Royal Montreal Golf Club (Blue)

Top 100 Golf Courses of Canada 2022 Welcome to the last major chart release before we begin our next two-year cycle at the end of the year. Three Canadian tracks made it into the coveted global standings last time around and it will be interesting to see if they’ll be joined by any more layouts from the Great White North this time. For now, we’ve concentrated solely on the national listings, where there are 6 new entries, 14 non-movers, 27 courses climbing up and 53 falling down. The top three positions in our new Canadian Top 100 are unaltered, which means Cabot Cliffs in Inverness, Nova Scotia retains the No.1 spot for the third consecutive edition of our biennial golf listings. Designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, this 18-hole layout also occupies a place in the top half of our World Top 100 so quality golf is assured for those who make the not inconsiderable trip to play here. Cabot Cliffs Recent comments from reviewers include: “any golfer that appreciates the natural beauty of golf should put the Cliffs at the top of their list… the site that Cabot Cliffs traverses is surprisingly diverse. One expects the rolling dunescape along the cliffs but the course also moves through marshland and inland through woodlands and meadows, up and down through significant elevation change.” Rising two places to #4, the course at Banff Springs Golf Club in Alberta is looked upon as Stanley Thompson’s masterpiece. His redesign of the original layout in the late 1920s cost a million dollars, making it the most expensive course in the world at the time, but many would now consider that money well spent. Banff Springs Our well-travelled correspondent Bob McCoy posted a review last year, saying “on my list of 1,175 courses played, Banff Springs is the best mountain course in the world and is definitely in my World Top 100 list.” Another impressive upward move inside the elite top 10 comes from the course at Memphrémagog Golf Club in Magog, Quebec, climbing three spots to #9. It’s a new millennium design from Tom McBroom that was built a while back for a couple of wealthy business who wanted a tough track to test both their elite membership and the small number of guests who receive a rare invitation to play here. The next big positive moves are made further down the listings. At #35 (up ten), the course at Rosedale Golf Club in Toronto has been in play for more than a hundred years now, hosting all the national major championships in its early years, including the 1928 Canadian Open which was staged six years after Donald Ross redesigned the layout. In more recent times, respected Ross restorer John Faught has worked at the club to thin out trees, rework bunkers and rebuild a number of greens. Rosedale Moving up seventeen places to #36, the course at Lookout Point Country Club in Fonthill, Ontario celebrates its centenary next year. One of only three Canadian layouts designed by Walter Travis, the course lies just ten miles west of the famous Niagara Falls at one of the most elevated positions on the Niagara Escarpment, hence its name. Architect Ian Andrew has left his mark here in the last few years, restoring a number of the greens. Lookout Point The course at Scarboro Golf & Country Club in Toronto (up ten to #41) is A. W. Tillinghast’s only Canadian design, with the architect rebuilding the original George Cumming layout in the early 1920s. Renovation work has been carried out by a few designers since then but it’s the more recent bunker restoration by Gil Hanse and Ian Andrew that has taken the course to another level altogether. Scarboro In the bottom half of the new table, another four courses make double digit improvements on their previous chart positions. Cherry Hill Club in Ridgeway, Ontario (up twelve to #54) is home to another Walter Travis design dating back to 1922. Robbie Robinson upgraded the layout in preparation for the Canadian Open to mark the club’s 50th anniversary in 1972 and Ian Andrew oversaw an extensive bunker renovation just over ten years ago. The trademark Travis “chocolate drop” fairway mounds are long gone but the inherent character of his layout remains largely intact. Cherry Hill Described by a reviewer last year as “a real diamond in the rough,” the Algonquin Resort Golf Course in St Andrews, New Brunswick (up seventeen to #71) has been in operation for over a century. Donald Ross modified the initial layout in the 1920s and this version of the course remained in play until Thomas McBroom made modifications early in the new millennium. In 2016, a Rod Whitman redesign reinvigorated