Hack Attack 2009 — Week Eight: Golf in The Upper Bracket

Upper Canada: Great Value near Ottawa/Montreal

The Details: Upper Canada Golf course (Morrisburg, Ontario)

Date: July 30, 2008

Weather: Overcast and calm.

Green Fees: $38.00 regular $43 weekends, reduced rates of $40.10 with cart Mon to Wed.

Tees used: Blue, 6922 yards.

Score shot: 75.

The Course

Upper Canada Golf course is located about 75 minutes from downtown Ottawa. I took advantage of their Monday to Wednesday Cart and Golf special, and at the $40.10 rate it seemed reasonable to drive out from Ottawa.
The course, an 18-hole facility is located in the St Lawrence Park, just outside historic Morrisburg, Ontario. A quaint clubhouse greets you as you drive in. The course developed in 1966 and designed by Architect Robbie Robinson, is a parkland layout that is quite tight off the tee. Early for my tee time, I made my way to a functional grass range and hit a few balls to warm up.
As I made my way to the first tee, I was greeted by the starter, where I was asked to join a pair of gentlemen from Montreal. Upper Canada is only an hour from both Montreal and Ottawa. The first hole a 380 yard par 4 looks so narrow that I wisely used a hybrid off the tee to avoid trouble that lurks on both sides of the fairway, once you are halfway up the hole you realize that a strait ball will be required for most of your round..
I saw the Marshal a few times through out the front nine, play was a bit slow with a small tournament out on the course in front of us. The beverage cart was out on the course with friendly staff.

Upper Canada's Sharp Shots

Goat Track or Weekend in Paradise? : Upper Canada Golf course is a well-designed tight golf course. It features a Championship length parkland style golf course with interesting holes that include tree lined fairways; the landing areas are fair from the tee, even though visually the holes seem tight. From the back tees, this course is an excellent test of golf. The course was a wet and played its full length, but it remained quite playable despite all the rain Ontario has received this July.
The inward nine plays through out a small forest and fairways are tree lined on both sides of most holes, the back nine includes quite a few holes along a large marsh so accuracy is key off the tee. I really enjoyed the 2nd a 503 yard par 5 and 14th a long 603 yard par 5 as well. The course also features a few short par threes (holes 3, 134 yards and 13 just 116 yards) that are just as demanding as the long holes.

How the Rock Rolls: Upper Canada has medium to large sized greens that require precise shots, the greens are very receptive. The speed was at 9 on the stimp, and they were in excellent condition. My only real complaint is that they use plastic cup liners in the holes and I hate them, because the can cause some nasty lip outs. The course is well marked and the yardages were bang on.

Conditioning: Tees and fairways were excellent condition despite being wet with all of the rain, however there are quite a few Canada geese on the course and they can leave quite a mess so watch were you walk!
Making the Cut: Upper Canada is an excellent golf course in excellent condition!!! My understanding is that pace of play can be slow on weekends with the narrow fairways playing tough. Pace of play for today was 4:45 minutes, for a foursome a bit long!
Overall Upper Canada is a must play in the Ottawa/ Montreal area.
Overall Value: At $38.00/43.00 a steal of a deal, but if you can take advantage of the Golf& Ride special this course is an ten out of ten value. Check out their web site @ www.uppercanadagolf.com, for more details.

Hacking Away value: 125%