CPKC WOMEN'S OPEN

August 24, 2023

Andrew Hart

Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to the media center for a very, very special presentation. Our good friends with the Canadian Golf Superintendent's Association, as you know, do a presentation at each of our professional championships to acknowledge the special work that goes into the preparation.

So very pleased to be joined by Jamie Robb, course superintendent at nearby Marine Drive, for a very special presentation to Andrew Hart, who Andrew, you and your staff have done incredible work, preparation, hurry up and wait, and I'll pass it over it Jamie for the official presentation.

JAMIE ROBB: Thanks so much, Dan. So thank you to Golf Canada and CPKC for this opportunity to honor one of our members today. The Canadian Golf Superintendent's Association represents over 1000 individuals at the national level across Canada. Our mandate is to promote and support the profession and provide education, research, resources for golf course superintendents.

As part of the ongoing effort to recognize the role of the superintendent at the golf facility, the CGSA sponsors the National Tournament Program for members that host these prestigious events.

Our members are an essential part of the team that ensures that the golf course provides fair and consistent conditions for competitions.

Andrew Hart, superintendent here at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, is hosting the CPKC Women's Open this week. He's been a member since 2010 and in the industry for over 20 years. He joined Shaughnessy ten years ago and previously worked at Royal Montréal and Seymour Golf & Country Club in North Vancouver.

It's my pleasure to call upon Andrew to accept the CGSA National Tournament Award in recognition of his efforts in hosting the CPKC Women's Open conducted by Golf Canada, and is one of the most prestigious of our national tournaments.

Congratulations to Andrew and his staff.

(Applause.)

THE MODERATOR: Andrew, maybe just a couple thoughts on accepting the award on behalf of the team and just the volume of preparation that goes into getting ready for an LPGA Tour championship.

ANDREW HART: Yeah, it's fantastic to have the opportunity to accept this award on behalf of my entire staff here at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club. Certainly with the amount of preparation that we've been undertaking over the last number of years since we initially heard we would be hosting this event in 2019, it's been a long journey to get here.

A lot of different staff members have put many hours of work prepping into this golf course. I truly couldn't be happier with the effort that they've done. We wouldn't be in this shape and ready to host this event if it wasn't for all their participation throughout the last number of years.

THE MODERATOR: Now, certainly there was a matter of being ready pre-COVID, getting ready. How has that process been for the team, for yourself? You stay with it; you look ahead to finally doing it. But what has that process been like since your initial preparation leading up to taking a pause and then getting to today?

ANDREW HART: Yeah, it's definitely been a roller coaster as we've gone throughout this. There was two years where it really felt like we were getting close and then I think I said to the team this past Monday that it feels like this time we're actually going to host it.

So definitely as the infrastructure builds started to go the excitement has been going up and up. Today you could see it on the faces of all the staff in the yard as we got ready at 4:30 in the morning here in the pitch black. Everybody was sleep deprived but excited and energized and ready to go.

They've been doing a great job, so it's been fantastic. A bit of a journey to get here, but it's just made it all the more special.

THE MODERATOR: Now, you've certainly had experiences at wonderful golf facilities. This experience, what have you taken away from it in terms of other agronomy experts that you've worked with? What's the takeaway for you experientially on getting to this championship?

ANDREW HART: I think working with Mitch Moon and the LPGA and kind of seeing how they come in and how they view the tournament prep has been really fun and exciting. Kind of gives a different perspective of what they're looking for, and just the minute changes between -- I shouldn't say minute, but the changes between the professional tour level and setting up for our membership on a daily basis and trying to walk that line throughout the course of the season where we're setting up a golf course for the Shaughnessy membership but preparing for this event.

It's been a really interesting journey getting to where we are today, kind of making sure that we have our members in the back of our mind as well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Congratulations. Obviously there was a three-year delay from when this event was originally scheduled here at Shaughnessy. What challenges did that present, and also maybe what did you learn from having that delayed three years?

ANDREW HART: Yeah, it was really interesting because when we first heard about it, it obviously raised a lot of interest in very high-skilled staff that wanted to come and work with us and help us out.

But as we progressed that staff grew and developed, and we lost two of our -- I shouldn't say lost. Two of our really great team members here went on to become head superintendents at other courses. We couldn't be more proud of them.

One of them is here right now in the room, which is awesome to have him fly back from Halifax to join us for this week. The other one is coming in tomorrow over from the island.

So it's been interesting kind of watching people develop that were so excited to host this event with us and then have been able to take that next step into their career.

But at the same time, that's brought in other good staff that have been able to fill their role. It's just been an open door of people who have been engage and wanting to come help us out here.

Q. What about you specifically? How do you develop as a superintendent, just you, over the past three years?

ANDREW HART: I think going through the COVID experience obviously taught us all a lot. That was a real good way to learn how to really manage people through that hard couple years there.

So just getting those personal skills with the staff and building that relationship, it helped definitely. It also just allowed us a little bit more time to work on the course and target some of those things that were just kind of lingering behind the grounds.

Maybe not right down the middle of the golf course, but some of the outer edge details that we wanted to tackle. Gave us a couple extra years to get to those, so...

Q. Looking to the future, it's hard not to, how does this tournament set up what you hope to have in, say, the next ten years as you look to the future of the golf course?

ANDREW HART: Yeah, I think that's really easy. The goal for us is to host the best possible playing conditions that we can for our membership. That's what we're looking to do on a daily basis. I don't think that's going to change in any given year.

So we're just going to continue to strive to put forth the best conditions for our membership year in, year out. This is just one more step that they can feel proud about what is going on out there on their home course that they can play.

Q. Not a question but a comment. Just to say thanks on behalf of everyone at Golf Canada and CPKC. What you do is incredible, and the course setup and the conditions are perfect for our championship and championship golf.

So a big thanks to you and your entire staff. Without you, we can't put it on. So thank you.

ANDREW HART: Thank you for everything that you and Golf Canada has done for us as well. It's been great working alongside you guys.