things by way of tree removal, bunker refurbishment and the rebuilding of several greens. Algonquin The Ross and MacKenzie nines at the St Charles Country Club in Winnipeg (up fourteen to #78) have been in play since the late 1920s. Mike DeVries consulted at the club for a number of years but it’s the current bunker upgrade work of Jim Urbina that has really caught the eye here. As he says: “this is the only Alister MacKenzie course in Canada, and a great Ross. This is having a Rembrandt in your backyard for years and getting the chance to restore it.” St Charles Country Club Moving up ten rungs on the ladder to #89, the course at Royal Mayfair Golf Club in Edmonton debuted in 1922, with holes laid out by J. Munro Hunter, the Alberta amateur champion. Stanley Thompson was called in to remodel the layout soon after it first opened and the new course was unveiled in June 1933, six years after the architect developed his redesign plan. The club’s rebuilding its clubhouse at the moment to create an elegant and modern structure that will serve the members for years to come. Royal Mayfair Six courses drop out to make way for six newcomers though, strictly speaking, three of these are re-entries, having previously graced the national chart in times gone by. The first re-entry is Sagebrush in Quilchena, British Columbia at #18. Opened to much critical acclaim in 2009, this Rod Whitman-designed layout ran into financial difficulties and was forced to close a few years back but it’s now, in the words of the club, “accepting limited groups for a ‘beta test’ of the club’s emerging facilities for the remainder of the Summer and Fall 2021”. We can only say welcome back to one of BC’s finest golf experiences! Sagebrush Also re-appearing at #69 is the 18-hole Mt Kidd layout at the Kananaskis Country Golf Course in Alberta, which was devastated by flooding in 2013 and re-built by Gary Browning as part of a multi-million dollar disaster recovery programme. All but four of the thirty-six holes on site were reconstructed from scratch before the Mt. Kidd and Mt. Lorette courses could be brought back into play five years after they were decimated. Kananaskis Mt Kidd It’s been a while since Riverside Country Club in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was last in the Canadian Top 100 (#94 then #95 in the first two chart editions to be exact) so it’s more than a decade since this Bill Kinnear-designed layout gained national recognition. Robbie Robinson, Bill Robinson and Graham Cooke have all made changes down the years to a course that has hosted both the Canadian Men’s and Women’s Amateur championships three times since the mid-1960s. The highest of the brand new entries arrives at #38 and it’s the newly opened Mickelson National Golf Club course outside Calgary that muscles its way into the standings. It took more than a decade for owner Barry Ehlert and his Windmill Golf Group to finally get this place off the ground last year, transforming what was formerly flat farmland with little movement into a big, bold stadium layout which is well-equipped to host major professional golf tournaments. Mickelson National Also new at #78, the course Tarandowah Golfers Club in Springfield, Ontario is a Martin Hawtree layout that’s designed to play firm and fast as a links-style track, with undulating bent grass fairways, pot bunkers and cunningly-contoured greens. Anybody playing here nowadays would be hard pressed to believe this property was nothing other than a family farm up until golf came along in 2006. The last of our new entries at #86 is Waskesiu Golf Course in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan. Stanley Thompson designed the layout in the late 1920s though an 18-hole course didn’t get built until 1935. The architect returned shortly after World War II to suggest improvements but not all of them were implemented. Doug Carrick consulted at the club in the mid-1990s, adding new tees to lengthen the course, along with new bunkers and a few other tweaks. To view the complete detailed list of our latest Top 100 Golf Courses of Canada click the link. Our regional rankings for ten Canadian provinces have also been refreshed. To view these revised listings in greater detail, click the following links: Alberta Top 50 British Columbia Top 60 Manitoba Top 10 New Brunswick Top 5 Newfoundland and Labrador Top 5 Nova Scotia Top 15 Ontario Top 100 Prince Edward Island Top 10 Quebec Top 30 Saskatchewan Top 5 If you have any comment to make on any of the above charts then please use the “Respond to this article” link at the top or bottom of this page. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses

