Fanshawe Golf Course

Fanshawe Golf Course, also known as Fanshawe Golf and Bike Club, is a municipal golf course in London, Ontario. It overlooks the beautiful Fanshawe Lake in the northeast corner of the city. There are 45 holes at Fanshawe, with the picturesque Traditional Course and the rugged Quarry Course boasting 18 holes while the Parkside Nine caters to those new to the game. Fanshawe has two sister courses, E.V. Buchanon Thames Valley Golf Course and River Road Golf Course also operated by the City of London.

History
Fanshawe was founded in 1958 as a nine hole course under the direction of Pro Bill Fox and greenskeeper Hubert "Chink" Ward. With immense popularity came rapid expansion with the advent of a second nine in the 1960s forming the Traditional Course. Soon thereafter Bill Fox went on to become director of golf for the municipal system, leaving the head pro duties to Mike "Olly" Olizarevitvch who still occupies the position. Under Olly's direction the club created the blue nine in the early 1980s which was expanded to the full Blue Monster 18 in 1997. The Parkside nine was created in 1999 . Recently, the Blue Monster moniker was changed to The Quarry. The Quarry was chosen to more accurately describe the courses origins, as it occupies the site of an old gravel pit. Furthermore, there were fears that the Blue Monster name was scaring people away from the course, possibly linking it to the other famous BLue Monster Course located in Doral, Florida.

The Traditional
At 6183 yeards par 70, the Traditional Course is playaable to the inexperienced golfer yet is still an enjoyable round for the accomplished player. It is a parkland course, similar to a traditional U.S. Open course such as Merion Golf Club or Bethpage State Park. The par 3 holes are particularly enjoyable. Both the second and twelfth holes require carries of over 200 yards to elevated greens with trouble all around. While the par threes can be trecherous, the par 5 holes can be exploited as all are reachable in two strokes by an avid golfer. The course record is a 62 shot by Andy Boon, Lee French and current Associate Jeff Clark. However, the course played to a par 72 for a number of years and the low score being 9 under by a handful of players.

The Quarry
The Quarry Course is a links style course that can provide quite a challenge to golfers of any skill. Winds are always fierce in "The Pit" and there are hazards aplenty. It could be compared to Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, host of the 2004 US Open. The Quarry certainly plays hard and fast, sometimes even becoming a nice crispy brown colour, although this is not as common (at least in the fairways) with the recent instillation of automatic irrigation. The Quarry is especially difficult from holes 8-11, formerly known as "The Monster Zone". Hole 8 is a 142 yard par three over marsh to a small, undulating, unreceptive green with trouble all around. The ninth is a monstrous 626 yard par 5 (par 6 for women) dog leg left with two ponds and a massive, sloping green. Number 10 is perhaps the best par 4 in the municipal system. It is long, measuring 450 yards uphill, with a pond in the landing zone left of the fairway and hazard to the right. The green is elevated and small, with a copse of trees guarding the left side and a sheer dropoff behind the green. Any ball hit left or long is gone. The last in the difficult stretch is the 11th, a 191 yard par three with marsh guarding the front and right of this well protected green. The course record for the quarry is a 63, shot by mini-tour player Martin Price of Collingwood.

Parkside Nine
The sternest test of willpower at Fanshawe is undoubtedly the Parkside Nine. Its variable conditions, Pinehurst esque greens and astroturf tees require all facets of ones game to be top notch in order to score well. The course record is an incredible 22 by Rabinder Blake.

Trivia

•The original clubhouse was located between the current 12th green and 3rd tee.

•Cathy Sherk visited Fanshawe for a round on May 13th, 2007.

•Joe Fontana frequents the Traditional course and is a very nice lad.

•There are numerous local golf pros who got their start at Fanshawe, including Bruce Atkins, Rob Mason, Rob Macgregor, , Rob Vincent, Travis Blake, Jeffrey Clark, Todd Delmage, Chris Grantier, Gil Parkinson, Adam Tyson, Todd Allen, Bill Fox Jr., Andy Shaw and the greatest of all time Michael Olizarevitch. Numerous successful amateurs honed their craft at Fanshawe as well, including William Laughlin, Chris Webb and 10 time Senior champion and North and South Amateur participant Clifford Brown and John Crowther who spent many years in Europe and North America as a touring pro.

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