By Ted McIntyre

The news was jolting and horrific, and for those with access to mainstream media and dial-up internet, it flooded in as though a dam had burst. Filtered as it was, though, through a lens of fear and anxiety, some of the information was bound to be misinterpreted. Such was the case for my American playing partner. Voluntarily trapped in the serene, surreal environment of this virgin golf course, he had been steadily fielding calls on his cell phone for the past half-hour when his wife back in Upstate New York reported to him, “Now a plane has crashed into the White House!”

It was such a glorious morning, that Tuesday, September 11th, 2001—barely a breath of wind, not a cloud in the sky. The temperature would eventually climb to 24C. Niagara Tourism, which had been praying for such an idyllic day, had assembled a cast of celebrities and media from both sides of the border to unveil its newly minted Legends on the Niagara Golf Club.

An ambitious $40 million project that involved the collaboration of Canada’s two most famous living architects, Thomas McBroom and Doug Carrick, the sprawling facility, situated just six kilometers southeast of the Falls, featured a pair of 18-hole layouts, a 9-hole short course, a putting course and a 45-acre, 360-degree practice facility.

And you were hard-pressed to find a blade of grass out of place. “It was so pristine, basically scissor-manicured out there,” remembers then-assistant superintendent Tom Newton. “Not a single divot.”

Designed by +VG Architects’ Peter Berton, son of famed Canadian author Pierre Berton, the 35,000 sq. ft. clubhouse centrepiece evoked Frank Lloyd Wright-like characteristics of roof overhangs and the marriage of stone, wood and water. Incorporating local forts and Niagara park pavilions into its design theme, it commanded a glorious view overlooking a manmade lake and the Battlefield Course.

It was within that grand structure, around 8:30 a.m., that the media conference commenced. With video rolling for posterity and journalists scribbling in notebooks and audiotaping the proceedings, Niagara Parks Commission chairman Brian Merritt made his opening remarks about the elaborate project and the history of the site, on which the Battle of Chippawa had been fought on July 5, 1814—”the longest, bloodiest military campaign of the War of 1812.”

Niagara Parks had acquired the land six years prior, setting aside 700 acres for the golf facility while “preserving 300 acres of the pristine battlefield, the last remaining site from the War of 1812,” Merritt informed.

Afterward, McBroom and Carrick shared a few thoughts, with media questions to follow.

Considering it was the first collaboration between the duo, I was curious to explore the true extent of their mutual admiration.

“Doug,” I asked, “what’s your favourite Tom McBroom course? And Tom, what’s your favourite Carrick course?”

Architects tend not to occupy their time espousing the virtues of a rival’s work, and so Tom intoned, “You really are a sunnuvabitch, McIntyre.”

He was kidding, I think. Still, Merritt leaned in front of the video camera, smiled and said, “Strike that from the record.”

On the record, McBroom identified Bigwin Island on Ontario cottage country’s Lake of Bays as his preferred Carrick course, while Carrick cited Heron Point in Ancaster, Ontario from McBroom’s portfolio.

About the same time as I was posing my question, 500 kilometres to the southeast as the crow flies, an American Airlines Boeing 767 carrying 81 passengers, 11 crew and three al-Qaeda terrorists plunged into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

WORD FILTERS IN

The plan was to wrap up the press conference around 9 a.m. and head out for a shotgun start. But just as the gathering was breaking up, word began to spread of the incident in New York City.

Most of us in attendance made our way out the door toward our carts, assuming some unfortunate Cessna pilot had suffered a heart attack and inadvertently collided with the tallest office buildings in the western hemisphere.

But a handful, assembled in front of the fuzzy TV screen affixed above the clubhouse bar, watched a live feed of the smoldering hole between the 93rd and 99th floors of the North Tower, when American Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.

This is how eight of us in attendance at Legends that day remember those moments and the hours that followed.

 

Tom Newton, Senior Superintendent, Niagara Parks
“I’ve been racking my brain and what keeps coming to mind is the pall that darkened that whole day.

“One thing I do remember is the anticipation from our team about the event, having never really shown the property to anyone. We were so excited. We’d spent years preparing for this day, and finally we were offering what we felt was the premier golf facility in the region.

