Historic Glen Abbey golf course could be bulldozed to make way for housing development

The bunker that was the setting for one of the most famous shots in golf could soon become an oversized sandbox in somebody's backyard.

The owners of Glen Abbey Golf Club have filed a request to have the course bulldozed and turned into a commercial-residential development that would include 3,000 homes in Oakville, Ont.

Despite the request by ClubLink Corp., the company's owner says that golf balls will still be flying at the Jack Nicklaus-designed course for some time yet -- including next year's Canadian Open.

“What we are doing is … protecting the future zoning," ClubLink CEO Rai Sahi told the Globe and Mail. ``When that might get developed is some time in the future. It could be five years, 10 years. This is just a very preliminary thing.”

Any redevelopment could also be delayed by opposition from the town of Oakville and residents.

"I have huge issues," town counciller Allan Elgar told the Hamilton Spectator. "It is Oakville. That is how everyone knows Oakville, the Canadian Open in Oakville … I think this will galvanize the town. This will galvanize all the residents, and so it should. "

Glen Abbey may not be the best golf course in Canada, but it certainly is one of the best-known. In addition to hosting 27 Canadian Open tournaments, it gets international notice every time television airs the famous Tiger Woods approach shot from the 2000 Open.

That magical 213-yard shot ouf of a bunker on the 18th hole crossed water and landed near the pin, allowing Woods to win the tournament.

Glen Abbey isn't just a golf course, though. It is the home of Golf Canada and the  Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and Museum.

“ClubLink has informed us of their intentions to explore possible alternative uses of Glen Abbey Golf Club,” said , whose organization bought the course for $3-million in 1981. ClubLink acquired it in 1998 at a reported price of $40-million, a small fraction of its potential worth in the current real estate market.

For now, “there is no impact on Golf Canada’s operation, including our corporate offices and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame," Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons told the Globe and Mail. ``Speculating on Glen Abbey’s future would be premature at this time."

Redevelopment plans for Glen Abbey have been rumoured for some time and ClubLink's proposal to turn its Highland Gate Golf Club in Aurora, Ont., into houses last year only fuelled the talk.

While this could mean the end of one of Canada's most famous golf courses, and a relocation of the sport's museum and governing body, it may also say more about the tenuous state of golf. Glen Abbey is on prime land in a fast-growing region, so the plans could be more a product of profit than anything else.

But with golf courses being redeveloped across the country -- there are plans to turn two other Oakville golf courses into housing -- it may also indicate that the game isn't as healthy as it once was.