Woodington Lake Golf Club

For a brief moment I wandered to the back tee of the first hole of the new course at Woodington Lake Golf Club and pondered my destiny over the next few hours. Before me lay a long downhill 580-yard par-5 designed by golf course owner Harry Allard, who also happens to be a 50-plus year member of the Canadian PGA. The options here are quite simple – to play a 7,606-yard, par-72 monster on a course that has the highest course rating from the RCGA/GAO in Canada at 76.9 or to move up to one of the other four tee decks that measure 6,806 yards, 6,245 yards, 5,712 yards and 5,137 yards.

There’s something to be said for challenging one of the longest and most difficult courses in the country, but as a 12 handicap and having no idea what it’s like to be able to bomb a drive 280 or 300 yards I opted for the Blue tees that were playing just shy of 6,800 yards for my first tour around the new layout.

The first hole then becomes a welcoming 481-yard downhill par-5 that’s relatively easy if you avoid the water to the right of the green and the front right trap. However you get a serious wake-up call on No. 2 where you need a solid drive on the 412-yard par-4 for any chance of going for a tight island-type green with 130 yards of water to carry and nowhere to miss but a deep and devious left side bunker that stretches the length of the green and curls around to the back.

If you have played the wonderful parkland style old course at Woodington Lake in the past, you’ll find that this championship routing is a completely different take on the game that puts the club among the very best 36-hole public golf facilities in the Greater Toronto Area, but at a fraction of the price.

What you quickly learn about Allard’s design is that you can grip and rip most of your drives, but you need to keep it in play on a course where the fairway landing areas are narrower than most of the new courses built over the last few years. Instead of paving 10 kilometres of cart paths throughout the course, Allard blended in waste bunkers that run the length of most of the holes. It took a while to get use to driving in them, but when your ball isn’t on the fairway you don’t have much choice!

On several holes the waste bunkers stretch right across or into the fairway creating a hazard and you’ll want to be wary of them. The good news is you generally get good lies from the firm sand and it’s relatively easy to advance your ball without being overly penalized. However, when it comes to the 52 fairway and greenside bunkers, that’s a different story. Generally they’re quite deep, four to six feet and will cost you at least a full stroke. I really enjoyed thinking my way in and around them and quickly learned that on some holes it was far better to lay up 30 to 50 yards short of the green and chip on for a shot at par rather than going for some of the well-protected pins.

The front nine is a lot of fun to play and with doglegs on No, 3, 5, 6 and 7 you never know what’s around the corner. The greens are quite large with lots of movement and roll to them. Allard didn’t hold back here - there are some well thought out shelves, tiers and valleys that can make for challenging two-putts that easily lead to three-putts if you’re not on the mark.

The par-3s are memorable and varied including two from elevated tee decks (No. 4 & 15) and two directly over water (No. 8 & 12) where it’s all about pinpoint accuracy. The new course features a series of seven man made ponds that come into play on 13 of the 18 holes so if you’re not comfortable playing over water, then this isn’t a course for you!

One of the most unusual holes on the course is No. 11. I haven’t decided if I love it or hate it. It’s a 410-yard par-4 from the Blues with an extremely narrow fairway paralleled by waste bunkers down both sides. My drive landed just shy of the 150 mark rolling off the fairway into the waste area. At that point the fairway is just 19 yards wide and the rough is not more than three feet on either side. Not sure whether you need to be lucky to be good on this hole or whether it’s a touch unfair, but it was fun to play.

Best hole on the golf course, well that could be No. 14, a 527-yard par-5 that I birdied, but No. 7 is a 550-yard par-5 with a sharp 90 degree dogleg that comes into play on the second shot that is all about risk/reward with water to the left and bunkers and OB to the right with a narrow strip of fairway playing to an elevated and a well-bunkered green site.

When it comes to value it’s going to be hard for any course to match Woodington Lake’s aggressive pricing policy. They have one of the best value propositions in the province and understand the marketplace. For some reason there’s a perception that Tottenham, is out in the sticks, but the reality is it’s just a few minutes north of Bolton and Caledon. That said, the new course and the old course for that matter can be played on Monday and Tuesday for $50 plus tax and mandatory cart. That works out to $71.71 and tops out at $99 all in during prime time. At $67, the 3 p.m. twilight rate is an incredible value. And now that they have 36 holes they’re looking for members. For more information visit www.woodingtonlake.com
More articles by Brent Long