April 21, 2020
Morrish Station Arrives At Pine Canyon
Pine Canyon has always been described not simply as a destination, but as an experience, one that allows members to recharge in the area’s serene environment and connect in new ways to the landscape with a sense of unmatched peace.
Morrish Station, Pine Canyon’s newest amenity named after course designer Jay Morrish, falls right in line with that mission. And, it adds another layer of Pine Canyon’s unparalleled hospitality to a round of top-ranked, championship golf.
As a unique midway grill fashioned from a 1944 Santa Fe railroad car, Morrish Station recharges players headed to the back nine while also connecting them to Flagstaff’s history as a northern Arizona community that began as a railroad town in the shadows of the San Francisco Peaks.
“We wanted something appropriate to Flagstaff and the region,” said Peter Burger, president and founder of Symmetry Companies, which owns and develops Pine Canyon. “The railroad has a real heritage and lineage here in Flagstaff. And, I’m not aware of other golf communities that have anything like it. It really sets us apart.”
The renovation of the caboose, which is nestled in the pines between Pine Canyon’s ninth and tenth holes, transformed the car’s indoor space into a charming, vintage-modern bistro. A kitchen serving quick bites, bathrooms and an outdoor patio round out the uniquely different, full-service pitstop.
“Anything that honors my father and his legacy is always just so neat to see,” Carter Morrish, Jay Morrish’s son, said after touring the caboose. “He would be very happy and very honored. I’ve never seen anything like this on a golf course.”
Morrish said his father, a renowned course designer, held tight to a philosophy of utilizing the contours and elevation of the landscape when designing a course, rather than fighting against them. With that philosophy in mind, infusing Pine Canyon’s course with Flagstaff’s railroad history seems to make sense, in a welcome yet unconventional way.
“It’s another enhancement to a beautiful property. It makes me want to live here,” Morrish said. “Pine Canyon is, really, about as good as it gets. This place is almost perfect. It really is.”
