Hamilton Golf & Country Club (West & South)

Hamilton Golf & Country Club, or Ancaster as it is known locally, is located on land that was once known as Grange Farm and it is set most beautifully in elegant, heavily wooded seclusion.

There are three loops of nine holes at Hamilton, called South, West and East and the championship layout comprises of the West (front nine) and South (back nine). Although Hamilton’s club history can be traced back to 1894, the West and South were designed as two nine-hole courses by Harry S. Colt and both loops formally opened for play in 1916. Robbie Robinson added the East nine in 1975. According to his website, Rees Jones was involved in a 1982 redesign here at Hamilton, but we don't know precisely what was implemented.

Hamilton first hosted the Canadian Open in 1919 and Atlanta’s Douglas Edgar posted a course record score of 66 on his way to winning the title, pushing Bobby Jones into second place (the 1919 event was Bobby's first and last Canadian Open). When the Canadian Open returned to Hamilton in 1930, Tommy Armour shot a six-under-par 64 to set another course record which stood until 1991 when Warren Sye, posted an amazing 62 on his way to claim the Ontario Men's Amateur Championship.

Into the new millennium and Bob Tway won the 2003 Canadian Open at Hamillton, beating Brad Faxon in a playoff. The tournament returned to the club in 2012, when Scott Piercy held off Robert Garrigus and William McGirt by a single shot to claim the title. Seven years later, Rory McIlroy fired an aggregate score of 22 under par to win the 2019 event by seven shots from his nearest challengers.

The course is due to host the Canadian Open once again in the near future and, with that in mind, the club engaged architects MacKenzie & Ebert in 2019 to renovate all three nines, starting with the West, followed by the South, then finally the East.