Interviews

Oakmont: An interview with Gil Hanse

With the 2025 US Open arriving at Oakmont, Richard Humphreys spoke with the architect, who renovated the course in 2023, about what to expect

Martin Ebert: Design journey

With a portfolio that includes eight of the ten Open venues, Mackenzie & Ebert occupies an enviable position in the golf design industry. Adam Lawrence spoke with principal Martin Ebert to learn how they got there

Designs for the big screen

Chad Goetz and Agustin Piza discuss their design decisions for the virtual holes that featured in the first season of TGL

Bob Harrison: Wizard of Oz

The Australian designer has had a long career and, like many of his countrymen, has spent much of it away from home. Adam Lawrence listened to his tales from the road

Ben Cowan-Dewar: Shock and awe

Golf development firm Cabot now has properties in six countries. Richard Humphreys speaks with co-founder and CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar about what makes a great site, selection of golf course architects, and more

Team building

Turfgrass has launched its US arm with the appointment of John Lawrence, Adam Moeller and Brad Owen. Richard Humphreys speaks with them, Turfgrass founder John Clarkin and director of agronomy Julian Mooney to find out more

Brian Curley: Life of Brian

The designer has surely clocked up more air miles than anyone else in the business. Adam Lawrence caught up with him in between flights to discuss his career and his new venture with Jim Wagner

Oakmont: An interview with Gil Hanse

With the 2025 US Open arriving at Oakmont, Richard Humphreys spoke with the architect, who renovated the course in 2023, about what to expect

Martin Ebert: Design journey

With a portfolio that includes eight of the ten Open venues, Mackenzie & Ebert occupies an enviable position in the golf design industry. Adam Lawrence spoke with principal Martin Ebert to learn how they got there

Designs for the big screen

Chad Goetz and Agustin Piza discuss their design decisions for the virtual holes that featured in the first season of TGL

Bob Harrison: Wizard of Oz

The Australian designer has had a long career and, like many of his countrymen, has spent much of it away from home. Adam Lawrence listened to his tales from the road

Ben Cowan-Dewar: Shock and awe

Golf development firm Cabot now has properties in six countries. Richard Humphreys speaks with co-founder and CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar about what makes a great site, selection of golf course architects, and more

Team building

Turfgrass has launched its US arm with the appointment of John Lawrence, Adam Moeller and Brad Owen. Richard Humphreys speaks with them, Turfgrass founder John Clarkin and director of agronomy Julian Mooney to find out more

Brian Curley: Life of Brian

The designer has surely clocked up more air miles than anyone else in the business. Adam Lawrence caught up with him in between flights to discuss his career and his new venture with Jim Wagner

Richard Humphreys
/ Categories: News

Vancouver’s University GC introduces new par three to address safety issue

University Golf Club in Vancouver, Canada, has turned to Alex Hay of Lobb + Partners to provide a permanent solution to reduce the number of balls being hit out of the property from the tee shot on the sixth hole, which runs alongside a residential road.

As a temporary measure, the club had been using a forward tee to address the issue on the par four hole. Hay, who runs the Canadian office of Lobb + Partners, has proposed converting the sixth into a par three, and then creating a new par-four seventh to replace the existing par three.

“The new sixth green sits perfectly on the natural terrain, moving from left to right,” said Hay. “Ordinarily, with a green of that orientation we would probably bunker the right side of the green, but to guide golfers away from the road we’ve placed a large visual bunker on the left side, and opted for a short grass runoff to the right.”

Hay’s project on the public Vernon Macan layout – which opened in 1929 as Westward Ho! and was renamed in 1985 after a redesign – will also see the introduction of native grasses in out-of-play areas to reduce irrigation requirements.

Construction, which is being handled by Alberta-based contractor Goodwin Golf, has started on the new sixth hole, with a temporary hole created so the course will have 18 holes in play throughout. Work on the new seventh expected to begin in 2025.

Previous Article Lexington CC: Spicing up a Kentucky classic
Next Article Beau Welling aims to ‘breathe new life’ into Vermont’s Stowe CC
Print
1409 Rate this article:
No rating
Slideshow HTML
  • University Golf Club Vancouver
    Lobb + Partners

    Alex Hay of Lobb + Partners with Charlie Goodwin and Shaun Eckhart of Goodwin Golf at University Golf Club in Vancouver, Canada

  • University Golf Club Vancouver
    Lobb + Partners

    Hay plans to convert the par-four sixth into a par three, to address a safety issue

ADd Image Credit here for home page
Lobb + Partners
Richard Humphreys

Richard HumphreysRichard Humphreys

Other posts by Richard Humphreys
Contact author

Contact author

x

Subscribe to the Golf Course Architecture newsletter


  • ©2025 Tudor Rose. All Rights Reserved. Golf Course Architecture is published by Tudor Rose.