Thornhill (Championship)

Formed in 1922, Thornhill Golf & Country Club commissioned the prolific and much respected architect Stanley Thompson to lay out the 18-hole Long course for the membership.

In the years to follow, the club would add to its sporting facilities by building four floodlit tennis courts, constructing a six sheet curling rink, laying out a 9-hole executive course named the Valley and changing its name to The Thornhill Club.

Today's Championship course is a fine example of parkland golf at its very best, retaining original Thompson features of elevated tees, subtle mounding, strategically placed bunkers and false-fronted greens.

Doug Carrick has been involved in changes to the course in recent times. As he explains, “our work at Thornhill has also been ongoing over fifteen years or more and has ranged from complete remodeling of bunkers to the re-grading of the 4th fairway, new tees on the 1st, 5th, 7th, 8th,12th,13th,15th & 18th holes. We are also preparing design work for a new irrigation pond, new tees on the 9th hole and re-grading of the 14th fairway.”

The 368-yard, par four 11th is named "Nelson's Folly" as a reminder that, in four rounds of competition at Thornhill during the 1945 Canadian Open, winner Byron Nelson never scored better than five at this hole.

Nelson's winning score of 280 – the only event he won at level par in his career – was good enough to claim the Seagram Gold Cup and his record 11th straight victory on the PGA Tour. He failed to win his 12th straight victory at the next PGA event in Memphis but he was still able to end the season with an incredible 18 victories to his name.