For more than 100 years, Canadian golf course designers have been creating greatness throughout the country. From AV Macan’s work at Victoria, to Stanley Thompson’s design of Highlands Links in Cape Breton Island, Canadian golf designers have created some of the most memorable courses designed on the rugged northern landscape.

While plenty of Canadian designers have worked on courses in the country starting in the golf explosion that followed World War I, some standouts have emerged, both from those early days, as well as in the last few decades.

Here’s a selection of some of the great designers in Canadian golf history:

Stanley Thompson

Generally regarded as the best golf architect Canada has produced, Thompson played a central role in defining Canadian golf architecture. Noted for his work on courses like Jasper Park Lodge, Banff Springs, and Capilano, as well as his bold bunkering and ambitious routing skill, Thompson was a larger than life figure right up until his death in 1953. A very strong player, Thompson served in WW1, and launched his design firm with his brother, Nicol, and Toronto Golf Club pro George Cumming. After a couple of years as a partnership, Thompson went out on his own, designing two of the greatest mountain designs in history at Banff and Jasper.

Notable style

Thompson loved walkable routings with dramatic bunkers that featured flashed-sand faces.

Best designs

Highlands Links, Capilano, St. George’s Golf and Country Club.

AV Macan

Another fine player and World War I veteran who lost part of a leg overseas, Macan is the West Coast version of Stanley Thompson, a designer who worked for 50 years created some of the best courses in the country. Known for his smart routings, Macan worked throughout the western U.S. and primarily in British Columbia, where his renovation of Victoria Golf Club early in his career, and the creation of Shaughnessy late in his life, are bookends to a series of remarkable designs.

Notable style

Macan is probably best known for his routings that followed the lay of the land.

Best designs

Royal Colwood, Shaughnessy, Victoria Golf Club

Thomas McBroom

Toronto’s Thomas McBroom is one of the driving forces behind golf in Canada in the last 20 years, having created many of the best golf courses in the country over that period, including the likes of Rocky Crest in Ontario’s cottage country, Heron Point near Ancaster, Ont., Tobiano in the interior of British Columbia and many others. McBroom worked with former Stanley Thompson associate designer Robbie Robinson early in his career, but his designs are modern and bold. He’s often tackled tough sites—courses in the mountain foothills like Tower Ranch in Kelowna, and became well known throughout the last 30 years for work in Muskoka.

Notable style

Early in his career, McBroom pushed limits with ambitious greens, something he toned down in recent years. He loves bold holes—like the devilish par-3 7^th hole at Tobiano near Kamloops, or the difficult closing hole at Heron Point outside Ancaster, Ont.

Best designs

Oviinbyrd, Tobiano, Rocky Crest

Doug Carrick

Doug Carrick is often heralded as the best modern golf designer in Canada, a man responsible for many great modern courses, including Eagles Nest, Bigwin Island, Humber Valley, and Osprey Valley. Another designer with a connection to Stanley Thompson—Carrick also worked with Robinson—the Toronto-based golf architect loves big vistas, wide fairways and bunkers that temps good players to challenge them to secure a better position. Carrick has worked on sites that required significant earth moving—you see it at Eagles Nest, which was completely manufactured on a site near a former landfill. His flair for the dramatic matches some of the sites he’s worked on

Notable features

Carrick loves faux links sites, and has incorporated British Open styles into several of his courses. Beyond that, he prefers wider fairways and large, daunting bunkers.

 

Best designs

The Ridge Course at Predator Ridge, Humber Valley (Deer Lake, Newfoundland), Eagles Nest

Rod Whitman

Whitman started his career working for Pete Dye, and has long assisted the firm of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw on the construction side of their designs. He launched his Canadian career with the design of Wolf Creek in Ponoka, which opened in 1983. While not the most prolific designer in Canada, all of his designs are heralded as among the best in the country. His design for the first course at Cabot Links is regarded as among the Top 100 designs in the world and each of his courses in Canada have held spots in the Top 100 on SCOREGolf’s list. His design of Sagebrush (about an hour from Kamloops, BC), which will reopen this summer after being closed for several years, is often regarded as one of the best modern designs in Canada.

Notable features:

Whitman is known for shaping many of the elements of his courses, which means the details of his designs feel exceptionally natural and well considered.

Best designs

The Links Course at Wolf Creek, Cabot Links, Sagebrush Golf Club