There was a time when a gentleman of a certain age could go to a club of his choosing for a golf vacation and be assured of nothing more than greens, holes, carts and a bar that sold tonic and gin and nothing else. It was nice and predictable.
Then people started futzing with the formula. Like Robert McLeese at the Cobble Beach Golf Resort, just north of Owen Sound, where there are 166 acres of golf, but 408 acres more filled with stuff specifically designed to get between a person and their assumptions.
So in addition to golf, Cobble Beach Golf Links has two U.S. Open style tennis courts, each with seven layers of rubberized asphalt to ensure your knees remain in good working order.
There are also 14 km of hiking and biking trails, a 260-foot day dock and an Enchanted Forest, where the owners, Access Capital, have commissioned a dozen large wood carvings to surprise and entertain those hikers and bikers.
In the resort area, with its 10-room boutique hotel and five, four-bedroom cottages, there's also ample opportunity to include your special someone on the getaway.
And there are urban levels of infrastructure to support guests, including fibre optics throughout the property. In this respect, says Mr. McLeese, "when you go to Cobble, it's like doing a holiday at Front and University without the commotion."
Of course, there's golf, too.
"The neat thing about Cobble is that we see water on 18 of 18 holes," Mr. McLeese says, "with a mile and a quarter of frontage on Georgian Bay."
When it opened in 2007, it was named the best new course in Ontario, and since then, Rolex has ranked it 11th in Canada in its list of 1,000 best golf courses. Apparently, the 17th hole is so pretty, Pinnacle put it on their ball box.
It's enough to make you want to spend more time golfing. Cobble is encouraging that to the extreme by offering condos on the property as well, starting at $369,900. But Cobble Beach isn't the only course that's upping its game.
Your next golf holiday, at places such as Nottawasaga Resort and Cobble Beach can be about so much more than golf. The Mahogany Room at Nottawasaga Resort will ignite your tastebuds.
Golf facilities with extras
Nottawasaga Resort, in Alliston, can boast being the province's biggest golf facility. But despite having 45 holes, Nottawasaga is as much a sporting theme park as it is a place to golf.
According to James Sheppard, Nottawasaga's director of golf, the resort also has indoor and outdoor pools, two NHL-sized rinks, two professional soccer fields (where Canada's women's rugby team practiced en route to bronze at the Rio Olympics) as well as nature trails, a fitness area, and arcades and games rooms. There's even mini golf.
"There's certainly a lot to offer," says Mr. Sheppard, adding that they've also got 269 guest rooms.
"Our packages are extremely popular," he says. "We offer unlimited golf. We book one round per day for our guests, and if they want to go out for another round, it's complementary.
"The real nice thing here is that with 45 holes, [our guests] have great variety, and can play all the different golf courses all three days that they're here. Our average package is two nights accommodation and three days of golf."
If you want to go a little farther afield, the Glen House Resort, about 40 km east of Kingston, operating since the 1960s, added a course in 2005. Smuggler's Cove Golf Course, smack in the middle of the Thousand Islands, has 18 holes, five sets of tees for players of various levels, and an inviting clubhouse overlooking the St. Lawrence River.
Over in Muskoka, The Rosseau, named for the area's most famous lake, is a J.W. Marriott resort and spa. The Rock, a 6,649-yard, Nick Faldo-designed course on the lake itself is just 1 km away.
It's a new age of golf for the golfer who may have one or two non-golfers in their lives. If that sounds like you, there's no reason you can't have your tee time and play it too.
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