Elm Ridge (South)

Elm Ridge Country Club was founded in 1924 and it’s one of three Montreal golf clubs formed by members of the Jewish community who were previously restricted from belonging to other clubs (the two others are Hillsdale and Pinegrove).

The club’s initial 9-hole course was extended to a full 18-hole layout within three years of its formation and this 18-hole track served the golfing needs of the members until the end of the 1950s, when two new courses were laid out to satisfy the growing demands of a burgeoning membership.

The father and son design team of David and William Gordon designed these new North and South courses, with Robbie Robinson carrying out some renovation work on both the layouts shortly after. Both Doug Carrick and Graham Cooke are credited with more recent modifications during the 1990s.

Elm Ridge Country Club’s General Manager, Randy Moncrieff, kindly supplied the following comments:

The most difficult hole on our South course is undoubtedly the 9th, playing 443 yards from our championship tees. The drive is threatened on the left by two large fairway bunkers and by encroaching trees on the right. To avoid either of these barriers, a normal drive can’t get the player to the 150-yard mark so players are, at best, hitting a mid-iron shot into a large well-guarded elevated green that sits behind a pond. Most golfers will need one if not two clubs extra to reach the green and a bogey is actually a welcome score here.

Our ‘signature’ hole is our 18th. While it resembles the shape of the 9th, it is much shorter and the pond in front of the green comes more into play off the tee. Big hitters will not use a driver from this tee as the fairway slopes sharply into the pond from the landing area. A large undulating, well-protected green is extremely difficult to putt on, especially in the summer when the greens can stimp between 11 and 12 foot.