Golf on a Former Battlefield in Quebec City
Legend surrounds the arrival of golf in North America. Some believe that Scottish soldiers serving under General Wolfe played the game as early as 1760 on Quebec City’s Plains of Abraham. The name “Plains of Abraham” dates back to the early years of New France. From 1635 to 1667, part of this plateau belonged to Abraham Martin—a farmer who used a path, now Côte d ’Abraham, to lead his cattle to the St. Charles River. The Plains were named in his memory.
The site later became famous as the location of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on 13 September 1759. Fought during the War of Conquest, it pitted French defenders against British attackers. The battle ended with a British victory and the deaths of both commanding generals, Montcalm and Wolfe. It marked a decisive step in the British conquest of New France.
When it comes to golf’s true beginnings in North America, however, nothing is certain. One of the earliest reliable references dates from the autumn of 1854, when a Quebec City newspaper reported that a young Scottish sailor, 16-year-old William Doleman, hit golf balls on the Plains. Doleman would later enjoy a distinguished playing career as an amateur golfer, recording seven top ten finishes in The Open Championship, including third place in 1872.
It was not until 4 November 1873 that the first permanent golf club in North America was established: the Montreal Golf Club, known today as the Royal Montreal Golf Club. The Quebec Golf Club—now the Royal Quebec Golf Club—followed soon after, making it the second-oldest golf club on the continent.
Bankers, whose social standing was considerable at the time, played a pivotal role in founding the Quebec club. Its co-founders, Charles Farquharson Smith of Aberdeenshire and James Stevenson of Leith, worked at the British North America Bank and the Quebec Bank respectively. Six other early members also came from the banking world. Smith and Stevenson, likely during meetings of the St. Andrews Society, encouraged fellow citizens of Scottish and British heritage to support the creation of the club.
When British troops departed in 1871, they left behind their drill field, then known as Cove Fields. In 1874, enthusiasts of the newly established Quebec Golf Club set their sights on this now-vacant land.
In May 1917, The Canadian Golfer credited the Morris family of St Andrews with inspiring the sport’s introduction to Quebec. According to the magazine, “Miss Morris, sister of Old Tom, married a Mr. Hunter, employed by the Bank of North America.” (In fact, Miss Morris was Old Tom’s daughter.)
The club laid out a 14-hole course, with four holes played twice to complete a standard round of eighteen. The layout was anything but a gentle stroll: the hole names alone evoked its rugged character, and the cliff dropping sharply toward the St. Lawrence River added both beauty and peril. The Canadian Golfer offered this vivid description of the second hole—“The Old Fort”:
“A pulled ball sails away into space and may find a resting place in the bosom of the St. Lawrence. A sliced ball curls into the ‘Sugar Bowl,’ so called not from its sweetness, but because masses of rock are piled up in it like bits of lump sugar in a basin. There is nothing for it here but a long, clean, straight drive… Even here his troubles are not over, as the putting green is to be found in the angle of a V-shaped outwork and the approach is far from easy.”
In 1888 the Scottish Golfing annual already gave the following course description: “Quebec green may be termed a ‘sporting’ one in every sense of the word. It is more extensive and more diversified than that at Montreal, its hazards being old
fortifications, deep gullies (which carry off the snow in spring), precipices, bogs, and moats; altogether a pleasant green, if for no other reason than for the immense variety of trouble which can be enjoyed (?) while at work on it.”
In the early years, grass maintenance was provided by a dairyman’s cattle, later replaced by a horse-drawn mechanical mower. A small chalet—near today’s Cross of Sacrifice—served the needs of golfers.
After the creation of the National Battlefields Commission in 1908, visitor numbers increased and improvements to Cove Fields gradually made golf there more hazardous. At the same time, the Royal Quebec Golf Club received an offer of land at Courville, prompting its move in 1915. A decade later, in 1925, the club relocated to its current home in Boischatel.
Any Questions & Answers regarding Quebec – please contact the author via history@depeche-golf.com
Christoph Meister
November 2025