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Great Value Golf Courses in Ontario, Canada

By Daniel Graves
Golf Writer/CanadaGolf.com

WATERLOO, ONTARIO – Ontario is flush with various attractions that cater to high-society socialites to down-to-earth country fellows. Festivals, theater, hunting and more are found here. Oh, and there is excellent golf too – so don’t hesitate to book a golf vacation in this part of Canada.

Just more than an hour’s drive from Niagara Falls, Ontario, and 20 minutes east of Stratford is the city of Waterloo. Here you’ll find what is inarguably the finest municipal course in the region: Grey Silo. Built along the banks of the Grand River by Steve Young Design and opened in 2002, Grey Silo provides a links-style golf experience unique to the Ontario, Canada area.

Part of a much larger Canadian park and within a protected green space, wildlife is seen throughout Grey Silo. Egrets, white-tailed deer, mink, and even the occasional wild turkey are seen on a regular basis. Water comes into play on 11 holes and 50 well-placed bunkers give the course enough bite that will toughen you up on your golf vacation to Ontario, Canada.

Grey Silo looks and plays like a course designed to host a major tournament and has, in fact, already attracted Great Lakes and KIWI tours for 2004 to this fantastic golf course in Ontario.

A par-71 layout with four tee decks, test your game from the tips, which measure 6,532 yards or choose a lesser trek of only 5,197 yards from the forward tees. Power carts are available but the chance to appreciate the Canadian outdoor setting on your golf vacation on foot should not be bypassed.

Ontario’s Grey Silo even has it’s own version of Amen Corner, holes 12 through 15. Emerging from this four-hole golfing gauntlet with your confidence still whole is reason enough to give thanks for the subtle greens at Grey Silo can turn your run-of-the-mill two-putt into a fox trot. When the wind blows, find yourself muttering over club selection and piloting your ball over rolling fairways that would be right at home on any of the older golf courses in the United Kingdom – but that vision of the UK lasts only a second when surrounded by beautiful Ontario wildlife.

Play the Elmira Golf Club in Ontario, Canada

A short drive north of Grey Silo to the town of Elmira, the semi-private Elmira Golf Club will provide a fantastic environment on your golf vacation to Ontario, Canada.

Elmira Golf Club was voted into the top 20 public courses in all of Ontario, Canada. A new, full-facility club house offers panoramic views of the course and an on-going commitment by the small membership to improving the amenities makes Elmira Golf Club in Ontario one of the best golfing values in the region. So add it to your golf package.

The Elmira Golf Club guides you through the beautiful Eldale Valley in Ontario, Canada. A par-70 layout of 6,253 yards, Elmira plays to its rating of 127 from the blue tees. The rolling layout follows the natural Canadian terrain and crisscrosses Ontario’s Canagagigue Creek. Elevated greens and close-fitting fairways are the norm here. The front nine offers the shot maker a challenge off every tee and the course fights back on the back nine, particularly on the signature 17th, a 299-yard dogleg left where you can challenge the hazards and attempt to drive the green.

Tee Off in Ontario, Canada at the Savannah Golf Links in Cambridge

The golf course at Savannah Golf Links in Cambridge, a 20-minute drive south of Grey Silo and the city of Waterloo, is another must-play while on a golf vacation to Ontario, Canada.

Savannah Golf Links is the first course in Ontario, Canada to be affiliated with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Habitats and wildlife are protected and provide a string of soothing, natural distractions as your golf vacation unfolds in this part of Canada.

Ontario, Canada’s Savannah Golf Links offers an excellent blend of narrow and receptive fairways, at least one if not two drive-able par 4s for the straight and narrow and a collection of par 3s that are models of course architecture.

The Sunset Banquet Hall is a separate lounge overlooks the ninth and 18th greens of the golf course. A large, full-service pro shop stocks the latest in clubs and apparel and the friendly, knowledgeable staff are trained to perform expert fittings and repairs.

Ontario’s Festival Country

Within a short drive of Waterloo, Ontario, golfers in the area will find the village of St. Jacobs. Originally a Mennonite community in Canada, the town combines historical preservation with an array of markets and crafters that never fail to delight. Several small theatres in and around St. Jacobs, Ontario present plays nightly and conform to the local standards that insist on preserving the essence of Canadian country living.

While nearby Stratford, Ontario continues to forge its reputation with award-winning theater, you can enjoy everything there from chamber music and outdoor choirs to a pumpkin toss or a rodeo. There are, in Stratford alone, more than 100 annual events that seem to have very little to do with Shakespeare. Celtic and Scottish games vie with quilting exhibitions, coin shows and boat races throughout the calendar year. It is virtually impossible to spend a day off from your golf vacation in the area and not have something unique to do or see. Or, bypass it and stay on the links, adding another course to your golf package here in Ontario, Canada.

Ontario’s Festival Country has always been a destination for travelers who prefer their attractions to be diverse and their golf affordable, scenic and friendly.

But the real benefit of all of these non-golf attractions is the opportunity for golfers on a golf vacation to Ontario, Canada to find a hidden gem. A lot of the golf courses here remain undiscovered by the masses and are not on the list of hot spots for golf destinations. So book a golf trip to Ontario and find your own championship-caliber golf course before someone else does it first.

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