Eagles Nest Golf Club (Canada) w/pics - All 18 Posted

[Frank M]

Eagles Nest is rated as one of Canada's best golf courses and considered one of Doug Carricks finest. In fact it is #22 making it the 8th best course you can play in Canada.


HOLE 1 : Par 5 565 yards

Tee - Doglegs to the left, the play is over the bunkers with a draw if you are long enough and if you play the correct tees you should be.


Fairway - Lay up is over the furthest right bunker of the left set for the best angle to the green


Fairway 2


Front of green - As mentioned the greens are mostly all raised from the fairway and very soft in front making low shots hard to hit


Right side of green


HOLE 2 - Par 4 441 yards

Tee - Left of the centerline bunkers is best


Fairway - From left and over the centerline bunkers (deceivingly uphill)


Left of green


From behind


HOLE 3 : Par 4 450 yards

Tee - Severely downhill, about 80 feet. As close to the left of the fairway as possible provides best angle. If you are a long hitter take it over the bunker farthest left.


Fairway


Fairway 2


Green

[Matt Kardash]

AQ pet peeve of mine is when I see designers try to emulate an Irish Linkland and create holes where there fairways are essentially fairly flat with huge  "dunes" running parralel all the way along both sides of the holes. At least of the mounds were integrated into the playing field in some ways. The 1st hole seems to be an especially bad offender to me.

[Mark Saltzman]

AQ pet peeve of mine is when I see designers try to emulate an Irish Linkland and create holes where there fairways are essentially fairly flat with huge  "dunes" running parralel all the way along both sides of the holes. At least of the mounds were integrated into the playing field in some ways. The 1st hole seems to be an especially bad offender to me.

But Matt, if the fairways were undulating, then a player who hits the fairway could be unfairly punished with an uneven lie.

Frank,

Thanks for another tour.  I really like EN, though not as much as many who have played it.  It's been a few years since I've played EN, are the first few greens as flat as they look?  I remember the green on 3 having a lot of movement.

[Frank M]

Matt: Although many are guilty of this, the fairways at Eagles have some undulation, not the types of undulation you'll find in the Irish or Scottish courses. They tend to have more of a gradual slope than humps and bumps.

[Frank M]

Hole 4 : Par 4 400 yards

Tee - Dogleg right...the line is over the waste area. Ideally a power fade off the left of the waste area will hit a slope and get some extra distance.


Fairway


Fairway 2


From behind


Hole 5 : Par 3 191 yards
This hole severely penalizes shots to the right. There are very deep collection areas, but the problem is they don't collect anything. Because they are so steep, the ball rolls right through them and on to a slope from where you are left with a chip in the rough off a severe downslope to a green about 20 feet above you ...apart from being a very difficult shot, the fact that this happens limits your options and takes away any imagination when it comes to recovery.

Above tee


Tee


From right side of green


From left side of green

[Frank M]

HOLE 6 : Par 4 359 yards

Tee - Short par 4 where most people take driver. The smart play is a hybrid or long iron to the top of the fairway leaving you a flat lie and approach into the green.


Fairway - Your shot after the smart play. If you hit driver or fairway wood, anything but perfect ends up down the slope to the right or left and a much more difficult approach shot.


Left of fairway - If you don't hit a perfect driver or fairway wood, most likely you end up left with a shot similar to this.


From behind


HOLE 7 : Par 4 435 yards

Tee - Dogleg left....KIDDING...dogleg right  


Fairway - Don't miss left


A Left Miss - Can see the very tip of the flag if you look closely...the new thing in bunkers is hitting out of footprints 


From behind

[Frank M]

HOLE 8 : Par 3 164 yards

Tee - A pretty nice view of downtown Toronto from here


Green from right side


HOLE 9 : Par 5 582 yards

Tee - Up the left side will give you the best angle to this green, but the fairway tightens the further you go


Fairway/lay up


In front of green

[RJ_Daley]

I see what you mean about the two styles of bunkers.  If you've played or seen Arcadia Bluffs in Michigan, the same sort of mix of sod walled and stacked sod walled bunkers are in the interior FWs and greensides, and MacKenzieish style in rough areas.  Eagles Nest really seems like a clone.  Does anyone know which one was built first? 

I'm stunned this is rated so high in Canada. It truly has the round peg in a square hole feel about it, although that may be too harsh from photo impressions only. 

[Frank M]

RJ: I know what you mean, however, the course is still pretty good. Eagles Nest is very similar to Arcadia. I am also fairly certain Arcadia was first, but there is no comparing the two locations as the surrounding scenery at Arcadia is spectacular.   

