I need some context here - fucked-busy / fucked-awesome / fucked-burned down in a malicious act of corned beef warfare?
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Fucked awesome haha. Got there early, got a table. We all had the fatty sandwich and some poutine. Great place, seemed like a staple. When we left the line was aroudn the block.
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Hell yeah - this makes me happy! Glad you made it work, it really is an institution for a reason. Enjoy the rest of your time there, and share your other highlights when you can.
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Hey dude, we are pretty light on members from Quebec, but we do have @dylcoch a few hours north of you in Val D’or, also a couple people in Eastern Ontario, myself included. The Duck Club Roost does some remote events so you can always participate that way as well if you’re interested.
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There are some definite all about ontario vibes as always but you never know what could happen.
Throw up a flag for quebec, there may be some others waiting to jump in. After some pushes to get involved out this way I’ve managed to meet and play with quite a few nest folk, and have some regular golf pals as a result.
Also echo @BigtimePolecat and others suggesting travel for events and remote quota are fun ways too. Always worthwhile imo.
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Lived in Montreal for 8 years and can confirm, it’s a rare pleasure to see a fellow NLU fan/nesticle in Quebec! In my experience, lots of people know it and watch the YouTube stuff/listen to some of the podcast, but I never really found any other diehards while I lived there.
Yea there’s some NLU fans around but haven’t met too many diehards. I think I’ll join the Nest mostly to encourage the crew, and reap a couple of benefits as well for sure. Good to see there’s a decent Canadian contingent anyways. Let me know if you’re out in my neck of the woods!
Side question : Do us hoser-nesters still have to pay the international shipping costs? Say on the gear and the member gift and all?
Great list of recs for Mtl btw @duncmitchell! Definitely nailed the high points 
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So… how was it?!
Dunc is an absolute master when it comes to MTL food spots.
I will tell you something he can’t. The chicken spot near Pit Caribou was worth every second of the 45 min wait to order. It’s called Ma Poule Mouillée. No curveball. No changeup. Nothin but fucking GAS.
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Gah, now I’m even more disappointed I didn’t shoe-horn it in. Next time!
Taking note for December getaway with the wife.
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Pit Caribou absolutely rocks - shoutout @bordercity for that rec way back. Made two stops there last month and cannot recommend it enough.
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Bad news. Unfortunately didn’t leave New Hampshire in time to make our reservation, so we went to La Projet instead. Very sufficient replacement, had a great time there. 1608 (Fairmont Hotel bar) was another good spot, had a drink there on our way out of the walled city.
Bar Ste-Angele was our nightcap, absolutely loved this place. It’s a little jazz bar, maybe 30 people capacity downstairs? Really intimate space to watch some people jam, everyone inside having a good night as it poured rain outside.
Really fun night, thanks again for all the recommendations @duncmitchell. Currently in Montreal on a little brewery tour today and will try and check out the other places you mentioned tomorrow.
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Incredible spot. Historic too. Glad you enjoyed.
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I would also suggest, planning an event local to you to try to generate some local interest and connections. Might even get some eastern Ontarians or Ottawa folks to make the trip!!
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Wasn’t sure where to post this but thought some Canadian Nesticles would appreciate this.
I grew up on PEI and played some junior golf with a guy called Kris Taylor who worked most of his career on PEI as a pharmacist before becoming a property developer a few years ago. Both of Kris’ brothers played on the Canadian Tour with his younger brother Craig winning an event on tour in 2005 I think.
Kris is now looking to buy the land that was the fabrication yard used to build the Confederation Bridge from PEI to NB. His plan is to build a golf course there which would be the first new course in 20 years on PEI.
A post about his plans has been making the rounds on WhatsApp groups and on other social platforms this past weekend (September 16th / 17th). Kris doesn’t use social media so a lot of people have been posting and sharing on his behalf. It sounds interesting and I hope he gets it off the ground. I’ve asked some friends back home (I live in the UK now) if they know who he is working with on the design side but haven’t heard back as yet.
Anyway here is the post in full copied from my WhatsApp.
