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Let's hear it for LMG rates. Called the course and was quoted $125/round with cart signed up with LMG and paid $60 how great is that? I've enjoyed playing Royal Woodbine over the years and the only fault I can find with it is that novice golfers seem to think that RW is a good track to learn on. Granted a driver is not always needed off the tee at RW but ability to play golf is a must and course management is required if you want to score low at RW. A great course to play but not to practice on since at RW hitting fairways and greens in regulation can still result in bogey or worse.
I always look forward to testing myself at this course. However 5 hours amd 15 mins to play a round was too long. Where was the Marshall? The course was unusally dry for this time of year adding to the challenge. I`ll be back but hopefully play will be faster.
Can't understand why people love this course so much. One of the reasons I play golf is to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature but it's hard to concentrate with a 747 roaring a hundred feet above your head. If you can overlook being on the approach path to Pearson Int'l and you don't mind water on virtually every hole, then this is the place for you. I can't explain why I still end up here at least twice a year. I guess I like the convenience and have a short memory.
5
On April 21, 2009, Rick of Toronto posted:
Played here on april 11 2009. Concidering how early it was the course was in good shape. The greens were fast and the fairways were in good condition. Cant wait to go back in the summer.
Played here on Sept 19th in a tournament. The service was great. Staff very helpful. They even took your bags to the carts and put them on. Pace of play was good considering 144 golfers. Cart girls were always available. Course was in good condition. Greens well kept. Challenging layout with the water but you just need to be selective with your shots. 12th hole looks intimidating from tee box but if you land your drive over the creek the green is reachable in 2. Enjoyed the planes coming in so close. Would love to play again.
Just played the course on tuesday, it is a great layout although the course would be a lot better if there where no planes or birds all around... the water is not that much of a factor which is suprising as there is water on almost every hole. but all and all i would play here again without a doubt
8
On September 16, 2008, MUCCI of Toronto (7 handicap) posted:
Course was a lil wet from all the rain we've been having so the CART PATH ONLY rule was in effect..greens seemed to be a bit inconsistent with some being really speedy and others slow and a few with quite a bit of ball marks on them I guess this is due to the volume of play and the soft conditions. Played after a tourny today pace of play was terrible...5 and a half hours, I absolutely love the layout of this course the mature trees and lots of water will def play again!
9
A Message posted on September 16, 2008 by 'bobby_jones' was removed by a course representative for the following reason: Course Manager request
On September 4, 2008, MaddMax of Toronto (15 handicap) posted:
I played RW on September 2 and arrived early, well before my tee time. It was my first time playing there. It was real quiet at 8:45 AM. I asked the clubhouse staff if there was a driving range. Sorry, the driving range is no longer available. No nets to warm up in. The Maples of Ballantrae have one or two. Sorry, no chipping area. I asked the Starter if there was dress code on the course. I mentioned to him that there was a foursome with some questionable clothing. He said he would mention it to someone on the course. Who knows if anything happened. BTW, the group took 20 minutes to reach the dogleg on the first hole. Apparently, there were no concerns by the on-course marshalls. Our group teed off 40 minutes later and we caught up to this group by the 12th hole. The only concern by the on-course marshall was that we were slowing up the groups behind us. Two of our players were legitimately playing from the Blues.
The big plus of the course was seeing the Snowbirds flying over us as we played. The big minus was the sudden plane sounds over a couple of the holes. The course was in excellent shape. A number of the holes have blind shots available to the golfer's view. The GPS on the cart was working well, but some of the tee boxes are too far away from the cart to make it possible for the golfer to take advantage of the technology.I made some excellent drives but found the wrong spot in the fairway. But that's golf!
The cart girl was a pleasant distraction to some of the marshall's comments. BTW, if you want golfers to buy stuff on the course, you must then expect time delays from the actual purchase to the eventual time delays in consuming the product(s).
11
On September 4, 2008, The Berg Man of Mississauga (12 handicap) posted:
As an avid golfer, and one who has played Royal Woodbine at least a dozen times in my life, I'm appalled at what I see some of the other LMG's have written about Royal Woodbine. #1 - RW is a fantastic layout. Designed by the same architect as the Devil's Pulpit and Bond Head among other greats. #2 - Yes RW can get slowish at times (weekend afternoons for the most part), but name one public course in or around the city that doesn't. RW is a fairly difficult test and imagine what one group of beginner golfers can do on a course with so many hazards. I would still rather play a 5 hour round on a Sat or Sun aft in the city than sit in my car for 1 1/2hr spending big gas $$$ to go to some pasture outside the city. BTW the pace at RW on weekdays has always been excellent. I've never played in more than 4hrs on a weekday there. #3 - The service there is great! The staff is very friendly and helpfull from the bag drop, to their pros, to the beverage girls, it's second to none. #4 - The value is incredible! No question that this is the best LMG value going. Take the location into consideration and it just can't be beat.
Remember the days when there wasn't as many nice courses and RW was $160. Now that all of the competition has lowered green fees and made these great courses so affordable your average know it all hacks have been spoiled, and expect to play on a saturday/sunday afternoon, in the city, on a perfectly maintained course, in 4 hours, for $40????
Played yesterday for the first time this year and the course overall is in great condition. The moist summer could actually be bad for this course as water has never been a problem there except for your ball! When the rains come RW becomes very soggy and I'm glad we had a couple of weeks of no rain. This was positively my worst round of the year but only due to my inability to put the ball in play. I was disappointed with the greens as I expected them to speed up after the dew burned off but nope, they remained slow all the way. After playing Piper's Heath and Lowville most of the season I am used to fast greens and did not get a handle on RW's greens. Service was excellent as always as this is definitely a priority at RW and many course in the GTA should learn from them how to do it right. Always a great value for the budget minded golfer through LMG and I'm looking forward to the next event there (when?) with the buffet spread like last year (without the 10c temp and rain and wind like last year!)
13
On September 2, 2008, nicolehughes of Toronto (30 handicap) posted:
We played this course today--it was amazing!! It was my first time playing this course and I was very impressed. Great greens and beautiful layout!! It was challenging but fun.
It was cool having planes taking off and landing overhead on certain holes! Added to the experience!
I loved this course and would DEFINITELY play there again!! Nicole
14
On September 2, 2008, fixurdivot (8 handicap) posted:
Played the course many times and find it is in great shape. The planes really aren't that bad and the layout and location make it a great choice.
Th condition is amazing, greens and fairways are great and the rough is fair - and recently they've cleared some "brush" areas where errant balls could be lost so it's just a little less punishing. However, there are some problems which are not really the courses fault, primarily ballmark repair as well as the replacement of divots (just 3 fairways: 11, 16 & 17) - the course has atleast put sandbottles at 16 & 17 to help but some golfers I guess just don't seem to care. - suggestion: not sure if marshalls have sand bottles but maybe they can do some course repairs between play??
Play can get a little slow in afternoons but in the mornings the pace is amazing.
All in all, I really enjoy playing this gem and find it to be the best challenge in the GTA on LMG.
15
On September 2, 2008, Jabba the Putt posted:
Played Royal Woodbine on August 17th.
Went there with great expectations after reading some great reviews on LMG. Overall, I am sorry to say that I was disappointed. The course has a lot of great things going for it, and also a lot of bad ones. I will try to summarize below:
The Good - Close to Downtown Toronto - Located next to Pearson Airport. - Condition: Obsiously the super takes pride in his work. The fairways are in great shape, the rough was tough but fair despite the wet conditions this summer. The greens rolled true with a couple of exceptions.Lots of unrepaired ballmakrs...not the courses fault. Cmon guys, fix your own and then one more. - Service: Very good, from the pro-shop to the beer cart, to the bag drop. Friendly and very nice.
The bad - NO GPS on our carts that day. No explanation either, simply there was none. - 6.5 hour round...I just cant take those anymore - much rather golf somewhere less scenic where I will be done in 4.5 to 5 hours. Not sure if there was a tournament ahead of us, or if it was simply over-booked. - Incessant flow of planes. I get it, you're close to home. I would rather drive a bit further out than have to face that again. Not the course's fault at all, but keep in mind if you prefer a quiet round. - Our cart broke down on the 8th hole. The pro shop was a bit slow to send out a replacement. Took about 20 minutes to get going again.
Overall, it is not a bad course. The layout is tough, and will penalize you for errant tee shots. Club selection is key. Keep the driver in the bag if you can't hit it straight and bring lots of balls...water play on almost every hole. Lots of dog legs and irons of the tee. I will probably not play there again, I found the LMG rate of $79 to be of lesser value than other courses within the GTA.