“I was assistant superintendent then, and my responsibility was the grow-in and establishment of the Ussher’s Creek and Chippawa courses. I was out in the field, preparing the property for the day. Very few of us had cell phones, so word was spread among our team through two-way radios—and someone blurted out that the World Trade Center had been hit by planes. I recall thinking it was some sort of accident. But it didn’t take long before word was out that they were full-sized airliners.

“A lot of our work on the course is done early, so the plan was to keep our staff busy on the rest of the course, since we’d only had 18 holes open at that time—the front nine of Ussher’s Creek and the back nine of Battlefield. But I do recall a number of staff wanting to leave for the day to see what was going on.”

 

Buffalo News reporter Mark Gaughan, Past President of the Pro Football Writers of America, regular correspondent at the Masters and U.S. Open
“I am the Buffalo Bills writer and Tuesday was always my day off, so it was perfect timing for me to play in this event. I was super-excited. There was a great sense of anticipation about the opening of this course. It was big news for Buffalo/Niagara, Western New York, because if you play golf in Buffalo, you probably play a lot in Canada. I was actually a member of Hunters Pointe in Welland from the time it opened in 2000 until they closed. My Twitter account picture is still No. 9 at Hunters Pointe!

“McBroom’s and Carrick’s reputations had really grown over the previous decade, and it was such a big project—bigger than a private developer might have bitten off, with the government funding it. The Niagara Region already had the Falls, the wineries and the Shaw Festival—this would help make it a golf destination too. And as far as execution of the design went and who they got to do it, it was a great project.

“I remember speaking to Carrick and McBroom that morning and was ready to go out and tee off, when I happened to walk through the grill room and the TV was on. I saw that one of the Towers had been struck. Everyone was stunned. I stood and watched for two minutes, but my assumption was that it was a horrific accident, so went out to tee off. I had my tee in the ground when Brian Merritt (who has since passed away) came out and said, ‘It looks like another plane hit, and they’re talking about maybe closing the border.’

“Now I’ll play through a hurricane and I’ll play when it’s 38F out. But when I heard that, I took the peg out of the ground, put my ball in my pocket and told the guys, ‘I’m very sorry, but I have to leave.’

“I probably got in the car around 9:30 a.m., not exactly sure of what was going on yet. Then I turned on the radio and headed for the border. I got to the Rainbow Bridge and they weren’t messing around. It probably took me two hours to get across, but I was lucky I did, because they closed it—at least temporarily—later in the day.”

 

Curtis Labelle, Senior Manager of Golf Operations for Niagara Parks (then Head Pro, Whirlpool GC)
“They’d finished off the introductions of invited guests and were about to send everyone out to play golf when one of commissioners came to me and said, ‘The Twin Towers just got hit by a plane!’

“In the frenzy of activity, I can remember a growing concern that the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Complex would be targeted by one of the planes still out there. At the time, it fed power to much of the Eastern Seaboard, so that was the big scare for the Niagara Region that day.

“Some folks went out and played, some went home, some hung around the clubhouse for a bit. Everyone was looking forward to a great day, but golf became the least important thing.

“They shipped me back to Whirlpool to tend to things there. In those days, 40% minimum were American guests—mostly Western New Yorkers. The vast majority quit, since there was a concern about getting home before the border closed. Even some of the locals were shaken and wanted to go home to tune into the television to see what’s going on.

“Back then, most didn’t have cell phones, so three of us went out onto the course in carts to inform everybody of what had happened. There were at least 12 to 15 Americans still playing who were unaware. We didn’t have all the details, and the story kept changing and rumours were coming out, but there were people crying, visibly in shock, when we told them.

“Every time I go to book a tee time on September 11th, it brings back memories from that day.”

 

Robert Brooker, former Assistant G.M. and Finance Director, Niagara Parks Commission
“I was nearing retirement and had stayed on to see the project completed. It was a really interesting process, taking Canada’s top two architects, who had never worked on a project together. I’m a fan of both. I’ve played Pebble Beach and St Andrews and my all-time favourite course is still Doug Carrick’s Greywolf in Panorama, B.C.

