Trois-Saumons golf club
A piece of art created by its members

Source : Golf International (vol. 11, no 4,)

Extract from Pierre Gingras article (spring 2002)

Located at Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, the Trois-Saumons golf Club looks like it's area : carved, woven and forged with precision, love and passion.

A famous gastronomical relay, the town of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli is regarded as a cultural and historical place recognized, a destination impossible to circumvent on the road carrying out the travellers towards the Atlantic Ocean. Called the "capital of artworks", the city became Master in art to accomodate its visitors well.

The Trois-Saumons golf Club does not make exception to this rule. It is besides what had held my attention at the time of my first visit to the golf club a few years ago. This observation was observed many times at the time of future excursions.

Nothing to minimize the efforts of the other golf clubs in urban environment for receiving the visit, prevents only the Quebec-Appalaches mountains area (elsewhere in province also), one finds this heat, this courtesy, this pride, this different mentality, and this joy of receiving the tourists. A way of making that the other clubs forget sometimes well involuntarily.

Stressed by the vibrating day to day life, exceeded by the idle circulation , disillusioned by the deafening noise of the city and perhaps resigned by your bad golf performances , you are ripe for a golf round or two at the Trois-Saumons golf Club.Unless you combine the golf, the bicycle and fishing? Why not!

Origins

With at its head 13 provisional administrators, the non-profit-making corporation "Trois-Saumons golf Club Inc", of which the first goal was to build a golf course in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, was made up in December 1974.

One year later the corporation became purchaser, at the cost of 13 000 $, of the grounds located at the limit of L'Islet and Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, and undertook work of deforestation and grubbing financed by the tourist Commission of Port-Joli built-in of which the goal was, and is still today, to promote tourist industry in the area.

Enjoying a certain support within the local population, not less than 150 people held an active member certificate in 1979, whereas the ground was not yet open. In June 1981, after the official opening of the first 9 holes course, the dream had become reality. The adventure continued in 1987 with the addition of the second 9 holes course, and the hiring of it first golf professional and an assistant two years later. Equipped as in the major leagues, the Trois-Saumons golf Club saw in 1989 its custom undergoing an increase of 60%, compared to the 1988 season. They celebrated with glare the 20 years of the club in the year 2000.

The golf course

Opened to the public and completely irrigated, the Trois-Saumons golf Club is a par 73, 6508 yards from the blue stakes.

It presents a not very uneven relief, particularly flat for those which prefer to walk instead of using carts, but it is strewn with several obstacles of water and sand bunkers. The first 9 holes will not give you much respite with its par 5 at the first, fourth and ninth holes, and "a good" par 3 of 210 yards, at the fifth hole.

Second half of the course will involve you towards the most picturesque hole, the 14th, then towards that which prove to be most interesting for the long hitters, the 15th, a very long par five of 577 yards of the back stakes. The head pro of Trois-Saumons, Bruno Bérubé specifies us his own vision of the course.

«It is not a complicated golf course, it is even less a monster. You have to respect it and stay concentrated and alert because of the many obstacles. If you avoid the traps (water hazards, trees, out-of-bounds) and if you hit your driver relatively well on the par five, you will have a good golf round.»

«The first nine holes are broader, more open thus easier. Contrary, the second half of the course is narrower with a out-of-bound on the left or bordered by the Trois-Saumons river on the holes 14 and 15. Be also wary of the dominant winds coming from west, which will complicate you the existence at the holes 4, 5 and 10. There is much leafy trees, less conifers and a ground exposed to the winds, thereby there's no flies or almost.»

Interesting points

The most representative holes of the Trois-Saumons golf course are precisely the 14th and 15th. The 14th is without any doubt the most picturesque with its 372 yards of the blue stakes. This par four dog leg to the left will require your precision and strategy. A solid tee shot of 250 yards in the left center of the fairway will bring you to 122 yards of your objective, located 10 yards below.

Bordered by an out-of-bounds on the left side and the Trois-Saumons river which flows left of the green, it will be impossible for you to roll there. You will must, on your approach shot, to cross the ravine which separates the end of the fairway and the surface of reception. Fortunately, a slightly tilted plate forwards will support the reception of the ball of who which will tackle this green of good dimension. A beauty in itself.

