One of the few trip I had planned for this year was a trip back to Ontario to spend some time with my family. I decided to work from Mom’s house for the week (no time off with the big Antarctica trip later this year) and keep everything at work moving forward. I had decided to time it with the Canadian Open (golf), which was being played almost literally in Mom’s backyard.
I took the red-eye from Vancouver, leaving late friday night and arriving early Saturday morning. While the flight is painful, it gives you the best use of time. Since I was arriving so early, I arranged a car service rather than asking Mom or Shawn to try and navigate the airport at that time of day. I think I got to Mom’s at around 10:00, so that worked out well. I may have to do that more often. It’s a bit expensive, but efficient.
Mom had arranged for lots of family to drop by for a visit, so after getting unpacked and having a quick nap, people started to arrive. Aunt Dorothy was early, making the crazy drive of almost 5 hours, just for the day. It was nice to see her and catch up - it had been a while. Everyone else arrived over the course of the late morning/early afternoon and we had a really nice visit.
Sunday was pretty chill - I just hung out at Mom’s and visited some more. Sunday night I got together with my friend Sandy and we had a chance to catch up. It had been too long for just he and I to have a night out, and I really enjoyed it. We had planned to catch up later in my visit, but sadly other things transpired.
Monday I woke up with a nasty cold. I guess I must have picked it up on the airplane, but I had felt fine all weekend. But I was not great for the first few days of the week! Sadly, I still needed to work. Monday and Tuesday past in a flash. Work was busy, I had a ton of calls and was trying to fit in naps when I could to beat off the illness. It kind of worked. I was supposed to go see Steve and Christine on Tuesday night, but we had to call that off. I really didn’t want to get them sick.
Wednesday was the official start of the Canadian Open, and I was also starting to feel better. Here’s some background to make it all make a little more sense. The Canadian Open was being held for the second time in two years at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. This amazing facility is less than a 5 minute drive from the house I grew up in, in the village of Alton. Being an hour north of Toronto, it seems an odd place for the Canadian Open. But TPC Toronto is also the new home of Golf Canada, moving it from it’s long-time home at Glen Abbey. In 2022 Golf Canada and Osprey Valley announced a partnership and bold vision to build a new Home for Canadian Golf – a momentous project that will see the National Sport Federation relocate its corporate base of operations to TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. The campus will include national headquarters for First Tee – Canada, with a publicly accessible community putting green and an indoor training centre.
It’s all pretty amazing for the little town I grew up in. The original Heathlands course at Osprey Valley (now known as TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley), opened in 1992. That was about half way through university for me. The land the golf course is on was our playground growing up - we hiked and biked through there all the time.
The original Heathlands course was designed by renowned Canadian architect Doug Carrick, who after a trip to Portmarnock Golf Club in Dublin, Ireland designed the links-inspired layout, with its wind-swept dunes and lurking pot bunkers echoing the traditions of links golf.
From the early years, where the clubhouse was simply a trailer in a gravel parking lot, Osprey Valley quickly became my favorite golf course. I’ve always loved links-style courses, and this is still in my top 5 of all the courses I have played in my life. I didn’t play it a lot, but I did try and play any time I had an opportunity.
Osprey Valley took the next steps by adding two more Carrick-designed courses: the rolling, Parkland-style North course (then known as Toot) and the Wasteland-style Hoot course, both as unique as the Heathlands in their own way. While I really like (and have played) all three courses, the original is still my favorite and will always hold a special place in my heart.
So, when the Canadian Open was announced for Osprey last year, I was sad that I was not able to attend. The timing just didn’t work. I really didn’t want to miss the second opportunity.
Wednesday morning, while it wasn’t the start of the proper tournament, it was the pro-am, and I decided I was feeling well enough to walk over and check the place out. They were opening the gates at 6:30 a.m. each day with action starting around 7:00 a.m. Which was perfect for me - working west coast time meant that I could go over to the course for a few hours in the morning and be back in time for the work day to really begin!
So about 7ish I made the walk over. It’s about 1/2 an hour from mom’s house to the entry point. Along the way, you walk past the aforementioned new putting green that they built outside the Gof Canada headquarters. It’s huge and looks amazing!
The North Entrance to the course.
The course was pretty quite being so early, and since the tournament wasn’t starting yet. BUt it gave me a great opportunity to walk the course, get the lay of the land and figure out where I wanted to be during the rest fo the week. I have been to live PGA Tour events in the past, and I have to admit, I think golf is better on TV than live. But since it was at Osprey, I definitely wanted to see the course and check out all it had to offer. I only really had a couple of hours before I needed to be back at work, so that also limited the options.
Last year, they did a great job of creating a “signature” hole for the tournament. Leaning heavily into the Canadian hockey theme, they made hole #14 (a par 3) “The Rink”. They built up grandstands and premium seating areas and really tried to encourage the crowd t build a very un-golf like atmosphere around the hole. It worked really well, and not surprisingly, they brought it back for this year.
