I’ve chased the lists. Pine Valley, County Down, Crystal Downs, Muirfield, Cabot… the list goes on. These places are spectacular, don’t get me wrong. I’d rather be nowhere on earth than the 6th green at Dornoch, staring down on the right side ‘run-off’ that makes the golfer cringe, or grin (largely contingent on the state of their mental health). The only problem with these places is that they carry an expectation. The element of surprise isn’t as prevalent, thanks to heightened anticipation. They’re incredible properties with ingenious routings. They force the mind to dance and see things that haven’t been seen before. But you know that’s going to happen before you arrive – they’ve already received the much warranted spotlight.
As a low handicap golfer who is caught in between club C’s and open qualifiers, uncovering smiles, laughs, and side wager blood flow on golf courses ranks a respectable top 10 on the list of life pursuits for me. As I rediscover my City of Toronto golf roots, the place that’s made me smile the most in the past half decade is Dentonia Park. This is particularly true in the past two years as tee time demand is at an all time high, and golfing buddies are suddenly more open to the sub $30 round at a par 3 track. Of about 15-20 friends that I’ve introduced to Dentonia over the past two seasons, every soul parts with a gaping smile. This includes Christine Fraser (check out “www.christinefraserdesign.com/about” for a list of her projects). There’s just something about the property that makes you feel like a kid again. These reactions I see are no longer surprising.
Dentonia is a Howard Watson layout (of Stanley Thompson) in ‘downtown’ Toronto’s east side that carries some stellar golden age features. It boasts a green slope of 3.8% in the center of the 1st green (almost 5% in the back right corner) – keep in mind, this is a green with NO tiering. We didn’t measure the 5th or the 18th when shooting this episode, but I imagine we’d have found similar results. The 6th is stunning and presents your first 150+ challenge. The 7th is a pseudo punchbowl. Standing on 11 tee simply tests the nerves. The 12-15 stretch is something special with it’s natural green surrounds and mounding. The marriage of TTC trains and devilish green site on 18 make for a lasting impression as you wrap up your sub 3 hour round.
Let’s say you live in Toronto… and you like to smile… go to Dentonia, even if it’s your first time golfing.
– Pat
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