Stony Plain GC Set To Host Major Pro Tournament
- Details
- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2024-08-12
By Gord Montgomery, Senior Writer, Inside Golf
STONY PLAIN, Alberta — At first glance, the Stony Plain Golf Course looks pretty placid. There aren’t any dramatic elevation changes, no forced carries of any length, and certainly no massive waste bunkers waiting to lay claim to wayward shots. Yet, this 18-hole muni layout can kick you in the shins when you least expect it.
As such, this track is the perfect place for the 2024 Cobra Puma Golf - Mobilicab PGA of Alberta Championship that will run on August 19-20, 2024.
As to the fact about this place taking a bite out of your score, look no farther back than the 2023 PGA of Alberta Assistant’s Championship. Mitchell Fox drove the reachable par-4 17th green during the final round and had a chance to take the lead with an eagle from about 17 feet or at least tie for the lead with a birdie. Instead, he 3-putted and ended up losing the title by one stroke.
Asked about his course playing host to a major event once again, Stony’s Head Professional Robb James noted, “It’s a great venue and everybody enjoys coming here,” he said of the 115 players already registered to participate this year. “This is a course where you can score well. With the success of last year’s Assistant Championship, we decided to take on this one which covers all the categories the PGA of Alberta offers.”
About going low at this course if one is on his game, James agreed with that — to a degree. “It’s the type of course where if it’s benign with the wind, it’s very gettable, but when the weather isn’t ideal, it can show its teeth. With the giant greens we have out here, driving greens on a par-4 may not mean an automatic birdie when you’ve got a 45-yard green from front to back, so there are opportunities for 3-putt pars despite a couple of our holes being shorter out here. So Mitch’s 3-putt par last year on 17 likely wasn’t the only one.”
Needless to say, it’s the putting surfaces that offer protection here for the most part. James agreed with that, noting these greens were installed five years ago and are now showing their teeth. “We can’t run these greens at an 11 or 12 on the stimp because most would be unputtable. Even at 10, 10.5 they show their teeth and if you get on the wrong side of them, beware, because they will roll out for sure. You can hit 16 greens out here and still have 40 putts if you’re not on the correct section of the green.”
Is there a home-course advantage for pros who work and play at Stony Plain regularly? James simply answered that by saying, “Yes. One hundred percent. We’ll probably have five [or] six of our professional staff competing, so we are very excited. I think it’s a great opportunity to see a Stony Plain staff member high on the leaderboard, if not on top,” as long as they don’t get kicked in the shins along the way.