Long read…
-Information meeting to be scheduled for “Abegweit Links”
Hi my name is Kris Taylor.
I am from Hunter River.
I was a pharmacist in my community for 21 years but left that profession over 5 years ago because I could no longer ignore the call to design, build and work with my hands full time.
I mostly work on projects in my community, building “Harmony House Theatre” out of our old United Church, salvaging the old “Dr. Ellis’ office” on the corner into apartments and a restaurant, and most recently a housing project salvaged out of the old Catholic Church on the Hunter River hill.
I like to think I have good vision. I am a hands on, work hard, but open to discussion and direction person. “Developer” or “Entrepreneur” are words that I don’t think fit. I see things that need to be done, or that I have a passion for, and I just get at them the best way I know how and in that process I love to learn.
When the finishing touches happened on my Church Renovation project this winter, I was looking for a bit of time to relax and maybe play more golf. Haha.
It was a project that spanned almost 4 years and I was very proud to finish what turned out to be a challenging but very nice addition to my community.
At about the same time I realized that the islands golf course product was turning a corner. The courses around me were totally full from the day they opened in the spring until the last days of fall. People are literally playing until dark. You need to book a tee time 7 days in advance and sometimes you still can’t get a time that suits. Membership courses have waiting lists again.
I grew up on the golf course with my two brothers. Born between them I was a bit of an ugly duckling golfer who loved the sport regardless of my talent and they both went on to have professional careers on the Canadian Tour. My younger brother was the first and only islander to win a Canadian tour event. My daughter now plays golf at Appalachian State in North Carolina and my two sons work and play at the golf course all spring summer and fall. My step-daughters have no time for the sport. So I understand both sides.
Needless to say, golf has always been a huge part of my family. My dad still plays and walks the course at age 81. I am a huge proponent of golf, and the outdoor joy and exercise it brings every age. And every age and gender can play together. I love to see the new face of golf that is emerging. Ladies line the driving range, young couples having date nights on the course listening to tunes. Times are changing and it has been very good for island golf!
My artistic and design side met my building and construction side at a very interesting crossroads this spring. I felt a special sense of purpose and interest and I was convinced that I needed to prove to myself that there had to be really good reasons why I should NOT look at a business plan and property to build a new golf course as my next project.
I casually started to look for a site that would suit my purpose. I didn’t look for very long until I somehow found myself standing in the old fabrication yard of the Confederation Bridge in Borden-Carleton. I learned that the provincial government would be holding a “Request for Proposals” (RFP) for the fabrication yard soon, and as much as I needed a break, I was almost immediately spellbound with the property envisioned as a golf track,……and I have seen a lot of courses.
I visited the site daily in early spring with my range finder, printed maps from google earth and a strong desire to route a golf course that I thought could be very very special. It didn’t take long to realize that even though the site was smaller than most golf course properties I could make it work, and yes, from my perspective, it was going to be unique and special….and it had quite a story.
The Idea of “Abegweit Links” was born and walking.
The fabrication yard site spoke to me in many ways.
Firstly, I salvage. All my projects to date involve saving something before it is lost or salvaging something that already exists into a new and exciting purpose. The site was in ruin but it has such a steeped history of a great Canadian engineering project still etched in every concrete slab, rail bed and the amazing jetty remains. I saw that putting infrastructure in there would be a very difficult task and is probably why numerous ideas for the site over the years were scrapped. However, landscaping some organic material back over areas to grow grass again would not be a show stopper. To save many of the fabrication yard artifacts that still remain by incorporating them into the design of a course would be artistically appropriate and could serve as a documented history of the site. I saw a vision that spoke to me as an artist, golfer, salvager and builder all keeping in mind that we should not forget what happened there.
Second, as a golfer I almost felt like I was back in Scotland or Ireland walking the coastal cliffs and moorlands from where golf originated. I felt like I was Old Tom Morris surveying what would be a classic links. The site was stripped flat and lifeless. That’s where the original courses started. On what was considered poor land. Land that was unusable for farming or anything else.
Golf is making a pilgrimage back to this type of course. We are returning to the roots of golf. People flock to the original classic courses of the British isles now in droves. New courses in North America that have adopted this links pursuit are usually very successful.
