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Montreal
A great golf trip and French vacation are closer than you think. The words "Montreal" and "golf Mecca" collide in the same sentence about
as often as the words "Freddie Couples" and "that's good," but guess what:
Canada's second-largest city is a great golf destination, with more than
100 courses-from links to parkland and from pushover to punishing.
The pride of Quebec also features fantastique French cuisine, a killer
summer jazz festival and a decidedly Continental feel. It's like Paris,
without Euro Disney.
Montreal Island Golf ClubSouth course: 7,255 yards, par 70; North Course: 6,603, par 70; Greens fee: $40-$65 514-448-6000, cgimgolf.com; Designer: Pat Ruddy Why it's worth it: What a dump! At least it was. Renowned Irish designer Pat Ruddy took a former municipal dump and turned it into a superb links-style test that twists and turns though 170 acres of heaving dunes, hungry pot bunkers and spacious fairways. Holes like the 351-yard eighth—which demands a precise drive to avoid a tough downhill lie—will please bunters, if not bombers. St. Raphael Golf Club No. 1: 6,589 yards, par 72; No.2: 6,957; Greens fee: $150 514-696-4653, golfsaint-raphael.ca; Designer: Neil Haworth
Why it's worth it: So, you've already caught Presidents Cup fever? Us, too! But the 2007 host site Royal Golf Club of Montreal is more private than Garbo. So play St. Raphael across the street. Course No. 1 is a nice warm-up, but No. 2 is the main attraction, and worth every penny. Already a demanding test, designer Neil Haworth recently turned the screws, making greens smaller and lakes larger. And it's a thinking man's course. The par-5 18th plays much shorter than its 589 yards—if you can cut the corner by blasting it over a cluster of pesky oaks.
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