Top 100 Golf Courses of Canada 2017 The spotlight falls on Cape Breton Island and the 36-hole Cabot golf facility Two years ago, when we last reviewed our Canadian Top 100 chart, we mentioned that St George’s Golf & Country Club had only just held onto its number 1 ranking position and we hinted that it might be displaced by Cabot Links this time around. Well, it just shows you should never try to predict these things because both of these courses have been toppled from the top two chart positions (each dropping a place to number 2 and number 3, respectively) by the latest 18-hole layout to appear on Cape Breton Island’s west coast, Cabot Cliffs. Some might be a little bit surprised at this move as we normally take a somewhat conservative approach when ranking brand new courses but the decision to allow a layout like this to enter such an important national chart in the top spot wasn’t taken lightly – as a matter of fact, from all the recent feedback we’ve received, it would have been negligent on our part not to have done this. And so, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s Cabot Cliffs design is our new Canadian number 1 and over the last eighteen months this fabulous layout has elicited glowing comments from our reviewers, such as: “not to be missed by golfers looking for something really special,” “no weak holes, just one stellar hole after another” and “Canada’s strongest contribution to the great courses of the world.” Indeed, it will be really interesting to see where both the Cabot courses are placed when we produce our updated World Top 100 at the end of this year. Two Alberta tracks make significant moves up the listings and they’re both spectacular Rocky Mountains resort layouts which were fashioned by Stanley Thompson back in the 1920s: Jasper Park Lodge (up two to number 4) is an original design that overlooks the sparkling waters of Lake Beauvert and two years after it debuted it was followed by the redesign of Banff Springs (up three to number 5) for the Canadian Pacific Railway company, with part of a mountain dynamited to make room for all eighteen holes of the new layout. Three Quebec courses also race up the revised chart. The first of these, rising an incredible twenty-four places to number 14, is Memphremagog, an 18-hole layout commissioned by Paul Desmarais and Jean Monty in 2007. Architect Tom McBroom described it to us as “a wonderful walking course with the holes blending and flowing seamlessly from one to the next” but such is the privacy attached to this track, it’s taken the best part of a decade to realise just how good it is. The second big climber in this province lies 100 miles to the northwest, just outside Montreal, and it’s the old Willie Park Jnr layout at Mount Bruno which leaps up fourteen spots to number 18. Altered shortly after the Canadian Open was held at the club in 1922 and 1924, when Stanley Thompson added bunkers to four of the holes, the course has been further improved in more recent times by Tom McBroom. The third big mover is an Ian Andrew project on the west side of Montreal, rocketing a remarkable thirty-six places up to number 57. The Blue course at Laval-sur-le-Lac has had all of its earlier architectural features upgraded, leaving nothing of the original layout. In particular, challenging green sites have been built to encourage more aggressive play and place a premium on precise approach shots. Three Ontario courses also make noteworthy advances in the standings. Summit Golf & Country Club in Richmond Hill, laid out by George Cumming and George Lyon in 1912 then modified by Stanley Thompson shortly after, rises twelve places to number 42 and this century-old layout was upgraded recently by Doug Carrick, who remodelled three of the holes and renewed the greens and bunkers on all the other holes. The Ridge at Manitou course near Parry Sound advances all of twenty-five places to number 50 and this new millennium Tom McBroom design is set within a rugged 300-acre property, with maintained areas extending to only half of that area, leaving lots of room for nature and golf to co-exist in a wonderfully natural setting. Further down the chart, Black Bear Ridge makes a terrific jump from number 100 to 66. Situated in Belleville, 120 miles east of Toronto, the course was laid out by proprietor Brian Magee in 2005. The stated aim of the owner was to “build something simple and timeless, with great practice facilities” and now, more than a decade later, it can safely be said that he’s achieved just that. Apart from our new number 1, there are eight other