I think I spent about 2 hours at the course before feeling like it was time to head back to work. The rest of the day was pretty quiet - working, napping and hanging out with Mom. Thursday was a bit of a repeat, with the main difference being that it was the start of the actual tournament, and it was all pros out on the course!
I again headed up around 7 a.m. to give myself a couple of hours t watch the proceedings. As it’s the first round, the field is all mixed up and so I got to see some of the big names. It’s amazing to watch them in real life - how far and how accurately they hit a golf ball is incredible.
Sadly, the weather turned and it started to rain pretty hard. I was prepared, so it wasn’t too bad. But I did need to get home and get back to work, so I called it a day and headed back.
Friday I took a bit of a break from the tournament. Lane had the day off school and we had decided that we’d go play golf at the Orangeville Golf Course in the morning. I had a noon meeting that I needed to be back for, but otherwise, we had the morning to get out and enjoy the course.
After a great round of golf (thanks Lane!) it was back to work for the day. I called it at a reasonable time that afternoon and mom and I hung out for a bit. We met Steve and Christine at Goodlots, a local brewery for dinner to make up for me missing them on Tuesday. It was a stunning evening, the food was good and we got to see the photo book of their African and Scandinavian trips. Both of which looked amazing.
Saturday was to be my “big” day at the Open. I didn’t head out quite as early, getting in around 10:00. I ended up staying through about 2:00, grabbing some lunch and exploring a lot of the fun things that went along with the golf. It also gave me a chance to try both strategies for watching the event.
Strategy #1: Follow a Group Around the Course
As I arrived at the first tee, I was fortunate that the group teeing off included one of the Canadians. So that seemed like a good opportunity to watch this group for a while. So after they teed off, I followed the group for the first four holes. It was a good mixture of long and short holes, and it was fun to cheer for the Canadian.
Strategy #2: Sit at One Hole and Watch Groups Play Through
As I had discovered earlier in the week, hole #4, a par 3, was a good spot to sit and watch for a bit. There was a refreshment stand (I got myself a caesar and a snack) and some shade at the picnic tables. And so I sat for a bit, rested my tired legs and watched three or four different groups come though.
After hanging out at hole #4 for a while, I decided I preferred strategy #2 and used that approach throughout the rest of the day. I walked over to #15 and watched them hit off the tee (and over that huge tree!) for a bit. The I headed over to The Rink and sat in the bleachers for a while, enjoying the atmosphere and watching the action.
After sitting at #14 for a while, I decided it was time for some lunch. So I walked along #13 (and stopped and watched for a bit) back towards the “center” of the course where the huge food area was set-up. The food was expensive (not a surprise) but quite good (more of a surprise). The fact that the Keg was one of the biggest food options was a bit odd. They had a putting contest going on that I tried my hand at (sadly, did not win).
After having some good and a drink, and watching the golf on the big screen for a bit, I wandered over to the Golf Canada headquarters. They had opened up the putting green for people to try it out, and it was packed. I had a closer look and was surprised (well in hindsight it makes a ton of sense) to discover that the putting green was artificial turf. It doesn’t make it any less cool, and I suppose it will last better this way.
A closer view of the putting green.
After checking that out, it was off to wander the course a bit more and figure out where I wanted to watch from next. My primary objective was to get out of the sun. It was hot and I was feeling a little baked out. So I found a shady spot near the 10th green and stood there for a while, watching some groups come through.
My timing was once again good, as one of the groups included Canadian Sudarshan Yellamaraju. He is a rising star, born in India and raised in Winnipeg and Mississauga. He is famously mostly self-taught, largely learning the game through YouTube videos and practice before turning pro directly out of high school. He ended up being the best Canadian in the tournament this weekend, finishing in 8th I think. So I chose to follow him around for a few holes.
After following them for a bit, back towards the far end of the golf course (and closest to Mom’s) I decided to call it a day and head back home. It had been a fun day watching the golf, but it was time to call it. Saturday night we went out for dinner. It was my regular “date night” with Mom and Aunt Rosie, but we had a fun surprise with Shawn joining us. Leanne and Lane had flown to Las Vegas Saturday morning and Mackenzie had abandoned him to hang out with Lisa. So we had a great evening out.
Sunday morning I decided to take my last opportunity to go out and play golf. So I headed over early to the Orangeville golf course and played a round. The weather was looking decidedly rainy, and I wa sunsure if I wanted to go over to the course for the final round.
After my round I decided I did want to head over to the Open for a little bit. It was the last day and I did want to enjoy the atmosphere abit more. Sadly, the weather was pretty bad and I did not last long. The crowds were of a decent size, given the weather, but as everyone had an umbrella it made it difficult to see much. I really enjoyed the week, there were Canadians in contention throughout and I feel like I got good value out of the tickets.
I think I was back home by lunch time and Lisa and Ethan came for a visit in the early afternoon. We had an early dinner, and then it was time to head for the airport and the trip home. It had been a great visit (other than getting sick) and I really enjoyed spending time with Mom and the rest of the family.