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had been refining the layout for three decades. That's a pedigree to consider. More important than pedigree though, there are some incredibly interesting and distinctive features seen in that historic photo — features that, in 2009, no longer existed at Victoria. Unique clusters of bunkers, for example, had been merged to created larger haz- ards (presumably to accommodate mechanical raking); shared fairways reminiscent of the Old Course at St. Andrews had been split into separate corridors by narrow bands of rough; and, a plethora of trees were planted throughout the course following Macan's death in 1964. For the past six years and more, using a treasure trove of historic materials, we've been working diligently to restore many of those distinctive features at VGC. I say "we", because Paul Robertson—who's been golf course superintendent at Victoria since 2000 — and his dedicated staff have been invaluable to those efforts. In fact, we've done all of our work at VGC without assistance from a golf course contractor. Paul and his team support my design and shaping work, and more—stripping and disposing of turf; installing drainage, bunker liners and new sand in the remodelled bunkers; replacing topsoil, finish grading and, of course, laying new sod. It's a remarkably unique situation that's produced unique results. Prior to my involvement at VGC, Paul had already significantly improved drainage throughout the course and upgraded its water- ing system. More recently, he and his staff have been clearing overgrowth and removing aged, troublesome and potentially threat- ening trees to reveal many of the property's most admired natural attributes, including beautiful rock outcrops, unique stands of Garry oak trees, and stunning long views across the course toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the distance Olympic mountains in Washington state. Restoration isn't always nostalgic. At places like the Victoria Golf Club, we're able to look back over a century of a course's devel- opment and evolution to determine what worked best. At VGC, leaning history and design pedigree, as well as the inherent beauty of a remarkably distinctive property, to genuinely restore it as close as possible to its architectural peak simply makes sense.