“With respect to Legends, I remember Doug saying he’d never been on a property before where there might be too much land.

“Tom and Doug had to decide where they were going to put the clubhouse. Doug won the toss, so the clubhouse went with the Battlefield Course.

“In researching the project we started touring different courses and looking at clubhouse designs, from Bigwin island, Rocky Crest and Lake Joseph Club to Toronto courses. And I recall going up to Sudbury to interview Tony Evershed, who was the first head pro.

“For the grand opening, we had selected some of the top golf writers in the U.S. and Canada and invited them to play a U.S./Canada tournament, the Writers’ Cup. We also invited Mike Weir. He had another commitment with Johnny Miller, but he sent a video that we played at the event.

“We were getting ready to head out to the course and I was standing in the bar section of the clubhouse, looking at the TV with some other folks, and we couldn’t believe our eyes. We stood with our mouths open. There are events in life where people ask, ‘Do you remember where you were when…’ Well I will never forget it.

“My son Darrin was a foreign exchange trader for CIBC in Toronto’s head office at the time. He was on the phone that morning with a trader he knew, nicknamed Porky, who was on the 25th floor of the North Tower. In the middle of the conversation, Porky said, ‘The building is shaking! I think we just had an earthquake.’

But someone across the room where Darrin was working shouted, ‘An airplane has crashed into the World Trade Center!’ Darrin told his friend, ‘It’s not an earthquake—a plane has crashed into the building. Get out!’

“Porky rushed down 25 floors, and saw the firefighters coming up the stairs—most of whom would never come out. He went to a restaurant down the street, and when he saw it on TV, he started crying. He suffered PTSD for a long time after that, but is okay now. He and Darrin have remained good friends to this day.”

 

Steve Vanderploeg, Design Associate, Carrick Design
“For me, that day was going to be special. I’d joined the firm a year earlier and it was the first time I’d been the project architect, Doug’s right-hand man. I was impressed that Niagara Parks had probably invited three or four times as many media and celebrities as I’d ever seen at a golf course opening before. It was the first time I spent any time with Tom McBroom, and I remember being impressed with all the golf journalists who were there, whose names I knew but had never met.

“That morning was joyous. We were hitting balls, and everyone was really impressed by the facility and the clubhouse. We were getting ready to go play golf when the first plane hit. I remember standing in the bar looking at it. It was a very, very surreal experience.

“But everyone thought it was just an accident and there was still optimism about the day ahead. Then everything turned when the second plane hit, and everyone knew this was no accident.”

(Read about 9/11’s lasting impact Legends on the Niagara here.)

 

Doug Carrick, Carrick Design
“It’s hard to believe it was 20 years ago. I remember gathering in the lounge for the press conference, and then someone running into the room and saying, ‘Turn on the television. A plane has gone into the World Trade Center.’ I remember the reception on the TV in the bar was kind of fuzzy. It was this incredibly somber moment. The first thought was that it was an accident, but not too long afterward it came out that it was an intentional terrorist act. I was thinking, ‘Holy shit! World War III is going to start.’

“We ended up playing, but the golf was so secondary to me. I don’t recall who I played with. There was at least one guy from New York who had family there and he was phoning to see if they were okay. And there was discussion about the border closing. Some left immediately, although I think everyone in our group finished their round.

“It should have been a celebration for Niagara Parks. I felt so badly for them afterward. They launched this beautiful new facility, and the world had just changed that same day. It was obviously hard to celebrate.

“A good friend of Bigwin Island GC founder Jack Wadsworth was Ali Hanna. He’s passed away now, but Ali had an office in Manhattan, not far from the World Trade Center, and I remember him talking about that day. He was in his office at the time, and he talked about the debris and paper—all this paper quietly flying all over the city after the towers collapsed.”

 

Tom McBroom, Tom McBroom Golf Design
“Doug and I were both really excited. Niagara Parks was a great client. The clubhouse was over the top, designed for bigtime conventions and conferences. The Ontario government kind of backstopped the project when it went over budget. But it was good use of the land—it was never going to be developed since it was now frozen as greenspace as part of the Niagara Parks master plan and preserved the Battle of Chippawa site.

