Langara Personalities

LANGARA PERSONALITIES

In no way is this article intending to focus on all the personalities who have played on the fairways of British Columbia’s first 18 hole public golf course. Hopefully the article identifies some of the prominent players and administrators who influenced the success of the championship public golf course.

First and foremost the two Vancouver based Canadian Railway Pacific (CPR) company employees, JE McMullen and Newton J. Ker saw the opportunity for the CPR to build a great golf course and sell their lands around the course in South Vancouver. Once the approval came the two hired the foremost golf course architect on the Pacific Coast, A Vernon Macan, to create the “best public golf course in Canada”. With one hundred seventy acres and an unlimited budget Mac created a public golf course for every level of golfer. After the first year of operation the Vancouver Sun described Langara as “the place where the masses come to play”. They were correct. Policemen, firemen, postal carriers, carpenters, plumbers, clothiers, painters, auto mechanics, electricians, taxi drivers and bus drivers all came to Langara and placed their fifty cents on the counter to try the new game. It is highly unlikely the CPR officials could ever have predicted the success. During the busy months the statistics recorded the success – 300 players a day and 900 per month. The operation became a real moneymaker for the CPR.

In typical Macan fashion he returned to the course the following spring after the summer opening to “see how the ball was running on the fairways and greens”. He made some adjustments and filled the greenside indentations with sand. In a very clever move Mac convinced the CPR officials to construct the driving range he called for in the original drawing. Langara now had the first practice range in the City. Public and private course players flocked to the facility to hone their skills. By 1933 three additional practice ranges with 18 hole putt courses had been constructed.

Prior to the opening the founders made several astute employee appointments. During the construction phase Frank Soutar acted as the accountant for the project. He held several positions with the course until his sudden death in September 13, 1966 – over 40 years as manager.  Nat Cornfoot migrated from Halifax to assume the head professional position. Originally from St. Andrews, Scotland, Nat nicknamed his new home – “the poor man’s St. Andrews”.  With the construction of the new driving range Nat did what he liked best – teaching golf to beginners. Everyone wanted lessons from the St Andrews guru. Shortly he became the busiest teaching professional in the country. In 1939 when war seemed immanent in Great Britain he returned to his homeland.

To over see the operation the CPR hired Ernie McCadden. Born in Belfast, Ireland Ernie loved golf. He found his calling at Langara. But best of all, his son, Charlie, rose to the top of the local golfers while at Langara. In 1927, at age fifteen, Charlie won the Vancouver City Amateur over the Shaughnessy Heights layout where he began his career. Ernie retired after 2 decades of loyal service to Langara.

With 300 players wanting to try their skills on a daily basis the course required the correct person to be the starter. Born in Glasgow, again the CPR hired the best man for the job, Dave Larg who left his foundry assistant job. With his Scottish accent and genial personality he managed to please everyone on a daily basis – even those who came to play without booking a tee time in advance. He remained at Langara until 1950.  Near the end of his tenure at Langara he loved to tell stories about the events he had seen over his long career.

He recalled the day the long limo came down the driveway in November 1926. Out stepped the king of golf, Walter Hagen. Dressed in starched white shirt, knickers and two-tone golf shoes “the Haig” came to play in front of 2,000 spectators. Walter paired with Roy Herne against 14 year old Charlie McCadden and Nat Cornfoot. The Haig praised the course, but most of all he praised fourteen year old Charlie who gave Walter and the other two professionals a playing lesson on how to conquer Langara. The next time Walter played to Langara he brought with him three PGA professionals.

 

Dave loved to reminisce about the dozen Japanese auto repair shop owners who could only play once per week. To satisfy their appetite for golf they teed off at 5:30 AM in the dark in order to play 54 holes in one day. On March 12, 1937 Koryo Tanaka had two holes in one in the same round. He aced the 115 yard 5th and holed his driver on the 210 yard 16th. The newspapers never reported if the feat occurred in the first, second, or third.

 

Dave recalled The Armistice Day Glen Oaks club championship that pitted Billy Main against Jack Ferguson. It was so cold Billy wore two suits of underwear, two shirts, sweatshirt, a jersey and a windbreaker. The clothing kept him warm enough for him to shoot 67 in the morning round and win his first championship.  He and Stan Leonard attended the same public and high school and caddied together at Shaughnessy Heights. Stan packed his bag.

