Golf Away Tours is a very proud sponsor of the GTA AM Tour and every year, we are the official sponsors of The Tartan - one of the many great events run by the GTA AM Tour (if you're interested in fun competition on great courses, click here to learn more about the GTA AM Tour and how you can play like an am and get spoiled like a pro).
This year, our event was supposed to be at TJ's home club, Scarboro Golf and Country Club. Unfortunately, the event was cancelled due to draconian Doug Ford imposed restrictions on safe outdoor activities (oops, did we write that - we thought we were using our inside writing ….) but we still wanted to take the chance to highlight a great hole at this great course.
This classic A. W. Tillinghast course (the only Tillinghast designed course in Canada by the way) is a wonderful track with many great holes but few will dispute the par 3 fourth hole is one of, if not the, best of the lot.
Scarboro Golf and Country Club, with a history dating back to 1912, has been the site of four Canadian Opens, the Canadian Tour Championship, and several amateur championships.
The course was originally designed by noted professional and Canadian golf course architect George Cumming but underwent extensive changes in 1924 under the direction of Albert Warren Tillinghast (of Winged Foot, Bethpage, Baltusrol fame - and many other great courses). Tillinghast was one of North America’s premier golf course designers and was at the peak of his career when hired to redesign Scarboro.
The course was originally designed by noted professional and Canadian golf course architect George Cumming but underwent extensive changes in 1924 under the direction of Albert Warren Tillinghast (of Winged Foot, Bethpage, Baltusrol fame - and many other great courses). Tillinghast was one of North America’s premier golf course designers and was at the peak of his career when hired to redesign Scarboro.
Hole after hole at this club are great test of golf but arguably the most spectacular of them all is the appropriately named “Devil’s Leap”.
Devil's Leap is the 4th hole and is a par 3 of some 200 yards from the back tees. The hole requires an accurate long iron from an elevated into a large green guarded by sand and Highland Creek on the right and a dense forest on the left.
Devil's Leap is the 4th hole and is a par 3 of some 200 yards from the back tees. The hole requires an accurate long iron from an elevated into a large green guarded by sand and Highland Creek on the right and a dense forest on the left.
TJ has challenged this great hole on many an occasion and has this to say when asked about it:
"The 4th at Scarboro is no doubt the signature hole in many people's minds. I love bringing guests to play Scarboro and seeing their reaction as they take the short walk from the 3rd green to the 4th tee, and the green down in the valley gradually comes into view. It is a spectacular view, but they you realise you have to step up and hit a great shot to a relatively small target.
A front pin often leads to a good birdie chance as a slope that rests a third of the way into the green brings the ball back to a front pin location. If you arrive at the tee and see a blue flag signalling a back pin, your goal is to somehow escape with par.
Given how early in the round you reach this hole, it often makes or breaks your round, with scores anywhere from 2 to 6 being common place. Personally I have had my share of success and struggles with the hole, the most memorable struggle being where I came to the hole in the last round of the Club Championship, leading by 1 after a birdie on 3, and walking away with a double bogey after dunking my tee shot in Highland Creek, and never was able to regain the lead, finishing second for the fourth time!"
"The 4th at Scarboro is no doubt the signature hole in many people's minds. I love bringing guests to play Scarboro and seeing their reaction as they take the short walk from the 3rd green to the 4th tee, and the green down in the valley gradually comes into view. It is a spectacular view, but they you realise you have to step up and hit a great shot to a relatively small target.
A front pin often leads to a good birdie chance as a slope that rests a third of the way into the green brings the ball back to a front pin location. If you arrive at the tee and see a blue flag signalling a back pin, your goal is to somehow escape with par.
Given how early in the round you reach this hole, it often makes or breaks your round, with scores anywhere from 2 to 6 being common place. Personally I have had my share of success and struggles with the hole, the most memorable struggle being where I came to the hole in the last round of the Club Championship, leading by 1 after a birdie on 3, and walking away with a double bogey after dunking my tee shot in Highland Creek, and never was able to regain the lead, finishing second for the fourth time!"
Par on this beautiful par 3 requires a confident shot by an even more confident golfer. The good news is that even if this treacherous hole takes you down so early in the round, it was at least a scenic way to ruin your score!
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