“That morning I remember hearing of the crash before leaving the building. I played with two Americans and (the late Tim Hortons mogul and Fox Harb’r Resort founder) Ron Joyce. The Americans said they had to get home and made a few phone calls to the airport, but learned that the airspace was closed. Everyone was wandering around gobsmacked. Then we decided, ‘Let’s go play. What else are we going to do?’

“It was one of the crazy days where you knew you shouldn’t be playing golf, but you did play golf. It was surreal—it’s impossible to remember all the pieces to that day. This dark cloud hung over everything. And I still felt a bit of a sense of duty to be there, since Doug and I were the architects.

“I found out the next day about a guy who lived on our street in the Kingsway in Toronto. He was a dad with two young kids and happened to be in New York City on business that day…at the World Trade Center.”

 

Ted McIntyre, golf journalist
As for myself, it’s interesting what sticks in people’s memories from that fateful day and what has faded into the ether. A couple days after 9/11, I received a call from my American playing partner. But I can’t remember his name. What I do recollect was that he’d called to ask details from our day together. It was mostly a blur to him, although he proceeded to list the events of September 10th in remarkable detail. He remembered the mist from the floodlit Falls beading on his face from his open hotel room window. He noted everything he ate and drank and discussed among fellow media that prior night, and even repeated the conversation he’d had with his wife before retiring to bed. But after that, he noted, there was only fog.

Save for the names of those in my foursome, I have several vivid memories of the day. Unaware of the presence of a TV to view the immediate aftermath of the first crash, I—as with most there that morning—absorbed the story piecemeal as our group moved to the first tee and beyond.

We had already teed off when news came of the second plane. Cell phones bleated as we made our way through the opening fairways—all the latest details shared. Potentially hundreds of planes had been hijacked, we were told. The news seemed to grow dimmer as the sun blazed more brilliantly.

When my opponent related the call that a jet had apparently gone into the White House—likely his wife’s misunderstanding of the Pentagon crash—I looked at him in shock. He stared back blankly.

“Do you need to get home?” I asked.

“I don’t think there’s anything I can do. They say they’ve closed the borders.”

And so we played on, as he stayed in contact with his family.

Even when word came that the Twin Towers had collapsed, what else was there to do? He looked at me and shrugged, “We may as well play golf.”

Like automatons, we made our way around the front nine of McBroom’s Ussher’s Creek course—almost mistake-free, out-of-body match-play golf. Then I looked at my scorecard and realized I was three under par through seven holes…and was still only one up! It was a lesson of perspective and of golf—how good you can be when you play completely unconsciously. But then our brains began to process more than the day’s traumatic international affairs and we remembered that neither of us were nearly that talented, and our scores steadily climbed back to reality.

In the end, I edged him 1-up, with the match wrapping up on the treacherous water-lined 18th hole of Carrick’s Battlefield course. But winning or losing a golf match was, of course, utterly meaningless in light of the day’s events. No announcements were made of who won, who lost and who walked off the course in a state of shock.

We gathered around that small TV that seemed to have been hastily installed behind the bar to watch low-resolution highlights of what most of the world had already seen in stunning clarity a hundred times.

“How surreal it must’ve been,” I thought, “to have watched it live. To have seen the terror in people’s faces and to have seen the walls of innocence come crashing down like that.”

My first email the next morning was from Randy Guyton, an American golf PR buddy with Fletcher Martin Ewing, whom I’d met at the PGA International Trade Show in Orlando earlier in the year:

“I just wanted to send a note about yesterday’s tragedy and a sincere hope that everyone is safe. Aside from the emotional and mental trauma that everyone is feeling, I hope that no one was affected personally by the senseless tragedy yesterday, and if so, my heart goes out to those people.

“It seems strange to try to conduct business as usual today, so I hope I don’t offend anyone by trying to do my job today. You may or may not get anything for me today. I apologize profusely if I do offend anyone.”

A few minutes after reading Randy’s email I learned that a cousin of a woman in our office had spoken to her husband in the World Trade Center after the first plane struck. He was going to try to find a way out, he told her.

And then the line went dead.