Course Review: Toronto Golf Club

 The Toronto Golf Club
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Harry S. Colt - 1912

During the last week of May, my wife and I spent a week in the beautiful city of Toronto where she was attending a work-related conference.  In general, I spent my time gorging on steak and exploring Canada's largest city on my first trip north of the border.  I was also fortunate to spend some time touring several of the most historically significant golf courses in and around the city, an opportunity for which I am continually grateful. 

My first stop was at the Toronto Golf Club.  Founded in 1876, the TGC is the third oldest golf club in North America.  The golf course was built on a large, rolling property on the banks of the Etobicoke River, just west of the Toronto city limits in what is now the city of Mississauga.  Perennially ranked as one of the top 10 golf courses in Canada, it was designed by renowned golf course architect Harry S. Colt and opened for play in 1912.  Having the opportunity to tour a course of this magnitude that was in the midst of its centennial birthday celebration was a real treat. 

Later on, I will give a much more detailed profile of Harry S. Colt and his work, but for now let's just put it this way: Mr. Colt was directly responsible for growing the game of golf on all 6 habitable continents during the early 20th century...a feat shared by few, even today!

Toronto Golf Club Routing

As you can see from the above routing, there are 27 holes at the Toronto Golf Club.  The 18 hole Colt Course (blue routing) and the 9 hole Watson course (red routing), built in the 1950's by Howard Watson, a Canadian golf course architect who had previously worked under the great Stanley Thompson.  This review, though, will focus only on Colt's work here.

Original copy of Colt's routing for the club (sorry for the picture quality)

I met club manager Al Schwemler at 6:30 am for what would become the most thorough tour of a golf course that I have received to date.  Mr. Schwemler, the long-time superintendent of the club, had overseen a 2009 renovation of the course by British architect Martin Hawtree and proved to possess a wealth of knowledge on the history of the course. 

The impressive and stately clubhouse

The view from the first tee, a 370-yard, slight dogleg left par 4

The course begins innocently enough, but quickly takes a turn for the difficult.  Following number one comes a difficult four-hole stretch from holes 2-5, highlighted by the 190-yard par 3 4th, a "redan" hole.  For those not familiar, a redan hole is a par 3 hole named after the original "Redan," the 15th hole at North Berwick's West Links in Scotland.  Often replicated, the hole typically incorporates a wide but shallow green that slopes from front right to back left, usually with a hazard playing along the front part of the green.  This requires a blind shot to the green with only the flag visible.

That is a 10-15 foot bank fronting the green! Anything short = a bogey (or worse)!

The 6th green along the entrance road to the club

The difficult tee shot on the par 4 8th hole

The beginning of the back nine traverses the most extreme piece of the property, playing down into a valley (which used to be a stream bed flowing east to the river) and back up several times.

The tee shot on the par 4 10th hole

The par 4 11th, playing parallel to the 10th back toward the clubhouse

The decision-inducing double fairway at the par 4 12th hole

The tee shot on the uphill par 5 13th hole

Originally built as a par 4, the green on the 13th hole was located at the top of the hill in the picture above.  It is believed that Colt's former partner Charles Allison lengthened the hole when he returned as a consultant some years later.  This also significantly changed the direction in which the par 3 14th hole was played.

The short, but well-defended par 3 14th

The par 5 16th.  Where are you supposed to hit your ball??

More room than there appears!

The short, but dangerous par 4 18th with the clubhouse in the background

The approach to the 18th, an impressive bunkerless golf hole

Looking back toward the tee from the green

 I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Toronto Golf Club and can easily see where it gets its lofty ranking.  The routing of the back nine was particularly impressive, given the topographical constraints and construction methods that existed when this course was being built 100 years ago.  Colt's greens were rarely as extreme as those of some of his contemporaries, and this is true here as well.  However, this is still an impressive set of greens on the whole.  Perhaps the most impressive part of the routing here is the locations of the green sites, in fact.  Colt used the falloffs and topographical extremes that existed here to his advantage when siting his greens, creating a variety of green sites that have unique character, but that are tied in via subtle breaks and thoughtful bunkering.

This course is a must see for any golf course architecture junkie that happens to find themselves in the greater Toronto area!  Next up...St. George's Golf and Country Club!