Situated ten miles southeast of Parry Sound, the course at Seguin Valley Golf Club lies within a 2,000-acre tract of Ontario wilderness where fairways wind their way through dense woodland, crossing lakes and streams and skirting granite bluffs and outcrops.
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Situated ten miles southeast of Parry Sound, the course at Seguin Valley Golf Club lies within a 2,000-acre tract of Ontario wilderness where fairways wind their way through dense woodland, crossing lakes and streams and skirting granite bluffs and outcrops.
Seguin Valley
Situated ten miles southeast of Parry Sound, the course at Seguin Valley Golf Club lies within a 2,000-acre tract of Ontario wilderness where fairways wind their way through dense woodland, crossing lakes and streams and skirting granite bluffs and outcrops.
The original owner of the property took more than a decade to assemble the land required for the development. It then took another four years to construct the course, with Ted George from the construction firm of Bruce Evans Ltd. and superintendent Chris Husdwell (who joined the club from Port Carling) the main driving force behind the project.
There’s no mention on the club’s website as to who drew up the plans for the layout but we understand the original architect was David Moote. For some reason he dropped out of the picture before construction got under way, leaving George and Hudswell to “rework the preliminary course routing”.
It is cart golf all the way at Sequin Valley, with an overall length (including paths from one green to the next tee) of around eleven kilometres. Many of the holes are designed with a blind tee shot to a landing area which then plays to a raised green with minimal bunkering.
The signature par three 7th is an exception to this formula. Played from a lakeside teeing area to a green on the other side of Back Lake, this hole features a curved, 180-yard-long bridge that connects the two sides. It’s a spectacular, all-or-nothing hole, forcing most golfers to play an all-carry long iron or hybrid club to the target across the water.
Robert McCrae founded the club in the late 1990s, bringing in course construction company Bruce Evans Ltd to build the layout. It took a few years to blast rock and clear playing corridors through dense woodland before play began with the new 18-hole layout in late 2003. McCrae died a year later and it took until 2010 before Mike Feldman took over the property, working ever since then to complete the vision of the original owner.
Today, the course extends to 6,795 yards from the back tees, playing to a par of 71, with holes arranged in two enormous 9-hole loops that each return to the clubhouse. Water comes into play at the signature 212-yard par three 7th hole, requiring an all-carry tee shot across a large lake to the green on the other side.
Other notable holes at Sequin Valley include the 578-yard left doglegged 10th (rated stroke index 2), the par three 12th at the highest point on the course, and the last of the par threes at the 238-yard 14th, which plays to a difficult 2-tiered green.