new entries in our Top 100, the highest of which is the Rod Whitman-designed Links course at Wolf Creek Golf Resort in Alberta (new at number 60), where nine new holes were added to the South nine from the old 27-hole setup to form the new Links layout in 2010. The last of the newcomers arrives at number 98 and it’s Olympic View, a Bill Robinson course which is operated by the GolfBC Group and is situated on the south side of Vancouver Island, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Olympic National Park in Washington. Occupying a beautiful woodland setting, with holes routed around lakes and wetland areas in a tranquil, secluded environment, this is one of best public access courses in British Columbia. Rank/ To view further details of our newly revised Canada Top 100 rankingsclick the link. We've also updated and expanded the regional rankings for the ten Canadian Provinces. For the first time we've created a Top 100 for the golf rich province of Ontario. We now list 280 of Canada's best golf courses, which equates to just over 10% of the nation's total golf facilities. To view further details of our newly revised Canadian Provincial rankings, click the following links: Alberta Top 40 British Columbia Top 60 Manitoba Top 10 New Brunswick Top 5 Newfoundland and Labrador Top 5 Nova Scotia Top 15 Ontario Top 100 Prince Edward Island Top 10 Quebec Top 30 Saskatchewan Top 5 If you’d like to get in touch with us about our newly revised Canadian rankings then please do so via the “Respond to this article” link at the top or bottom of this page. We look forward to receiving feedback whenever we re-appraise any of our national charts so if there’s something in the above narrative we should be made aware of then by all means let us know about it. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses

Top 100 Golf Courses of Canada 2015 St George’s holds off a strong challenge from Cabot Links to retain its No. 1 status. 29th April 2015 Since we first established a ranking chart for Canada in 2006, the distinguished old layout at St George’s Golf & Country Club in Toronto has been recognised as the undisputed number 1 course in the land of the Maple Leaf. St George’s retains its position at the top of our latest listings, but only just. Rising all of nine places to the number 2 position, Rod Whitman’s Cabot Linksis now vying very strongly for the coveted top spot. This links course is located on the west coast of Cape Breton Island, only opening for play in 2012, and such has been its impact in the three years since it debuted, some believe it will only be a matter of time before Cabot becomes the premier golf course in Canada. Other moves of interest in the upper reaches of our Canadian chart include those made by the century-old Harry Colt track at Toronto Golf Club (up five to 11), and a pair of modern Thomas McBroom courses, namely the Links at Crowbush Cove(up six to 20) and Oviinbyrd (up five to 22). Further down the chart, three Ontario courses provide the most significant upward moves: Bob Cupp’s 1991 offering at Mad River rises twenty-seven places to 40, Doug Carrick’s Osprey Valley (Hoot) layout climbs twenty-eight spots to 43 and Greg Norman’s 2007 design at Wyndancesoarsthirty-six positions to 56. There are nine new entries in the latest listings, the highest of which is the Valley course at the Bear Mountain Golf Resort in British Columbia, debuting at number 51. A couple of Quebec courses also make it into the new chart, Royal Ottawa at position 82 andLaval-sur-le-lac (Blue) at number 93. The remaining half dozen newcomers are all located in the province of Ontario with two of these 18-hole layouts – Sunningdale (Thompson) and Bayview– technically classed as re-entries, having featured in earlier editions of our Canadian rankings. To make way for the nine new entries, the following courses dropped out from the 2013 edition of the Canadian Top 100: Brudenell River, Glen Arbour, Glencoe (Glen Forest), Kananaskis Country (Mount Lorette), Kananaskis Country (Mount Kidd) – hopefully Kananaskis will bounce back following the devastating flooding in 2013 – Niakwa, Pine Ridge, Royal Montreal (Red) and Salmon Arm. As ever, we always welcome feedback when we publish new ranking charts so please feel free to tell us what you think of our new Canadian listings. Top 100 never boasts about producing “definitive” charts but we do think we compose the “most informed” rankings in the golf industry. If you’ve played any of the top tracks below, why not post a review and share your thoughts with us? Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses