I had the good fortune of teeing it up at Oviinbyrd on Monday morning, a very private Thomas McBroom design near Port Carling in the Muskoka region.
This is a club you don't hear an awful lot about and that's by design - the members of the club value their privacy greatly and while they had no problem with me taking photographs, they asked that I not post them on the web.
The course may lack the 'wow' factor of others in the Muskoka region, like Muskoka Bay, Taboo or Bigwin Island but more than makes up for it with intelligent design, superb routing, variety and great shot values.
The par fives are all reachable in two shots, even from the tips (longest is 542 yards and is downhill) and players are given many chances to hit 'heroic' type shots. There is a lot of risk and reward in the design and I had a smile a mile-wide on many occasions after pulling off some fun shots.
There are some wonderful holes out here: the downhill par five fourth that gives players a chance to hit the green in two; the long par four seventh, that starts downhill from the tee but moves back uphill to a great greensite; the lovely and difficult par three eighth, with a shot over a naturalized area to a very small green that lies hard beside a huge rock outcropping.
The back nine is even better. The driveable par four tenth hole measures 327 from the tips and 298 from the second deck and plays much shorter if you decide to cut the corner and go for the green. The 450 yard par four 12th is tremendous - a semi-blind tee shot to the top of the hill leaves you with a mid-length second shot to a fantastic green site set up on the hillside. The 14th hole is yet another gorgeous, severely downhill par three that can stretch anywhere from 152 yards to 230 yards but plays much shorter.
There is a lot of width off the tee on almost every hole and a number of greens are bunkerless, with little chipping areas to test the shortgame and demand a more accurate approach.
Another added bonus is how walkable the course is - most of the courses in Muskoka are built on severe land but McBroom's routing avoids the cliched front and back nine loops to the clubhouse, instead meandering out to the eleventh hole before making the return back.
The only major misstep, in my opinion, was the short par five ninth hole, which plays 494 from the back tees. The fairway is pinched in so severely that there is really no advantage to hitting driver. The green is already well protected (elevated with a full carry over water) so I don't understand why it was necessary to make it so difficult off the tee.
The course recently debuted on the Score Golf Top 100 in Canada list at #29 and I think that might leave it a touch underrated. While I can't compare it to Lake Joseph or Rocky Crest, as I haven't played either of those courses, I certainly think it is as good a test of golf or even stronger than Bigwin, Muskoka Bay and especially Taboo.
Again, I want to respect the privacy of the club so I won't post my photos here. However, I can direct you to Thomas McBroom's website, which has a few photos of the course that run in flash and also to Robert Thompson's blog, as he wrote a review on Oviinbyrd a few years ago and has some pictures there.
Thomas McBroom's Websitehttp://www.thomasmcbroom.com/portfolio/Oviinbyrd.htmlRobert Thompson's Oviinbyrd Reviewhttp://www.ontgolf.ca/g4g/2005/10/23/%EF%BF%BDviinbyrd-a-reviewHas anyone else here played Oviinbyrd? What are your thoughts on the course and how it compares to other offerings in the Muskoka region?
I'm also interested to know if anyone has any idea how much input Peter Schwartz had in the project from the design perspective. I heard a rumour that he made some changes that weren't taken very well by McBroom - maybe Robert Thompson can add something to this...