Mystic Golf Club Review

On paper Mystic is one of the most interesting modern courses in the Hamilton area. The design brief was variety and the course delivers it: over 7,365 yards no two holes share a distance or a shape, drivable par 4s sit beside 240-yard par 3s, and the green complexes swing from punchbowls to wild multi-tier decks. When you catch it in June with the fescue up and the surfaces rolling, the round feels like twice the green fee.

The trouble is catching it. Conditioning at Mystic has always run hot and cold, and a course this exposed, with this much shaped ground, shows every dry week and every thin crew; baked fairways and bumpy greens flatten design ideas that depend on firmness being predictable. The scale also cuts both ways, since the walk is long and the wind across the open stretches can turn the back nine into a grind. There is a very good course in here, and some days you play it. The grade prices in the other days.