Manitou Ridge Review

Three hundred acres and only eighteen holes on them, which is the whole idea. Manitou Ridge runs out and back through Shield country near Parry Sound, and Thomas McBroom lets the land do the talking: fairways bend around granite shoulders, greens sit in natural amphitheatres of pine and birch, and the five par threes are as strong a short-hole set as any course in the province. Nothing borders the property but forest, so every hole plays in its own room.

Conditioning is the other half of the grade. The bent surfaces are quick and true deep into fall, bunkers are raked like a private club, and the walk is groomed without feeling manicured. The day rate touches two hundred dollars in high summer, which keeps value a notch below perfect, but a day rate is exactly what it buys: arrive at eight, play thirty six if your legs allow, eat well, and drive home certain you have seen the best course this side of Muskoka's private gates. Northern Ontario golf at its absolute peak.