Thornhill Country Club, Championship Course

Thornhill Country Club is a private 27 hole golf facility located in Thornhill, Ontario. The facility has two golf courses, The 18-hole Championship Course and the 9-hole Executive Course.

The Championship Course opened for play in 1922. The course was designed by Stanley Thompson.

The layout is very challenging with tight, undulating fairways and plenty of mature trees lining the holes. The course is well bunkered. Water hazards come into play on six of the eighteen holes. 

The majesty of the course is readily apparent from the start, where the first hole plunges 60 feet to the fairway that snakes alongside a steep hill on the right. That theme is continued throughout the opening holes at Thornhill, which meander through the valley, only to emerge out of the valley on the fifth hole, a daunting par three cut into the hillside.

From that point, Thornhill is intriguing and exciting, with no two holes alike. Greatness abounds, including the tremendous uphill par four ninth, with its challenging green, and “Gully,” the remarkable 190-yard par three that utilizes one of the key natural features on the property.

The closing hole is fitting for a course that is grand and intimate at the same time. The downhill tee shot is played to a broad fairway, and golfers must carry a mid-to-short iron into an inventive green that sits below the clubhouse.

The Championship Course at Thornhill was host to the 1945 Canadian Open. 

Golf legend Byron Nelson is forever linked with The Thornhill Club, the site of one of golf’s greatest records.

In August 1945, Nelson had just won his tenth consecutive PGA Tour tournament, with a score of 19-under par. He moved from Chicago to Canada to play the Canadian Open a week later in a field that included greats like Sam Snead, Claude Harmon, and Canadian Stan Leonard. Nelson finished with a score of 280 (course was par-70, now par-71), the only PGA Tour tournament he won at even par up until that time. With the win, Nelson claimed his 11th straight victory, a mark that has not been matched since.

Par for the course is 71. From the back tees, the course plays to 6,666 yards. From the forward tees, the course measures 4,845 yards. The longest hole on the course is # 15, a par-5 that plays to 601 yards. The shortest hole on the course is # 7, a par-3 that plays to 171 yards from the back tees.

Watch out for # 6, a 441-yard par-4 challenge and the #1 handicap hole on the course. The easiest hole is # 17, a 454 yard par-5.