digby Pines lie in a counter-clockwise circuit round the outer boundary of the property. The second nine run clockwise, inside the first nine, with the result that the wind is always coming at the player from a different direction. Thompson's creation has stood the test of time and remains today one of the finest and most interesting golf challenges to be found in the nation.

In terms of Nova Scotia golf, Thompson saved his best for the last. He benefited from the desire of both the provincial and federal governments to create a national park in Nova Scotia. The result of those negotiations was the upgrading of a 300 kilometre stretch of highway from Cheticamp to Englishtown commencing in 1932 and is today known as the Cabot Trail⁴⁷; the establishment of Cape Breton Highlands National Park in 1935 and the decision to build a golf course to both attract and keep tourists in northern Cape Breton. Tourism, sport and recreation, job creation and nature preservation, an irresistible package in a rural area of Nova Scotia where job opportunities outside of lumbering and fishing were scarce. Best of all it would be financed with government dollars.

The Cape Breton Highlands golf links at Ingonish winds from Middle Head through the Clyburn Valley and over hilly terrain for nearly seven miles. Thompson referred to his creation as "Beinn Mare"-mountains and sea.⁴⁸ The on-site work was superintended by Geoff Cornish, supported by C.E."Robbie" Robinson. Cornish recalled that he had a crew of 287 men who worked twelve hours a day for a dollar a day. They had one grader but the contract specified it could be employed only twenty hours a week.⁴⁹ In the Spring of 1939 when Robinson arrived at Sydney an early thaw had set in, making the roads impassable for cars. At the same time the ice had not left the north shore of Cape Breton and the steamers were not sailing. It took Robinson three and a half days to walk to Ingonish.⁵⁰Thompson named every hole on the course. Number seven is "Killiecrankie" because it resembles the narrow pass of Killiecrankie in Scotland. Indeed many of the holes are named for and replicate holes on Scottish courses-Corbie's Nest, the ninth at Keltic, replicates the hole named "Alps" at Old Prestwick.⁵¹

When the course and park officially were opened on 1 July 1941, Canada was at war; tourism was down and the production of golf balls and golf clubs had virtually ceased. The end product was described as

Thompson's masterpiece saw little play until well into the 1950s. However, after fifty years of the growth and development of golf courses in Nova Scotia, Keltic signaled a new era had arrived for the sport in the province.

We began this evenings ramble through the development of golf courses in the province with a reference to the deity. It perhaps is fitting to close on a similar note. A 1925 promotional piece in the Canadian Golfer by Tom O'Connor described the golf courses of Nova Scotia, and adopted a religious theme:

