{"id":37879,"date":"2017-11-15T16:30:41","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T21:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=37879"},"modified":"2017-11-15T16:49:17","modified_gmt":"2017-11-15T21:49:17","slug":"1it-is-with-great-sadness-that-we-announce-the-passing-of-keith-walton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/1it-is-with-great-sadness-that-we-announce-the-passing-of-keith-walton\/","title":{"rendered":"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Keith Walton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keith Walton, described as a devoted and compassionate husband, dad and grampy, loyal son and brother, and committed friend to so many, died suddenly and much too soon, surrounded by the love and adoration of his family on Monday, November 13.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A celebration of life will be held at The Mark O\u2019Meara Clubhouse on Sunday, November 19, 2017 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. For more information click here<\/span>. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The story that follows, What does it take to keep a course like Mark O’Meara looking great? Ask Keith Walton <\/em>was originally published on September 22, 2017. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Keith Walton had no idea when he took his first job at a Scarborough golf course that it would lead to a life in Muskoka helping to build and maintain some of the best courses in the world.<\/p>\n

Walton is the superintendent of the turf and gardening department at Grandview Golf Club in Huntsville.<\/p>\n

He has been getting up at five o\u2019clock nearly every morning for as long as he can remember, to make sure that members at the club enjoy what he calls one of the finest golf courses in the world.<\/p>\n

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But getting back to when he was 15. It was his first job after growing up in what was a rural setting on a dairy farm in the Rouge Valley in Scarborough. He started working for the superintendent who was a family friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout two years later,\u201d he recalled, \u201cI was his assistant at a private club in Stouffville, and then superintendent there when I was 19. I was at Gormley which is now Station Creek before I moved up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walton and his wife Jo had nicely started their family with three children Luke, Kyle and Jessica when the call came from Grandview.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was brought up here by Bruce Evans when he was building Grandview Inn,” recalled Walton. “He had just built the nine hole golf course and needed someone to grow it in. The condominiums were just starting at that point so I was lucky enough to see the whole place grow from scratch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe opened the golf course in 1988 and I worked for Evans for just over nine years and then Club Link approached me and wanted me to come and look after the Lake Joseph Club as their superintendent.\u201d<\/p>\n

By this time Kayla had also arrived in the Walton family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started there in April and this year have just had my twentieth<\/sup> year with Club Link,” said Walton. “I was two years at Lake Joseph and then they offered me the construction superintendent\u2019s job to oversee Rocky Crest. So I left there in the fall of \u201998 and started the clearing process, built the golf course and grew it in. That\u2019s when they got the approval to start the Mark O\u2019Meara club in Huntsville which is home base for me and was always the plan, too. So I came here in the fall of \u201999 and did the whole thing over again. We started clearing trees and overseeing the construction and growing in the golf course and opened the O’Meara in 2001.”<\/p>\n

The Mark O\u2019Meara golf course is one of the jewels in the Club Link organization, highly regarded and a destination for many golfers from around the world. Shortly after opening in 2002, it was the site of the PGA TELUS Skins Game and played host to pro golfers John Daly, Mike Weir, Vijay Singh, and winner Sergio Garcia.<\/p>\n

It was designed by an architect hired by IMG who also represented golfer Mark O’Meara, who lent his name to the course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did the initial layout on topographical maps,\u201d explained Walton, \u201cand then we surveyed the holes and did a small slash through the bush just to get a feel of the land, swamps or rock or whatever. The architect then came and we all walked the property and he made other adjustments. There was a lot of blasting necessary and it was expensive but necessary if you are going to have a golf course in Muskoka. After that more clearing and that\u2019s when you can see the golf hole come in front of you. That\u2019s when its fun and you stand there and say \u2018Wow, that\u2019s going to be a really nice hole’ or ‘that\u2019s going to be a really difficult hole’.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing Rocky Crest and coming here was the best part of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t