The Montebello Golf Club has been renowned in its nearly 80 years for two mounds in the first fairway that are a reminder of golf in the Scottish Highlands. It has a rich history that goes back to 1928.
(prHWY.com) May 29, 2012 - JUUO, AK -- The Montebello Golf Club has been renowned in its nearly 80 years for two mounds in the first fairway that are a reminder of golf in the Scottish Highlands. It has a rich history that goes back to 1928, when it was built as an enterprising country club designed by Max Behr, in 1941 the City of Montebello purchased the course and is now proud of this opportunity to welcome you, the patrons from local and distant communities, to our Montebello Municipal Golf Course.
Since Thompson emigrated from Scotland, where for centuries, golf course architects have taken what nature gave them and worked with it. Several years ago, an architect was brought in to do some renovation on the course and suggested blowing up the right mogul. That was the last piece of advice he was allowed to give. Thompson came to North America about the same time as legends Donald Ross and Alister MacKenzie, under contact to Canadian Pacific Hotels, ancestor of Fairmont Resort Hotels.At Montebello, Thompson crafted a sporty 6,240-yard layout that has stood the test of time, being ranked as the second-best public course in Quebec in 1998 by one publication and counted among the four best golf resorts in Canada by Travel and Leisure Golf in 2003. Thompson carved into the granite landscape a course on which every hole is unique, with no parallel fairways, leaving the golfer with the feeling at every turn that his or her group is the only one on the course. Despite the mounds on the first hole, this is not a links course. Montebello meanders through a dense forest, with spectacular river and mountain vistas. The golf season at Montebello opens on the last week of April and runs through October, weather permitting.
The mounds in the first fairway, which block the view of the green on the uphill hole, were meant to be a target. Hit your tee shot over them and the 320-yard hole is yours for the taking, but stay out of the trees to the right. Most golf courses did not have driving ranges in the early days of the century, so designers such as Thompson, Ross and MacKenzie purposely made their courses easier at the beginning to allow the golfer to get warmed up before ramping up the degree of difficulty. Highlight of the front nine is the fourth hole, a dogleg left, 522-yard par 5 from an elevated tee that gives the golfer a spectacular view of the Ottawa River Valley and the surrounding Outaouais region. With help from the elevated tee, big hitters can reach the green in two, but don't be short on the approach or your ball will wind up in the creek that guards the front. The tee shot on the par-3, 175-yard ninth hole is the most difficult on the course -- straight uphill to a dramatically sloping green perched on top of a hill, with a crevice swallowing any ball that is short or runs off the false front.
Chi Chi Rodriguez came to Montebello in 1993 and set the course record of 6-under par 64, but got lucky on No. 9 when his tee shot flew the green and stayed in the long grass behind the green rather than running into the canyon. He chipped all the way across the green for an improbable birdie, but complained all day that he could not make a putt.
The signature hole and most difficult is No. 14, a gorgeous 415-yard par 4 that plays downhill across two lakes fed by a tributary of the Ottawa River guarding the green. The mounds near the women's tee remain from the days when this was the bobsled practice run for the Canadian Olympic Team. Hit 3-wood off the tee and you will have about 150 yards left to the green, but try to hit the middle of the fairway because if you are on the right side you have the ball above your feet and if you go left you might be stymied by a large oak tree. Club selection on the approach is critical to be on the correct level of the treacherous two-tiered green. The final hole always has been another of those strong par-4s for which Scottish architects are known, but time and technology caught up with it until it was lengthened several years ago by 35 yards to 420. Instead of 220 yards to carry the bunker on the left and shorten the hole, it is now nearly 250, and the fairway is only 40 yards wide. Another bunker waits to guard the green of a terrific finishing hole.
When you are finished, enjoy a cool one on what Montebello historians claim was one of the first terrace bars overlooking the final green. Nowadays, almost every golf resort has one.
Expect the Montebello Golf Club, there are some other courses you should visit. Located about 10 miles away in Notre Dame de la Paix is L'Heritage Golf Course, a parkland course that measures 6,712 yards from the back tees. Le Chateau Montebello is part of the Quebec Fairmont Golf Trail, which also includes Le Manoir Richelieu in Charlevoix -- which was inaugurated in 1925 by President William H. Taft -- the numerous world-class courses near the Fairmont Tremblant in Mont-Tremblant, and several spectacular courses in the Montreal area not far from the majestic Fairmont Queen Elizabeth. In addition to the aforementioned resorts at Banff Springs and Jasper Park, Fairmont's other golf properties in Canada include the Chateau Whistler Golf Club in British Columbia and the Algonquin Golf Club in St. Andrews by the Sea, New Brunswick. And golf can be arranged at the Fairmont Palliser in Calgary, the Fairmont Hotel MacDonald in Edmonton, the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto, the Fairmont Newfoundland in St. John's, the Fairmont Winnipeg, three Fairmont properties in Vancouver and the stately Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, overlooking the St. Lawrence River in Quebec City.
Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, a few minutes from the course, is a relic from the past -- a lodge built in 1930 with 10,000 giant red-cedar logs, all cut and set by hand, over a stone foundation. In 1970, Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello opened its doors to the public and achieved world-wide fame when it hosted the 1981 G7 Economic Summit that included President Ronald Reagan, Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher of England, President Francois Mitterand of France and hosting Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada. More recently, Montebello hosted the 2007 North American Leaders Summit, welcoming President George W. Bush, President Felipe Calderon of Mexico and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada.
In addition to golf, this world-class resort, located on the Ottawa River at the foot of Westcott Mountain in the Laurentian chain, offers guests an array of activities that include an all-terrain vehicle course, tennis, basketball, badminton, horseback riding, hiking, kayaking, swimming, volleyball and fishing and hunting at nearby Fairmont Kenauk. In the winter, there are cross-country skiing, broomball, skating, sleigh rides, dog sledding, snow-mobiling, tobogganing, ice fishing and more. Or simply enjoy a hot toddy around the six-sided fireplace in the largest log cabin in the world.
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