Deerhurst Resort - Deerhurst Highlands

Deerhurst Resort is situated less than a three-hour drive north of Toronto in a natural, lakeside setting on the shores of Peninsula Lake. The par-72 Highlands course (measuring 7,011 yards) is one of two 18-hole layouts at Deerhurst within an area of more than 800 acres of rugged countryside.

In the late 1980s, golf architect Robert Cupp collaborated with Thomas McBroom to design a new kind of Canadian golf course at Deerhurst. They knew that Nature had already done a fantastic job in the Muskoka region so they wisely allowed the course to follow Nature’s lead and routed the holes through dense woods and granite rock terrain (known as the Canadian Shield) to create a golfing masterpiece.

After the Deerhurst Highlands course opened in 1990, McBroom was quoted as saying, "Deerhurst has the quintessential Canadian backdrop. I dare say this is the first hi-tech, modern course that has a Canadian look." The pioneering Deerhurst Highlands design has since generated something of a golfing boom in Muskoka, with many top spec courses appearing throughout the region.

The classically well-balanced design of Deerhurst Highlands offers one of the finest golf challenges to be found. Granite outcrops and dramatic elevation changes are exemplified at the 10th where the elevated tee area is perched above a 30-foot rock wall bordering a fairway that looks a long way away from the tee. Dense, mature woodland is featured at most holes on the course except for holes four to six which are quite open and links-like.

C.E. Robinson initially built the second course at the Deerhurst Resort, the Lakeside, in 1966. With nine par threes and only one par five, this par-64 course measures only 4,712 yards and it’s a less formidable challenge that the Highlands course. The outward nine skirts the lake then heads into a rolling valley. The inward nine starts at a cliff and continues through another valley, ending with a demanding hole which ends over water.

Deerhurst Resort describes itself as having “private club quality on a pay-as-you-play basis”. Who can argue with that as a philosophy?