Of Canada's nearly 2,100 public courses, only about 25 enjoy national renown. These marquee layouts dominate the various course rankings, and golfers eagerly pay top dollar for the satisfaction of striking them off their must-play lists.
Yet, throughout our wildly varied golf landscape, there are courses just as gorgeous and brilliantly designed that go largely overlooked. Sometimes they're handicapped by isolated locations, making it difficult for golfers to get to them. When they are in popular destinations, glamorous new neighbours may have grabbed the spotlight by recruiting famous architects and spending lavishly on promotion.
“Part of the fun of being a golfer is discovering these underappreciated gems,” says Doug Carrick, a top Canadian golf architect. “One of the most spectacularly scenic projects I've ever worked on is Twin Rivers Golf Course in Newfoundland. But because it's hidden away in Terra Nova National Park, a 2½-hour drive from St. John's, few golfers have heard of it.”
A significant advantage to playing lower-profile courses, especially for golfers on tight budgets, is the bargain green fees they usually offer. The $56 prime-time rate at Twin Rivers, for instance, is less than a third of what is demanded by the best-known public tracks.
Even in peak season, there's almost never a problem booking a tee time at the nine properties described here. From the forests of Newfoundland to the mountains of British Columbia, the thrill of discovery awaits at courses whose time has finally come.
Twin Rivers Golf Course
Newfoundland
The remote splendour of its location is both the great strength of Newfoundland's Twin Rivers Golf Course and the fatal flaw that has kept this dramatic oceanfront layout from national prominence.
Situated at the southern end of Terra Nova National Park, 223 kilometres west of St. John's, Twin Rivers boasts a wild and woolly setting rivalled by only a handful of Canadian courses. Two whitewater salmon rivers define a 6,546-yard layout that skirts the Atlantic Ocean before winding through a coniferous forest teeming with moose and bald eagles.
Designed by the late Robbie Robinson and Doug Carrick, who each contributed nine holes, Twin Rivers presents golfers with one idyllic vista after another. Especially unforgettable is the 18th, a 175-yard par three played through the mist rising above a waterfall to a small green nestled in the forest. Eagle Creek, a nine-hole course designed by Newfoundlander Robert Walsh, and the 82-room Terra Nova Park Lodge are also found on the property.
The Pines Resort
Golf CourseNova Scotia
Given Stanley Thompson's status as Canada's greatest golf architect, it's difficult to believe that his Pines Resort Golf Course in the Nova Scotia town of Digby not long ago teetered on the brink of obscurity.
Owned by the provincial government, Thompson's 76-year-old layout too often went begging for the funds needed to properly maintain a championship course. But a recent $3-million restoration has the Annapolis Valley beauty back on top of its game.
Designed in the classic style, with tight fairways and small, subtly undulating greens open at the front, the 6,222-yard parkland design places a premium on accuracy. One of the toughest par threes Thompson ever built is the 213-yard 14th hole, where swirling crosswinds can drop even well-struck balls like lead.
Each hole at the Pines, just as at all Thompson's best courses, has an appearance and personality entirely its own.
Fairmont Le Manoir
Richelieu Golf Club
Quebec
Spectacularly situated on cliffs overlooking the mighty St. Lawrence River, the newly revamped 27-hole Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu Golf Club is finally poised to take its place among Canada's leading resort courses.
