Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/130253
iG1304--proof 5/9/13 9:00 AM Page 1 IN PROFILE ALL IMAGE CREDIT/COURTESY: EAGLE POINT GOLF CLUB EXCEPT WHERE NOTED BY GORD MONTGOMERY A NEW NORTHERN STAR When most golf course architects see the area they are about to transform for the first time they walk it to get a feel for the lay of the land. There are of course exceptions to that rule and one of those is a new course coming on stream this summer in northern Alberta. As Grant Puddicombe, the managing partner with Puddicombe Golf explained, the land his company was looking at transforming into an 18-hole layout, to be known as Eagle Point Golf Club, was so heavily treed it was impossible to walk. So, they took a different approach to solving this wooded puzzle, scouting the terrain from the air. "You are basically clearing corridors in the trees, working with the land. You don't have to create a whole bunch of things," he explained of the beauty of working from on high. That of course isn't to say the Eagle Point GC project was a cakewalk. "Pictures (from above) don't do the land justice, how big those trees are, how dense the forest is," Puddicombe continued. "We started by walking the site but walking was so bloody tough. Honestly, it was so hard to even get through there. We did our best to rumble through the property, walking cutlines, just to get a feel for it and then we worked from above." Puddicombe Golf began working on Eagle Point, located in Wabasca, AB., in 2010 after another company started the project but was removed. Since that time the Nisku-based company, perhaps rightly called the First Family of Golf in Alberta, has put their stamp on this project with the first nine holes set to open early this summer. Course superintendent Albert Bissonnette also said he'd had some tough times with getting this concept to where it is today although his struggles were of a different nature. "Probably the biggest difficulty I had was getting people that had actually worked on a golf course before," he noted of finding skilled workers to forge the groundwork in an area that isn't heavily populated. SPECIAL EAGLE POINT GOLF CLUB FEATURE The track, where the final nine holes are expected to be open sometime in mid-2014, is carved from among stately boreal forests and sits on the edge of North Wabasca Lake. The backdrop, Puddicombe said, was spectacular, so they made full use of that. "One thing with the clearing, you sort of work around the bigger, nicer specimen trees and you don't create straight lines. You sort of meander around some of the decent-sized trees." Another factor coming into play in this natural setting was the abundant wildlife and how the new facility can co-exist peacefully with them. "The biggest concern I have is the bears; there's so many of them," Puddicombe said. "What they thrive on is the berries and I guess it's going to be about managing the irrigation along the fairway perimeters and managing the berries to keep the food sources not so plentiful. The area's loaded with animals." Continued On Next Page 73