When people talk of great Canadian golf destinations, Toronto is inevitably overlooked in favour of Whistler, the Alberta Rockies, Muskoka, Mont-Tremblant and other popular resort areas. Yet Canada's largest city can match and maybe even top them all. Found within an hour's drive of Toronto's downtown core are more than 200 courses, including several of the country's top public-play tracks. Among North American cities, only sun-baked San Diego and its suburbs can claim a higher density of golf facilities.
"Toronto is Canada's most unsung golf destination," says Jim Lee, executive director of the Canadian Golf Tourism Alliance, a national marketing association. "People go there to do business or for the cultural attractions. But the Greater Toronto Area offers by far more nationally ranked courses than anywhere else in the country. If even a small percentage of tourists and business people start bringing their clubs, the market will ignite."
Golfers can choose from past Canadian Open sites Glen Abbey and Angus Glen, as well as other acclaimed layouts scattered across a stunningly varied Southern Ontario landscape that includes deciduous and hardwood forests, rivers, lakes, valleys and rocky escarpments. Featured prominently on the play list are courses by top architects such as Jack Nicklaus, Doug Carrick, Tom McBroom and Ron Garl.
Of course, the city Canadians tend to either love or loathe offers numerous other springtime diversions, including waterfront concerts, Blue Jays baseball, art exhibits and a vibrant nightlife and restaurant scene.
But for visitors who prefer green fairways to bustling streets, the biggest attraction of all is the opportunity to discover the best courses of a major Canadian golf destination whose time has finally come.
Glen Abbey Golf Club
Ever since Tiger Woods sealed his victory in the 2000 Canadian Open at Glen Abbey with an astonishing 213-yard bunker shot to the 18th green, few golfers have been able to resist the temptation to drop a ball in the same bunker and try their luck.
The Jack Nicklaus-designed layout, located about 30 minutes west of Toronto in Oakville, has hosted the country's premier golf tournament 23 times. With tight traps, fiendishly contoured greens and water hazards that come into play on 11 holes, the Abbey is a championship test in every sense.
But the Golden Bear saved his best work for the valley holes, 11 through 15, which run alongside twisting Sixteen Mile Creek. This stretch starts unforgettably with a drive off the 11th tee into a wooded gorge some 36 metres below. During a Canadian Open practice round, John Daly once awed onlookers by driving a ball into the creek 396 yards away. Also found at Glen Abbey is the recently refurbished Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and Museum, an entertaining showcase for exhibits recounting the history of golf in Canada.
Angus Glen Golf Club
Though not as famous as Glen Abbey, Angus Glen's South Course grabbed the attention of the golf world in 2002 when it hosted the Canadian Open. Designed by Toronto-based architect Doug Carrick, the South offers a roller-coaster routing through 93 hectares of former pastureland north of Toronto near the city of Markham.
The South's par-four, 475-yard opening hole has been known to buckle the knees of unsuspecting duffers. Following an uphill tee shot over side bunkers, golfers face a slippery and narrow downhill approach to a small green tightly guarded by a sizable bunker to the left and water to the right. The challenge eases only slightly from that point on, as the course takes full advantage of the landscape's rapid shifts in elevation.
Angus Glen's equally strong North Course was unveiled in July, 2001. Architects Carrick and American Jay Morrish combined their talents to build a mostly links-style layout with sod-wall bunkers and generous fairways cut through forest and wind-swept dunes. The North Course is scheduled to host the Canadian Open in 2007.
Eagles Nest Golf Club
Like Mother Nature, Toronto's golf industry is in a constant state of renewal. Last season saw the much anticipated launch of Eagles Nest, a links-style course carved through a decommissioned sand-and-gravel pit just north of the city near the town of Maple.
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