Page 22 - GM Winter 2021

uFEATUREuGRAEME DOUGLAS, MANAGER, GOLF & HOTEL FACILITIES AT ST. EUGENE GOLF RESORT & CASINO
As I reflect on my career in the golf
industry, it has been quite the wild ride. From the completion of the Kananaskis Golf Project, 10 years in Europe with Golf Architects, Robert Trent Jones and Cabell Robinson, the Varadero Golf Club in Cuba with Les Furber and a 25-year stint with the St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino for the Ktunaxa First Nation, there are definitely some great memories.
I had the honour of contributing to some of the world’s renowned golf courses that hosted such events as Valderrama’s 97 Ryder Cup, Evian Masters, Scotland vs France in Moliets, and year-end European Tour event at Varadero. I experienced the physical challenges of working with warm and cool season grasses, hydro seeding a dune around an Atlantic Alliance “German Bunker,” moving mountains, surviving hurricanes and turning an icon of a building from a traumatic past to a destination resort. I also learned languages along the way and met people from different cultures.
In one sense, I worked for a King, billionaire, merchant dynasty, dictator and Chief. My other accomplishments were: Running with the bulls in Pamplona; Surfing the great waves of Southwest France; Dining with the Royal and Ancient Members; catching a blue marlin in the Caribbean Sea and experiencing an Indigenous Sweat Lodge. As I reflect on my volunteering and building courses, the Masters definitely comes to mind as a highlight.
AMEN CORNER
22 • CGSA • GreenMaster
ELIGIBLE ARTICLE
GORDON WITTEVEEN AWARD
a Steward
Career
I move in the pine straw to relieve the tension in my lower back, next to me a crowd control guard folds up his chair and gathers his belongings. A distant roar can be heard, the par 3 tournament is underway. He puts his keys into the white coveralls and tips his green cap, gathers the Phil Mickelson indicator flag on the way by. “Another day done in the office,” I say to him with a wry smile. He chuckles trying to decipher my accent, then asks with a southern drawl how long I must stay. “I was told to guard the equipment until relief comes,” should be soon.
Now alone, a Blue Heron swoops from the sky, perches on a nearby rock, the evening sun dances through the trees highlighting the pastel red, pink and white Azaleas. The breeze is warm, and I inhale the smell of the Georgia Pines, marveled by the contoured emerald, green turf covered in long shadows. My view is across the 13th fairway to Rae’s Creek. The heart of Amen Corner. A special place. The envy of the golf world.
COLLAPSES AND VICTORIES
The Masters highlights over the years included watching the great golf collapses of Rocco Mediate, Jordan Spieth, and Francisco Molinara on the 12th hole (“Schadenfreude moment”, they are human!), Phil’s spectacular shot