By the time you read this, the Masters will be over and Canada’s lone stop on the PGA Tour – the RBC Canadian Open (June 4-8 at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley) – will be weeks away. The course is just the 38th host in the 121-year history of the tournament. The return of our National Open to a public facility that is accessible and affordable is a boon for the game and yet one more step in changing the age-old narrative that golf is only for the elite.
On and off the fairways of its three distinct courses (the North, the Heathlands and the Hoot), TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley is transforming its property at breakneck speed to become the new home of golf in Canada. Once realized, this sprawling property in Caledon, Ontario will include Golf Canada’s national headquarters, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, national headquarters for First Tee – Canada and a 30,000-square-foot, community-accessible, 18-hole putting course. Golf Ontario and the Club Management Association of Canada have also committed to maintaining a corporate presence on this golf campus.
TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley’s main 60,000-square-foot clubhouse includes a gourmet restaurant (Two Brothers), suites for stay-and-play and a museum curated by the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame that features artifacts and ephemera which highlight iconic golf moments of this great game in our country.
Municipal courses such as TPC Osprey Valley – not private country clubs – are where many golf professionals, past and present, first learned to play the game. Take the GOAT, Tiger Woods. His first rounds were on municipal courses in Southern California. In my hometown, the City of Kitchener operates a pair of courses: Rockway and Doon Valley. Rockway is where the great Moe Norman started out who, by the way, Woods once said was one of only two golfers to “own their swings.” Both muni courses in Kitchener offer rates of less than $30 if you tee off after 4 p.m. And, just down the highway, kids in Toronto (from ages nine to 18) can get an annual membership to play at all five of the city’s municipal courses for $359.99 + HST. Qualifying families can even get this reduced, further lowering economic barriers.
What’s great about most of these muni courses in Ontario’s capital is that they are located along the subway lines. In an age when a Meal Deal at most fast-food chains costs close to $20, that’s great value. So, without further ado, I offer you an ode to the “muni.”
Canada has many options at multiple price-points when it comes to public golf. We boast just fewer than 140 municipal courses. For comparison, in Colombia, of its 50 “campos de golf,” only a few are accessible to the public; the sport in this South American country remains mostly for the elite.
This golf model of exclusivity versus accessibility is not the norm any longer, as the following headline: “Municipal golf’s moment,” proclaims in announcing the cover story package in a recent issue of Golf Course Industry (a U.S. publication to which I’m a regular contributor). According to the National Golf Foundation, there’s been a net gain of more than 140 muni courses since 2004 in the United States, amidst the broader market correction of oversaturation that’s contributed to a 13 per cent decline in total golf supply over a 20-year span. There are now 2,939 municipal courses in the U.S. – an all-time high that represents just more than 18 per cent of the country’s overall golf course supply.
Inclusive Spaces and Community Hubs
Municipal golf courses in cities throughout North America are welcoming and inclusive places. Recreational golf, often played at munis, continues to grow post-pandemic. According to Golf Canada’s 2024 annual report released this past March, nearly six million Canadians teed it up last year. Munis are just as essential to the golf industry and city-building as music venues are to the cultural, social and economic well-being of our urban cores.
Victoria Golf Club, which opened in 1907 and is actually in Edmonton, Alberta is our oldest muni. Not far behind is Lakeview Golf Club in Mississauga, which opened in its current location in 1907 and has hosted two Canadian Opens. In recent years, some cities that own and operate golf courses have considered selling them to reduce deficits and make room for more housing or parkland. Luckily, grassroots advocates to keep these munis have prevented many sales and that’s really good news for these cities and for the sport. The City of Burlington planned to reduce its 18-hole muni (Tyandaga Golf Course) to nine holes, but they took the issue to the community and, after evaluating all of the responses, the decision was made to keep the current green space as it is. And, in another win for munis this past October, the City of Vancouver’s parks board backed a 10-year plan to invest in its six city-run courses – rejecting a call to repurpose them.
Much of golf’s growth and participation increase post-COVID is among new, or second-generation Canadians who are discovering the joys of the game for the first time. Were it not for municipal courses such as Victoria Golf Club and Dentonia Park that are accessible and affordable, these new golfers might never have picked up a club. Programs such as First Tee – Canada (a youth development program that offers programming at golf courses, schools and community centres) and Youth on Course, which allows those 18 and younger to play at thousands of courses for $5 are making the game even more accessible. More than 83 per cent of First Tee – Canada locations serve low-socioeconomic neighbourhoods. Golf Canada has also partnered with more than 34 municipalities from coast to coast in such major urban centres as Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax to help these cities offer the programs.
Munis are vital to the growth of the game, both now and in the future. Hopefully, this ode has convinced you to reconsider where you book your next tee time this season and tee it up occasionally at one of the public courses in your community.