First project for Weir and Andrew
30 June 2011
Canadian golf legend Mike Weir and his design partner Ian Andrew have signed up their first major project.
Weir and Andrew are to remodel the Blue course Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac in Montreal. Founded in 1917 by a group of French Canadian businessmen, Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac’s Green course was designed by the Scottish architect (and twice Open champion) Willie Park Jr.
Over the years, the club added two nine-hole courses (1968 and 1992), known today as the Blue Course. It is these holes that will be renovated by Weir and Andrew. Andrew has consulted at the club for over 15 years. “We want to make the Blue course just as appealing as the Green,” said Rémi Racine, vice-chairman of the club’s board and the project leader.
Weir, who formed a partnership with Andrew in 2009 said: “Ian and I both believe in developing courses where you need to use your mind as well as your skills to succeed. We believe in presenting the golfer with multiple options and allowing them the opportunity to take on as much risk as they feel comfortable with, but if they want to score they are going to have to take on all the hazards and attack the course which brings more of the danger into play. This is the main reason I wanted to team up with Ian. We share such a common vision on golf architecture and believe we can offer a style of architecture that is far more interesting to play. Ian has an outstanding reputation as a course architect, developed through his restoration and renovation of many of North America's best courses. The detail work that he has done on those projects will be brought into our new designs. Golfers will be impressed by the level of detailing in our greens and bunkers.”
“The Blue course boasts an outstanding property and we intend to take full advantage of it,” said Andrew. “Twelve of the holes will follow the same basic configuration as the original holes. We will make modest changes to enhance each hole particularly at the green sites. The other six will tremendously improve after we re-route them to make much better use of the existing topography. Mike and I are being given the opportunity to build something very special at Laval-sur-le-Lac.”
Work will begin in autumn 2011 and the golf course will be ready for the 2013 season.