ENDNOTES

1. Halifax Herald, 1 July 1937, p. 7, col. 1.
2. Olive M. Geddes, A Swing Through Time, Golf in Scotland 1457-1743 (Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland), p.1.
3. James A. Barclay, Golf in Canada A History (Toronto: Royal Canadian Golf Association, 1992), p.8.
4. Brian Flood, Saint John A Sporting Tradition 1785-1985 (Saint John, 1985).
5. Allan C. Dunlop, A Golfing Tradition...Halifax Golf and Country Club, 1922-1997 (Halifax: Halifax Golf and Country Club, Ltd, 1997), p.5; ibid., "Looking back on Halifax's 100 Year link with golf Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 3 May 1996, p.11.
6. Barclay, Golf in Canada A History, p.12.
7. Claribel Gesner, Cape Breton Vignettes (Hantsport: Lancelot Press, 1994), pp.5-8.
8. Dunlop, A Golfing Tradition, pp.5-6 and 17.
9. Colchester Historical Society, Proceedings, Reports and Program Summaries 1954-1957 (Truro, 1959), p.95.
10. James Doyle Davison, Mud Creek: The Story if the Town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia (Wolfville Historical Society, 1985), pp.167-68.
11. Wolfville Nova Scotia Gateway to Grand Pre and the Home of Evangeline. Copy at Old Courthouse Museum, Kentville.
12. L.S. Loomer, Windsor; Nova Scotia, A Journey in History (Windsor: West Hants Historical Society, 1996), pp.80-81.
13. Amherst Daily News, 13 May 1909, p.4; 24 June 1909, p.3; 27, 29-30 May 1939, p.7; for references to the Maccan Club, 1910-1911 see John Wolstenholme, 60 Years of Golf in Moncton (Moncton: City of Moncton, 1990), pp.17 and 20.
14. James 0. Murdock, Golf at Chester, 1914-1969 (Chester Golf Club, 1969), pp.3-4.
15. RG7, Vo1.236, No.1925, Public Archives of Nova Scotia (hereafter PANS).
16. Bob Howell, unpublished paper on history of golf in Nova Scotia (copy with author), p.86.
17. Acadian Recorder, 24 July 1914, p.3; Dartmouth Patriot, 25 July 1914, p.7; Frank N. Robinson, Golf Gleanings Old and New and the History of the Maritime Seniors' Golf Association (Saint John: Maritime Seniors' Golf Association, 1952), pp.80-81.
18. Sydney Record, 8 July 1901,p. 6.
19. Ray MacLean, A State of Mind. The Scots in Nova Scotia (Hantsport: Lancelot Press, 1992), p.79.
20. Gesner, Cape Breton Vignettes, pp.5-S
21. Murdock, Golf at Chester, 1914-1916, p.4.
22. Golf in Canada, Canadian Pacific Railway, 1919, pp.2, 17-18. Original at Acadia University Archives.
23. RG 39, Series "B", Vol 28, No.612½ - Bankruptcy proceedings for White Point Beach Company Limited, PANS.
24. Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 25 October 1963, p.23.
25. Yarmouth Vanguard, 10 September 1991; Halifax Morning Chronicle, 24 April 1920; Armstrong Papers, MG 2, Vol.21, F1/7076, PANS.
26. Allan C. Dunlop, A.P.C. Historical Booklet, 1928-1980 (New Glasgow: published by author, 1980), pp.3-4.
27. Parrsboro Record, l7 July 1929, p.1; 17 September 1930, p.1.
28. Peggy Armstrong, "Hillsdale - Where Golfing and History Go Hand in Hand," unpublished history.
29. Dunlop, A Golfing Tradition, pp.8-12.
30. KentvilleAdvertiser, 6June 1929, p.1.
31. Glace Bay Gazette, 11 May 1922, p.5.
32. Alexander Graham Bell Museum, Baddeck, Home Notes, Vol.117, p.52.
33. Lunenburg Progress Enterprise, 22 July 1987, Section B, p.1; Allan C. Dunlop, "Memories of Forty Years Ago," Golf News, July 1993, p.19.
34. Howell, unpublished paper on history of golf in Nova Scotia, pp.32-33.
35. Liverpool Advance, 4 May 1932 for a detailed description of the formation of the Liverpool Golf Club and its arrangements with the Trustee for the bankrupt White Point Beach Co.
36. Charles T. Smith, The Dominion Atlantic and Nova Scotia," MA thesis, Acadia University,1965, p. 101.
37. Marguerite Woodworth, History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway {Kentville, 1936).
38. Kentville Advertiser, 26 March 1953, p.17
39. Parrsboro Record, 11 October 1932, p.1.
40. Allan C. Dunlop, "The Nova Scotia Amateur, 1927-1939," Golf News, June 1996, pp.32-33.
41. Smith, The Dominion Atlantic and Nova Scotia," p.101.
42. Lorne Rubenstein, Touring Prose (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart), p.7.
43. Truro Daily News, 20 May 1930, pp.1 and 8.
44. Rubenstein, p.9; Richard Lawrence, He Built a Better Trap," Maclean 's Magazine, Vol.62, No.9, 1 May 1949, pp.24-25, 63-64 and 66.
45. Ibid., pp.8-9.
46. Woodwonh, History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway, pp.146-147.
47. Terry MacLean & Judy McMaster, The Cabot Trail 1932-1992 (Sydney, 1992), p.29.
48. David P. MacAulay, The architecture of Stanley W. Thompson at the Historic Scottish Golf Links in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia," unpublished paper (author's copy), p.6.
49. Conversation with Mike DeYoung, Manager Superintendent, Hartlen Point Golf Course.
50. Conversation with Ken MacDonald, RCGA Governor. See also Sydney Post Record, May 1939 for references to ice conditions.
51. MacAulay, The architecture of Stanley W. Thompson...," pp.7-8.
52. Report of Department of Mines and Resources to 31 March 1940 (Ottawa: King's Printer,1941), p.86.
53. Canadian Golfer, Vol.11, No.2, June 1925, pp.148-152.

PHOTO CREDITS

Figure 1. Nova Scotia Golf Association Collection, A1.69, Public Archives of Nova Scotia.
Figure 2. Nova Scotia Golf Association Collection, A1.50, Public Archives of Nova Scotia.
Figure 3. Nova Scotia Golf Association Collection, AI.9, Public Archives of Nova Scotia.
Figure 4. Nova Scotia Golf Association Collection, A1.9, Public Archives of Nova Scotia.

Appendix
Founding of Golf Courses in Nova Scotia, 1895-1945

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