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New Caledon links a Hoot to play

Mark Atchison
SPORTS REPORTER

July 7th, 2001

They appear to sparkle in the morning sun - green gems waiting to be added to an already glittering string of golf jewels that presently encircle the Greater Toronto Area.

What once was a blank canvas of forgotten farmland is now two picture-perfect golf courses, created by the genius of Canadian course designer Doug Carrick.

They are unique layouts with unique names. One will be known as Hoot and the other Toot and they join the Osprey Valley family, which now consists of three layouts (the first course is called Heathlands) with a fourth in the planning stages.

The origins of the names remain a secret, for now. Robert McClure, Osprey's director of golf operations, doesn't give a hoot that some people find the names strange and doesn't toot his own horn when it's mentioned that these two new beauties will steal a lot of golfer's hearts.

The only thing that stops the Osprey Valley trinity from qualifying as the best golf complex in Ontario - maybe even Eastern Canada - is the lack of a proper clubhouse.

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The state of the ark facility that now exists (it's nothing more than a glorified garage) doesn't offer the amenities that golfers have come to expect at courses of this quality.

The lack of a decent dining room and locker rooms and even a pro shop doesn't seem to faze the golf purists who religiously make the trek to the picturesque Caledon hills, where they enjoy the links-style Heathlands course - always rated among the Top 10 in the GTA - and plead with a visiting journalist not to publicize "this great place," especially "with the new courses about to open."

Some things, however, are just too good to keep to yourself.

It is hard to find fault with a virgin golf course. Not a blade of grass out of place. No footprints in the bunkers. Not a divot on any of the freshly mowed fairways. No ball marks on the lightning-fast greens.

The only problem with new courses is that they lack character. Time, not an architect, is usually in charge of that detail.

Carrick, however, proves he is a character builder at Osprey Valley's two new tracks.

Mature trees have been spared and remain strategically placed on the edge of several fairways to challenge a golfer's accuracy off the tees. Others line a number of fairways, giving both courses a North Carolina feel. Where there were no trees, Carrick planted them - some 6,000 new ones in all.

Bunkers are always a good test and there are plenty on both courses. Carrick puts many in your sight line off the tee but saves the best for last, with huge sandtraps in front of many greens, usually to the right of the hole, where the toughest pin placements are.

Both of Osprey's new courses are visually stunning and will put a golfer's game to the supreme test. Both also offer holes that will rival such legends as Angus Glen''s No. 1 and Glen Abbey's No. 11 as the best tests of golf in the GTA.

Hoot will open later this summer and offers plenty of water and some tee-to-green waste bunkers that will have golfers grinding their teeth along with their clubs. The 17th hole on this course, with a choice of two landing spots over water off the tee, a postage-stamp green and a water fall, is truly breathtaking.

The 10-11-12 combo on the Toot are a triple threat to become one of the GTA's favourite threesome. The 150-yard, par-three 11th, with a small lake protecting the hole at the front and a pine forest shadowing a very narrow green from the back, is enough to make a grown man cry - with tears of joy.

The fairways and greens are highlighted by subtle swales that are so well done it's hard to find where the fairways end and the greens begin. Both courses, which stretch to well over 6,700 yards from the blues, are Carrick's best work yet - better, even, than some of his classic early designs like Angus Glen and King Valley.

McClure says there is a certain "Pine Valley" (the famed American course) feel to the holes at the two new courses.\r\n\r\n"You can come to Osprey and be in three different parts of the world on these courses," said McClure. "The Heathlands resembles a Scottish-links course while Toot is a parkland test and Hoot - minus the ocean - would fit in beautifully along the Carolina shores."

Carrick has given golfers plenty of landing area off most tees but makes the courses play longer by using elevated tees and greens.

Jeff Boismer, the director of golf at Barrie''s National Pines course, itself one of the best courses in the GTA, feels the new Osprey courses will give existing courses a run for their money.

"They are a testament for leaving courses sit for a year (which Carrick did) and let them take root. They are both outstanding courses," he said.

Golfing buddies Barry Stafford and Tony Viola, a couple of Bolton businessmen (Stafford owns the town's Tim Hortons franchise and Viola is proprietor of Bolton's best Italian restaurant, Allegro Fine Foods) are among a chosen few who have gotten a sneak preview of the new courses. They agreed the courses appear menacing to a high handicapper. But the Toot, which they played, was very forgiving, they said.

"The designer makes you think and isn't that what this game is all about?" wondered Stafford. "As long as you play smart, you'll enjoy it here. Tony and I just came back from playing Pinehurst No. 2 and I'm going to tell you something, the Osprey courses are more beautiful and a lot more fun to play."

Stafford could have also mentioned that Osprey is a lot more affordable than equivalent tracks in the United States - that run around $200 (U.S.) a round - or even those locally that cost golfers in excess of $175 to play. Osprey's peek-period price at the Hoot - probably the best of the bunch - will be just $105 (cart and taxes are extra on all three courses) but the top fee at the Heathlands is just $85 and punters will pay just $95 at the Toot. Both would run much higher - probably in the Glen Abbey or Wooden Sticks range of $200 - if Osprey had a clubhouse.

So, who needs a clubhouse?

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