Top 40-21 Courses: Canada’s Top 100 Golf Courses

The wait is finally over. SCOREGolf’s Top 100 is the most authoritative golf course ranking in Canada and has been igniting debates every two years since 1988.

In celebration of SCOREGolf’s Top 100 Golf Courses Ranking, we recently hosted Canada’s Top 100 Golf Giveaway, where we gave away a foursome more than half of the courses on the list. With thousands of entries from coast-to-coast, we want to thank everyone that entered and congratulate all of our winners. And congratulations to our Grand Prize winner Pamela Rawling from Toronto, Ont., who won our Ultimate Whistler Golf Getaway – a trip for four to Whistler and will get to play Fairmont Chateau Whistler, Big Sky and Nicklaus North.

Check out our previous post in the countdown:

100-81 | 80-61 | 60-41


40-21 of SCOREGolf‘s Top 100 Canadian Courses

40.  Essex

A much-admired, respected and elegant Donald Ross design near Windsor, Ont., Essex has always accorded itself well on SCOREGolf’s Top 100. More than anything, it is the green complexes at Essex — typical of a Ross course — that earn it accolades, as they add definition and intrigue to a mostly flat property.

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39. The Links at Crowbush Cove

Thomas McBroom’s seaside delight on the north shore of Prince Edward Island is a links-inspired design with rolling fairways, pot bunkers and multi-tiered greens. It’s a favourite among Islanders and vacationers and boasts some stunning holes on the shore.

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Winner: Craig Miller

38. St. Thomas

Union, Ontario

Stanley Thompson’s previously underrated sensation in Southwestern Ontario continues to climb the list and this year comes in at No. 38. Though the holes at St. Thomas were always strong, tree removal has led to better conditioning, better sightlines and an overall enhanced experience.

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Winner: Normand Black

37. Osprey Valley – Hoot

Another course that continues to soar on SCOREGolf’s Top 100 is the Hoot at Osprey Valley north of Toronto. Inspired by New Jersey’s Pine Valley, regarded by many as the world’s best golf course, Doug Carrick’s marked Hoot with fairways framed by tall pines and rugged waste-bunkering.

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Winner: Christopher Reid

36. Royal Montreal – Blue

Ile Bizard, Quebec

Having hosted several RBC Canadian Opens through the years, Royal Montreal is well-known to golf fans as the oldest club in North America. It’s current course, however, was built in 1958 by Dick Wilson and revamped by Rees Jones ahead of the 2007 Presidents Cup. Raised, multi-tiered greens defend par here well.

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35. Mount Bruno

St. Bruno, Quebec

Mount Bruno overtakes Royal Montreal as the best course in La Belle Province. A Willie Park, Jr., design, it has been tweaked over the years by the likes of Stanley Thompson and Thomas McBroom. Its rolling, tree-lined terrain is void of water with the land’s undulations and the course’s bunkering and greens providing the test.

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34. Calgary G&CC

Three Willie Park, Jr., designs sit in the 30s of SCOREGolf’s Top 100 with his Calgary G&CC in the middle. On plunging property in the city’s south beside the Elbow River, this course is a rollicking good time with one of the best 18th holes in Canada — a drop-shot par 4 across and adjacent to the river.

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33. The Summit

Richmond Hill, Ontario

Another terrific Stanley Thompson course, The Summit in Toronto’s northern limits is a pristine parkland course where holes fit seamlessly with the land. An excellent opening and top-notch finish sandwich an overall solid test, with Doug Carrick’s recent work restoring it to glory.

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32. Rocky Crest

Mactier, Ontario

Thomas McBroom’s Rocky Crest, which opened in 2000, remains an excellent course and is the track that really ignited the Muskoka-area golf boom and inspired other area designs. By routing holes around and over rocky outcroppings, McBroom ushered in a new design style that has since been emulated.

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Winner: Simon Gaudreault

31. Weston

It’s hard to find a golf course in Canada that offers as much variety as Willie Park, Jr.’s Weston in Toronto. With a magnificent mix of short holes and long ones, arduous tests and breathers, ups, downs, twists and turns, it’s a course that requires all kinds of shots with every club in your bag.

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Winner: Audrey Montpetit

30.  Redtail

St. Thomas, Ontario

Redtail is an ultra-exclusive haunt in Southwestern Ontario with but a handful of “roundtable” members. The course is short by modern standards but can be penal when the fescue is up. This Donald Steele design is always perfectly manicured, which is not surprising given the limited rounds it sees.

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29. Stewart Creek

The course for which Alberta architect Gary Browning is best known, Stewart Creek in Canmore not only boasts some of the best golf vistas in Canada, it also contains 18 superb holes, as Browning showed great restraint when building a modern-day course in the Rockies.

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Winner: Ryan Brock

28. Predator Ridge – The Ridge

Doug Carrick spruced up nine existing holes and added nine more in 2009 to give Predator Ridge a second course in The Ridge. Cut mostly through a wooded hillside, exposed rock outcroppings, tall pine trees and the shimmering waters of Lake Okanagan provide a stunning contrast in colours.

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Winner: Mike Ostrzenski

27. Royal Colwood

Victoria, British Columbia

With some of the most massive Douglas fir trees of any golf course in the world lining its fairways, there is no secret to what you have to do to enjoy success at the sensational Royal Colwood: Hit it straight. It’s a peaceful course that was given its royal designation in 1931 by King George V.

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26. London Golf & Hunt Club

London, Ontario

A multi-time host of the CP Women’s Open, London Hunt is a Robert Trent Jones layout that swells and sinks over land located close to the Thames River. Rees Jones made some renovations to the course in 1999 to bring it up to the championship standards needed to welcome the world’s best women golfers.

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25. Devil’s Pulpit

The brainchild of Trivial Pursuit founders Chris Haney and Scott Abbott, Devil’s Pulpit, designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, is big, bold and stunning, with some of the most thrilling holes in the country. Long views of Toronto’s skyline and CN Tower can be seen from the first tee with a branching out into heathlands on the back nine providing a nice mix.

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24. Tobiano

Few settings can rival what Thomas McBroom had to work with at Tobiano, a desert course on rumbled land overlooking Kamloops Lake. McBroom simply plopped tees, greens and fairways onto the dunes-covered property and the result was an eye-popping course with some of the best hero shots in Canada.

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Winner: Ory Lavallee

23. Victoria GC

It does not get much more beautiful, charming, quirky and clever than Victoria Golf Club, especially on its front side, which could stand up to any nine holes in the country with several frames on the Pacific Ocean. A.V. Macan did most of the design work at a place merits the moniker of “Canada’s Pebble Beach.”

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Winner: Carter Duffin

22. Coppinwood

Tom Fazio’s Coppinwood is a pristine layout surrounded by protected environmental land that ensures it will never be encroached up by housing or infrastructure. Refreshing. It’s back nine is one of the best sides in the country with gorgeous fairways tumbling towards brilliant green sites.

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21. Goodwood GC

Goodwood, Ontario

Owned by the same family that founded past RBC Canadian Open and CP Women’s Open host Angus Glen GC, Goodwood is pure golf — no clubhouse, no fancy amenities, no distractions. It’s simply 18 sublime holes over unencumbered, mostly open rolling land with a few frames ducking into trees on the back nine.

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