What about the 15th hole, a par five. Unpack your muscles to hope to make a par on this long 577 yards golf hole. The big hitters will appreciate the most distant stakes. Bent slightly towards the left, you will have this time to privilege the right center of the fairway with your tee shot in order to hope for a good placement with your fairway wood.

Don't be distracted by the landscape, this carefree attitude could cost you a shot or two. After having wiped some sweats which will have beaded on your face, you will be ready to attack the 16th hole, a superb par three of 166 yards, then a par four, 30 degrees dog-leg with the following hole. Finally, the 18th hole will leave you open-mouthed by his hump fairway, its lake on the right and its sand bunkers on the left.

Members importance

The golf Trois-Saumons club members constitute truly the force and the heart of the club of golf. Proud, accessible, polished, cordial, they are mainly coming from the municipality and of the surrounding cities, but also of outside. These members will accomodate you in addition to guiding you on the course to avoid you some traps that only them seem to know. The female section does not pass unperceived with its significant delegation.

The social life of the club occupies a great importance with leagues with the evocative names of "Saumoneaux", "Couples", without counting on many tournaments: "tournoi des quilleurs", "camping la Demi-Lieue, "les gens de L'Islet", les résidents du lac Trois-Saumons etc…

Projects

Several improvements were made in the last years to the Trois-Saumons golf Club. For example, the restoration and the enlarging of the club house, which could accomodate 325 people in 1990.

Since last season, all the cart paths where asphalted and double toilets (men and women) were installed at the crossroads of the 4th and 16th tee-offs, and in the same time close to the greens of holes 6 and 13. An addition extremely appreciated by the female section.

More than 300 years of history

Proud of a rich past, Saint-Jean-Port-Joli knew to make profitable the skill of his artists and craftsmen to exploit materials as various as wood, metal, the stone, the plastic and bronze to diversify his economic activities.

Arrival of the first clearers in 1677, the Seigneurie of Port-Joly knows many years of prosperity, in peace and the hard country labours. Agriculture, the exploitation of the forest (maples and conifers), as well as fishing allow to diversify the thin resources of these first colonists.

After the deportation of 1755, some Acadiens come to settle in the villages of the Côte-du Sud. September 16, 1759, major Scott and his troops carry out the orders of Général Wolfe, whose warships were seen downstream from the river.

The villages of Kamouraska, Rivière-Ouelle, Sainte-Anne, Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies, l'Islet and Saint-Jean-Port-Joli are burnt. It was the worst tragedy of the colony. Fire destroyed the buildings and the boats of the inhabitants. It is supposed that the majority of the disaster victims did not flee the area and spent the winter in shelters of fortune in forest for courageously rebuilding their village as soon as possible.

Starting from second half of the 19th century, the shortage of the arable lands will push a great number of young people of the community to the exodus. They will leave for the cities, the parishes of colonization of the back-country and, later, will be exiled towards Lac St-Jean, the United States or Western Canada.

It is in 1858 that Saint-Jean-Port-Joli sees the arrival of the train, a first section of the quay 30 years later. In 1895, a saw mill and a telephone network arrive at Trois-Saumons, are exploited by the Price Brothers company. The establishment of a banking institution in 1905 reflects the prosperity of the parish. The birth of the car industry in 1906 and the road improvement in 1917 will allow the arrival of the first French-speaking and anglophone tourists. The progress of these decades will generate the estival tourist development of the community.

Single cultural phenomenon in Quebec

At the beginning of the 20th century, three families of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli restarted the trades of art in Quebec. The craft industry, resulting from their talent, made it possible to support the tourist rise of the parish at the time of the economic crisis of the years 1930 and, consequently, was worth to him an international reputation.

Since 1923, the weaver Émilie Chamard as well as the three Bourgault brothers, brought together in the same workshop in 1931, carve objects out of wooden. Eugêne Leclerc works counterparts of sailing ships since 1927. All these memories of navigation materialize by an impressive fleet of famous miniature boats, such Blue Nose (represented on the parts of 10 ¢).

During following years, painting, the jewellery, ceramics, turning, the cabinet work, the ironwork and other trades of art are added to the existing disciplines. In this artistic medium, certain sculptors experienced new materials, as the stone, the metal and the glass fibre. Today, the artists and craftsmen of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, the "Capital of artworks", maintain this spirit creative whose works are appreciated in the whole world.