Ladies' Golf Club of Toronto

The following edited extract is from Dr. James M. Harris’s Stanley Thompson and Icons of Canada .If you would like to purchase a copy of this book you can do so via the Stanley Thompson Society https://www.stanleythompson.com/store by clicking the link.

“One the property was secured there was little question Stanley Thompson would be chosen to design the ladies’ golf course, albeit with some suggestions from Ada Mackenzie. The board of the newly formed Ladies’ Golf Club of Toronto initially baulked at the $50,000 construction fee but agreed to go ahead. A contract was signed on December 17, 1924.

Of interest, the greens were established with the same stolons of creeping bent grass from Stanley’s nursery west of Toronto that he used for the greens at the Jasper Park Lodge GC. The finished product has kept a low profile over the decades, giving it the status of one of the best kept secrets of Toronto golf. Stanley was well aware that most golfers don’t shoot low scores and he tried to make his golf courses enjoyable for the duffer and at the same time difficult for the ‘crack’ player.

The Ladies’ Golf Club of Toronto officially opened on August 23, 1926. The course was first tested as a championship course with an exhibition match between Ada Mackenzie and the three top American golfers of the day in front of a gallery of about 1,000 people on October 1, 1927. The club has survived the inevitable ups and downs over time but continues to thrive. A sensitive update has been done by David Moote but the course is basically unchanged since it opened.

Ladies’ Golf Club of Toronto is unique as the lone women-only golf club in North America. Men are now allowed to be members but they can be guest cardholders which gives them partly restricted playing privileges and services in the clubhouse. Those men who have played the Ladies’ find it an excellent test of golf. Today’s club continues to have a great deal of pride in the legacy of their founder Ada Mackenzie and they are also proud that in 1924 Stanley Thompson was their man.”