The skilled players of the club learned very quickly after the official opening they could not play in any Inter-Club Golf Committee (ICGC) events or any British Columbia Golf Association championships (BCGA) because they did not belong to a formal golf club. To satisfy this problem a group of seventy-five Langara Golf Course regulars met at the Sun building on Pender St. across from the Lotus Hotel to form a golf club. They elected Reeve Jack Cornett of South Vancouver as the first President. Frank Soutar volunteered to do double duty by overseeing the office duties for the new club. Probably because oak trees lined the creek valley that meandered through the course down to the Fraser River, the club adopted the name Glen Oaks. (Note research has found several spellings for the name: Glenoaks, Glen Oakes, Glenoakes, and Glen Oaks). Soutar immediately applied for membership into the ICGA and the BCGA. The Inter-Club accepted the new group immediately because the ICGC wanted access to the new modern challenging Langara for their City Amateur, City Junior, and City Mixed Championships. The BCGA dragged their feet for eighteen months before accepting their membership request.

The Glen Oaks club directors did something that was common practice in Scotland. The club hired their own professional even though Nat Cornfoot was the course professional.

Billy Barr accepted the position for the princely sum of $1.00 per year. The club officials felt he did not need any additional remuneration because the members would pay him well for lessons and ball sales. Each party appeared satisfied because Billy remained until 1931 when Quilchena lured him away.

Langara and Glen Oaks became known as the training grounds for the future stars for the private clubs. As soon as a Glen Oaks member excelled in a local or provincial championship a private club offered the player a free membership into their club.

 

 

 

When Monty Hill was selected to the 1930 BC Willingdon Cup team Quilchena recruited him with a free membership.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Similarly Stan was given a free membership in Shaughnessy Heights when he won his first BC Amateur in 1934. After a few months Stan returned to his old pals at Langara. Along with brother Bill, Stan played his entire amateur career as a member of the Glen Oaks GC.

 

 

 

 

 

CC Colville, the champion and nationally ranked billiard player, began his golf career at Glen Oaks. He described golf: “ is an easy game because the greens at Langara are just like the billiard table. I plan my putts just like playing stymies in billiards.” After he started to excel in the BC Amateur, the PNGA, and the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championships Marine Drive recruited him.

 

 

Walt McElroy began his golfing career as a pupil of Nat Cornfoot in 1937. When Nat left in 1939 Benny Colk assumed the role. Benny and Walt became closed friends and travelling buddies through the 1940’s.  Benny cemented his relationship with the McElroys by marrying Charlotte, Walt’s sister.

When Walt began to excel other local players migrated to the golfing guru Benny Colk for lessons. Over the two decades Benny resided at Langara most of Vancouver’s stars took lessons from him at sometime in their career.  After his 1951 Canadian Amateur Championship win the Glen Oaks membership rewarded Walter with a $50 gold watch.

Noel Daniel, City Champion in 1944, began golf under Benny. Lyle Hurschman, the chain smoking tugboat captain, brought fame to Glen Oaks when he became the second public player to win the BC Amateur.

 

Frank “Tick” Willey another Glen Oaks player won the V&D championship. To accomplish this feat he played fifteen practice rounds at Langara averaging 70 strokes per round, totally changed his image by wearing plus fours argyle stockings and a low brim cap. From then on he became known as the local “Haig”. He lost to Don Gowan in the 1938 BC Amateur Championship.

 

 

In 1948 Percy Clogg, from Fraserview, and Walt McAlpine met in the BC Amateur final – the first time two public golf course players had accomplished this feat. Dave Dixon progressed from the caddie yard at Langara to assist Ben. Later he held the professional job in Nelson and Gleneagles in West Vancouver. Jimmy Robertson began at Langara and moved to Quilchena when he reached stardom.

Billy Thompson, the secretary of the BC Professional Golfers Association, described the Glen Oaks members in glowing terms. “You could not run a tournament without the golfers from Langara. They form the backbone of the game in the lower mainland. Fellows like Bill Simmons, Lyle Hurschman, Noel Daniel, Walt McAlpine, Bev Davidson, Sink Mowat, and Jim Robertson to mention a few. Maybe not the best players in Canada but the kind who are willing take a lot of beating and can challenge the province’s best players most of the time.”

Langara had many personalities on its fairways. This probably occurred because there were no codes like those at the private clubs. A player could be himself and express his personality through golf. This lack of pressure to do the “right thing”, “dress the correct way”, “hit the ball in the most stylish manner, and “play the proper brand of balls and clubs” contributed to a troupe of unique personalities.