@buffalolooper on Twitter has vehemently objected a second time to the exclusion of Canadian courses from our “Best Nth Hole in Buffalo-Niagara” series of elections. His current objection centers around the 11th at Cherry Hill (Ridgeway, Ontario), a subtle and harsh par three with a miniscule, vengeful putting surface. As I recall, his previous objection based itself on the exclusion of the 4th, a muscular par four with a world-class drive zone.
Is the complaint of @buffalolooper legitimate? Absolutely. Does it change our approach? Not at all. BuffaloGolfer recognizes the wonderful courses along the Niagara causeway in Ontario. If we worked diligently, between Fort Erie and Niagara-On-The-Lake, we could come up with 5 or 6 private courses and 2-3 times that many public courses…and a number of questions~
How do we balance Canadian & US nominees?
Do we keep the candidates to 4 public & 4 private?
How far into Ontario do we extend the boundary for the nominees?
How many Ontarians will know US courses and vice-versa?
For these and other questions, we decided to limit the voting to US courses. We recognize the worthiness of these neighboring courses to the north and west and plan to give them their due in future posts. Unfortunately, our imperfect system would be even more imperfect if we included them. If you haven’t seen them, get your enhanced driver’s license in order and start trolling the web to learn more. Ontario’s courses are not to be missed.
Of the gems across the border, Whirlpool is a terrific old course. Stanley Thompson designed some of the very finest courses in the world in the land of hockey.
Cherry Hill is a club with an almost 90% US membership! What I propose you do is limit the group to include those courses which are members of the Buffalo District Golf Association – of which Cherry Hill is one. It has hosted the BDGA District Championship, the BDGA Mid-Amateur Championship, and many other “Buffalo-based competitions”. I agree with @buffalolooper that it should be included in the rankings. The club was founded by Americans in 1922 is, in effect, an American Club. Just my two cents.
I cannot disagree with you on any of the points, except for the membership percentage (since I don’t belong and have no access to their rolls.) Membership in the BDGA is dicey, as Hunters Point is an on-again, off-again member, and it gets worse from there (not fit for public consumption) for other clubs. I believe that the best putting green in Buffalo-Niagara is #18 at Cherry Hill~I would never tire of that one. I also feel that the work that Ian Andrew and his team did at Cherry Hill makes it a legitimate top-four course in the BDGA kingdom.