[Frank M]

HOLE 10 : Par 4 438 yards

Tee - Dogleg left. Hug the left hazard for best approach


Fairway center


Fairway left


Looking back


HOLE 11 : Par 4 439 yards

Tee


Fairway


Green from left side with hole 12 in the background


From behind


HOLE 12 : Par 4 470 yards

Tee - Line is over the bunkers on the left


Fairway - The further right the worse your approach


Right of green

[Frank M]

HOLE 13 : Par 3 190 yards

Tee - Lots of trouble here, but a fairly big green keeps it playable


Short of green is in one of the largest waste areas I have seen


Playing partner missed left and faced this


Green from left side


HOLE 14 : Par 4 425 yards

Tee - Dogleg left. Aggressive line is over center bunkers and offers best approach


Fairway over bunkers offers best line to green


From behind


HOLE 15 : Par 3 242 yards
I feel this par 3 is far to tough for 242 yards. There is a big bank which will bound your ball on to the green behind the two left side bunkers, but then it is too soft to ever work.

Tee


Green from right side

[Frank M]

HOLE 16 : Par 5 559 yards

Tee - Dogleg right. Ideal Line is over the left edge of the farthest right bunker, but again that is the aggressive line.


Fairway


Fairway 2


From behind


HOLE 17 : Par 5 642 yards

Tee - Split fairway here. The fairway to the left is the option for most as it is easier to reach and presents a better view of the hole. The fairway on the right shortens your approach considerably but is further and harder to hit. I can't see any advantage of going right for anyone other than the low handicapper as this is the longest hole on the course and you will still have well over 275 yards to the green. Probably done with the possibility of holding a pro event in mind.  


Smack dab between the two fairways


From the Right fairway


View of layup area


In front of green


Left back of green


HOLE 18 : Par 4 484 yards

Tee - Get as close to the water as possible to shorten the approach shot on a long hole


Left side of fairway


From left short of green


Green from left side

[Frank M]

No love for Eagles Nest?

[Frank M]

No love for Eagles Nest the first time around.

I thought maybe the winter blues may give it some attention and I am interested in what people think of this place.

[Sean_A]

Frank

Thanks for the tour.  It doesn't look like my cup of tea due to all the movement of dirt away from the centre of the playing field (only to be filled with bunkers), but there is quite a bit of interesting stuff going on.  It may seem strange, but 18 looks a very good hole even if a bit of a cliched one - being the 18th.  The 13th looks very good as well, but like most of the course, its spoiled visually because of lack of restraint.  Its almost as if someone started with an empty room and just started to clutter it up until what one mostly sees is clutter rather than a room.  I don't know much about Carrick, but is this his MO of design? 

At $50 I would be happy to give this a go, at $185 I am happy not to give it a go. 

Ciao

[John Foley]

Eagles Nest is a very strong course with some great holes. Loved the par 3's especially the short 8th w/ the view of downtown.

I get to Toronto every now & then and have played it a few times and have always found deals around especially early / late in the year.

As a side night if you get there pick up a copy of the making of the course. It is very well done and authored by our own Robert Thompson with some great hole renderings by Tyler Kearns who also posts here. One of the best books I have found.

[Kirk Gill]

It would be interesting to read the "making of the course" book, and see pictures, as I can't help but wonder what the site was like prior to the course being built. Obviously the course has to wind into the trees on the front nine, so the character of the course would have to change, but the character of the design seems to change as well, which is interesting, and I'd have to play it to see how it feels.

Llike Sean I'm a bit put off by the way the mounding looks on the more open holes, and the way the fairways feel like they're built in hallways of grassy hillocks. Many of those greensites look impressive, though, and hitting them would good fun, although missing them could require a lot of hill-climbing.

What's the story on walkability?

[Robert Thompson]

I have a lot of love for Eagles Nest, obviously, and thanks John for the kind words about the book. If you actually got a copy, let me know and I'll owe you a round at EN -- my treat.

Eagles Nest is built on two decidedly different land forms. The first is the old quarry, which resided for many years next to the largest landfill in North America. Many mistakenly feel the course was built on the landfill, but that was not the case.

The second landform is where holes 3 through 7 reside, and that is a natural valley that had numerous purposes, but also a lot of natural contour. Holes like 6 had little done to them.

To answer Sean's question -- Eagles Nest is owned by four large developers. One of the mandates of the course was to use the construction to bring in tons of fill from the outside that needed a home from other infrastructure projects the partners had going. That meant Carrick was able to import as much fill as he wanted to create the shapes where none had previously existed.

Is it overdone? Maybe, but it is also well done. Sean mentions the 13th hole -- which is an example of Doug embracing the left landform, left over from the quarry. It also happens in other spots (the dip in front of nine tee is my favourite random landform).

It is a tough, but fair course with lots of elevation change and actually walkable -- though hardly anyone does.

[Philippe Binette]

Is it reveted bunkers or grass-faced ?
 looks like a nice course but the 18th looks out of place it seems. (could be wrong)

[Robert Thompson]

Philippe: Grass-faced. They tried sod walls, but Canadian weather being what it is....

[Peter Pallotta]

I like most all of Doug Carrick's work, and have played several of his courses including Copper Creek (EN's older and plainer sister), which I like a lot.  But if I had to describe his body of work/style to someone, I'd probably say 'Classic - Lite".  He writes the principles of great old architecture in large, block letters, and then makes allowances so that the message can be easily read by his clients and their intended market.

Frank - thanks much for the tour.

Peter