I played RW a week ago. The weather was fantastic and the course was in pretty good shape. I think some of the greens were in rough condition. This is probably because I found myself fixing about 3 ball marks per green. I loved the course layout and found many holes challenging while a few were not challenging at all. What makes this course great is that it is only 20 minutes from Downtown TO and that is the greatest benefit of all. The staff were friendly and helpful, the GPS on the carts worked 85% of the time and the fairways and Tee boxes were in excellent condition. I will definately play this course again.
17
A Message posted on August 28, 2008 by 'bobby_jones' was removed by a course representative for the following reason: Inaccurate or non constructive criticism
I PLAYED ROYAL WOODBINE ON SUNDAY AUG 24TH IT WAS IN GREAT SHAPE. THE GREENS HOWEVER ARE A DIFFERENT STORY. I DON'T THINK MOST PLAYERS DON'T FIX THERE BALL MARKS.IF IT WASN'T FOR L.M.G.I WOULD ONLY PLAY IT AT TWI-LITE TIME.
19
On August 26, 2008, RACED of Toronto (16 handicap) posted:
I played RW on Monday. The greens are in their usual good shape. The fairways, with the odd exception, are well looked after. The course has placed seed contains on the end of the 16th fairway which should help with the divot problem that is always there. I have played this course for at least 15 years and their one major problem still exists, sand traps that need major work. They are very compacted and some have small stones in them. They don't play like typical sand traps should. At $100 plus the course, to me, is over priced but the LMG rates make this course a good value .
20
A Message posted on August 19, 2008 by 'Mike' was removed by a course representative for the following reason: Inaccurate or non constructive criticism
Played here again on Wednesday August 13. Once again, the course was in very good condition. The difference just in the past 2 days was amazing. The grounds crew has really been busy working. Big props go out to the whole groundskeeping team.
My issues today were once again, the pace of play. Not a single Marshall was seen and our round took 5 hours to complete. I don't know if they overbooked the course or what the deal was, but once again, we had to wait on most tees. I do very much enjoy playing this course. They just need some Marshalls to help with the pace of play.
Played here on Monday August 11. The course was quite busy as there was a Canadian Junior Event taking place. While the course was in decent shape it was not in great shape. There were still some fairly large GUR areas on the fairways due to all the rain. There were also way too many puddles still in bunkers. I even lost a ball in one of the bunker puddles. I don't understand why they can't pump the bunkers out. It was also very slow. We had to wait on every tee and even though there were all kinds of employees on the course because of the tournament, there wasn't a single marshall to make sure the pace of play behind the tournament wasn't suffering. Those are my biggest beefs with the course. With the exception of the above, the course really is in good shape. I had a couple of minor issues sticking my tee in the ground in a couple of boxes and of course the scourge of the earth... ball marks on the greens but beyond that, the greens are in great shape. Fairways are as well, again with a few exceptions. With all this being said, I already have another tee time booked here and I am looking forward to playing here again.
1st time I've played here and was surprised how enjoyable it was. The whole course was in good shape...tees, fairways, rough, sand traps and greens were all good. Played with my buddies from the whites so it was short...only hit four drivers all day(will have to try the back tees next time though). Jets weren't as much of a problem as I thought they would be either. You get used to them pretty quick; It's not like they sneak up on you and then scream in your backswing. It got to the point where I didn't even back off if I heard one coming...mostly because there's always one more coming. Definitely a fun course that requires you to stay focused on the shot at hand.
24
On August 4, 2008, Les of Toronto posted:
Played our rain check on Friday with my friend Tony. Course was in great shape. I would agree that as like most courses, people are not fixing ball marks on the greens. However, the greens were consistent...all very fast, and reading the breaks can be challenging on this course. I really enjoyed this course, you feel as though you are up North somewhere, yet you are in the heart of the city. Worst part are the planes, but the views on the course help to block out the planes. Nice tee boxes, fairways in excellent shape and greens that really challenge the golfer. Ended up in a couple of bunkers and found the sand to be a little hard. Possibly from all the rain. Other than that we will put in a few more rounds before season end at this Toronto "Gem".
Let's hear it for LMG rates. Called the course and was quoted $125/round with cart signed up with LMG and paid $60 how great is that? I've enjoyed playing Royal Woodbine over the years and the only fault I can find with it is that novice golfers seem to think that RW is a good track to learn on.
