Mount Bruno Country Club

Royal Montreal gets all the golfing attention in Quebec but the real gem in the province is Willie Park Junior's Old World course at Mount Bruno Country Club, a layout that would be a lot higher in the rankings if more raters and reviewers were given the chance to play it.

Located in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Mount Bruno is one of the most exclusive golf clubs in Canada and Willie Park Jnr originally designed this charming course in 1919, during his 1916-24 tour of North America.

Stanley Thompson added new bunkers to four holes in advance of the 1924 Canadian Open competition at Mount Bruno. Because the same event had been held on the course in 1922, Thompson’s work was most likely the result of the club acting on observations made during the earlier tournament.

Laid out on the east slope of Mount Bruno, where the wonderful old white walled, red roofed Tudor-style clubhouse can be seen from a number of holes, the course leads golfers along tree-lined fairways, up and over some fairly hilly terrain with, thankfully, no ponds or streams to distract golfers from the task in hand.

The signature hole at Mount Bruno is the 13th, a 435-yard par four situated at the highest point on the property. The tee shot is played downhill before an uphill approach is made to a raised green that slopes to the left, guarded by bunkers on the right.