On The Tee

 

Gander Golf Club

A Creative Routing on Lake Gander

Posted by Alistair Orr

Gander Golf Club is set on a beautiful piece of property located adjacent to the Trans Canada Hwy and overlooking Lake Gander. The tree lined fairway corridors flow over and across rolling hills that feature a few steep rises or drops in places and with wonderful scenic views of the lake and surrounding hills adding to the enjoyment of a round played here. The course’s beginnings date back to the late 1960’s when the local priest and physician imagined a course located on this scenic track of land. The course’s humble open in 1975 started as a three hole loop (the existing 11th, 12th and 13th holes) with six more holes following suite in 1978 to make it nine. The current layout of Gander came to life in 2001 after Doug Carrick was brought in to expand and re-route the existing nine hole layout to 18. Carrick’s contributions maintain the same flavour and flow over the properties slopes and ridges as the earlier creations and consists of holes two through eight on the front side and the 16th and 17th on the back side.

 

 

Golfing at Gander is a story of navigating the ups and down of the canting fairways and while not letting the views of Gander lake distract you from the task at hand. Although the overall length of this course is on the shorter side at 6137 the course shows more teeth than the scorecard would suggest because you will be faced with many tricky approach shots up to elevated green sites or down to greens that fall away. The front nine is 450 yards longer and more undulating than the back side and the birdie opportunities are fewer. The key to posting a good score at Gander is to get through the difficult and lengthy opening four hole stretch relatively unscathed and try take advantage of the shorter par fours (7, 11, 12 and 17) later in the round. There are six par threes on the routing and all use rises or drops in elevation effectively making club selection tricky while all four par fives have considerable up to them and have well protected green sites. Making birdies on the three’s or five’s is the result of hard work and good shot making as not one of the collection is a pushover.

 

Editor's Shot Maker's Picks at Gander Golf Club

Featured Holes	Hole 1	Hole 2	Hole 14	Hole 15
Par	Par 4	Par 4	Par 4	Par 4
Blue	423	208	420	185
White	382	181	365	172
Red	382	140	365	133
HCP-Men	1	9	2	14
HCP-Women	1	13	13	13

 

Feature Holes at Gander:

Holes 1, 2, 14 and 15 are great samples of really good use of the existing natural terrain and elevation to create difficult but fair holes. The opening drive of the round may be the most demanding you will face all day. Long at straight off the elevated tee is required for the approach with a long iron or utility is up a steep hill to a green complex that is protected by fronting bunkers. The green sloped severely from back to front so long is not a good option.

 

Hole #2

With Lake Gander as the backdrop, the par three hole number two plays over 200 yards from the tips and requires a well struck long iron or more to reach the large putting surface. The green site is large with a huge bunker left and steep fall aways left and behind. The prudent play is to come in from the right side and use the slopes to feed the ball to the centre of the green. A four, three start to the round will likely see you 2-up standing on the third tee.

 

Hole #15

The 14th hole is a slinging dogleg left that once again requires a long drive off an elevated tee setting up a lengthy uphill approach to a green that lies flat atop a ridge. You have choice on your approach: You can opt to try to take your shot in high and fly it all the way to the centre of the green or choose to drop a low right-to-left shot short of the green and let it release on to the putting surface.  Teeing off from the afore mentioned ridge with a mid or long iron, the par 15th hole plays down hill to a large green site that falls away to the back left. A front right pin position tucked behind the fronting bunker is likely the toughest pin placement to attack anywhere on the golf course. The wise player will take aim for the centre of this green and putt towards the edges. 3 is a very happy score here.

 

Gander is a fun track to play and the variety of long and short holes will have you reaching for every club in your bag at some point in the round. Nearly every hole offers a opportunity to be creative with your shot making and the green complexes require a deft touch that favours creativity. All in all Gander Golf Club is a course worthy of a visit if you fine yourself passing through Gander on the Trans Canada.

 

Course Stats:

Par 70 / 72	Yardage	Rating/Slope-M	Rating/Slope-F
Blue	6137	71.2 / 136	69.8 / 123
White	5662	68.0 / 131	73.1 / 131
Red	5164	66.1 / 122	69.8 / 123

Contact:

Gander Golf Club
4251 Trans Canada Hwy
Gander, NL

877-256-4650

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