Course architects of the past 70 years have sometimes bulldozed and mounded land to fit their drawings. They tended sometimes to make a spectacle out of land that didn’t initially make sense as a golf course. The original links courses were basically there by nature,…sticks were placed, balls were dropped, hickory shafted clubs were swung.
I’ve spent the last 4 months working confidentially with an accountant and numerous leaders in the golf course industry to actually make sure this project works in a business sense, in a construction sense and in a community sense for the area of southern Prince county and Borden-Carleton.
The people in the golf industry whom I bring to the site for advice are very positive and fully stand behind my vision in a business sense and layout perspective. The numbers work well in a conservative business plan. Logistically I am now also quite certain I can make it work from a building and construction standpoint after working through the golf course construction process with seasoned professionals and a golf course architect and landscape consultant.
I have even walked the site with the chief environmental officer of PEI to understand the logistics and responsibility of building a golf course on this site and returning it to a green space from its current barren state.
I feel like I’ve done my homework and that has been confirmed by those professionals around me.
In my proposal I would intend to purchase the land from the province at the price that they have put into it. I am well aware that the people of PEI, the provincial government and the Mi’kmaw confederacy among others, are not interested in funding or handing over free land for a golf course.
I know the “golf” word is still not a favourite one with government. There is not a great history there financially or politically. But, golf courses have created a very important product on PEI. They also help many other industries such as hospitality and accommodation businesses and numbers are up. (please read the Golf PEI 2022 Annual business report).
And yes, some island courses are not doing as well as others. Location, course maintenance, course design, service and price can all be factors in a competitive market.
The truth is that for a major golf destination the island has not produced a new golf product in over 20 years!
In any industry if you don’t keep moving forward, then you are moving backward. I see a new golf course as a rising tide that floats all boats…. all floating boats that is.
But the biggest question remains.
As a community minded person, now that I’ve decided to go public with my golf course proposal for the upcoming fabrication yard RFP; does the island community, the golfing community, the town of Borden-Carleton actually want something like this?
I’ve learned through past experience that you must have community support for any project. If you can’t make a community better or bring them something that they want or need, then you will likely not succeed in bringing it.
I have talked to the municipality. I have talked to Innovation PEI numerous times. They now currently own the property and have given me pertinent information leading up to the RFP. They are also currently working on an in-house proposal to build an industrial park in the fabrication yard of which I have my own opinion. I can’t imagine the sight of an industrial park beside the Maritime Electric industrial compound as the first things you see crossing the bridge to our island. I will leave that argument for another day. Innovation PEI will be having their own public meeting about their industrial park proposal in the coming weeks.
I know a few people and worked with a few people from Borden-Carleton and my initial discussions with them are encouraging. They have started to talk to those around them to get feedback. There seems to be a lot of industry in the town already and a lack of recreation and housing for those industries and everyone in general. But I won’t continue speaking about a town in which I don’t live or haven’t lived.
I think the best way to move forward is to have a public information meeting. I will share my vision and my plans for “Abegweit Links” and potentially a much needed multi-unit housing project on the property. I encourage the local residents , members of the golf community, government members, indigenous groups and anyone wanting more information on the project to feel welcome. Those wanting to attend will hopefully share their thoughts, encouragement, discouragement, and give me information that might make me look through a different lens. I encourage all constructive conversation.
I don’t have a social media account. I choose to not have any for personal reasons. But I know that social media might be the only way for me to let people know about my project in a short amount of time. So I suspect that those who have shared this letter might receive the extreme comments from both sides. I will weigh comments and information brought forth at the public meeting. I will decide on the Borden-Carleton location and time of this public meeting based on the interest gauged from this letter and make that public in the coming days.
Thank you for your time.
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Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I sent you a DM.
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I almost hit it through there… does going over it count for anything?
I tried to go through the door/just over it, but flared it out right to the rough between 7/1, just off the shrubbery. I did get up onto the green and two putt par though!
Hitting over it was the easy part… the green bit me, 4 putt. Moral victory for not hitting it
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