Golf in Chatham-Kent

Open year round, Hydeaway Golf Club's 18-hole, par 71 course unfurls across 130 acres of kempt fairways framed by trees and tranquil ponds. Water hazards come into play on more than half of the holes, creating strategic quandaries such as when to attempt to carry a distant pond and how to tell if provocative messages in a bottle were intended for you. Tall tree lines further complicate golfers' passage, stretching out their twiggy arms in a quenchless desire to scuff up dimpled orbs. Golfers can choose to loop the emerald links on their own bipedal steam or enlist a GasCar golf cart to help hunt down errant balls or misplaced playing partners.

The Bogey Golf Tour grants golfers a chance to take to the links and compete against fellow amateurs in tournaments scheduled at some of the finest courses in the London, Windsor, Detroit, and Kitchener/Waterloo areas. At each event, scratch golfers compete in the Birdie division, 0–15 handicaps square off in the Par division, and 16+ handicappers trade pinpoint approaches and sequined divot tools in the Bogey division. The top five finishers in each division receive prize money—which can be paid out in gift certificates or cash—and the Tour also holds prize competitions for longest drive, closest to the pin, and 3-iron jousting. The Tour publishes the results from each tournament in local newspapers, and players can chart the peaks and valleys of their careers on the Tour Members list, which compiles all of their tournament results. Along with providing an outlet for amateur golfers to exercise their long-suppressed competitive side, the Tour and its sponsors have raised $74,000 for various area charities since 2003.

Golfdealz.net grants discounted greens fees for golfers looking to split fairways and sink putts at some of the state’s best golf courses. The pass offers multiple discounts at 26 participating courses, with bargains ranging from buy-one-round, get-one-free to greens fees for four players for the price of three to half off bedazzled rhinestones to glue onto golf gloves. Certain courses even offer special deals for tee times scheduled before noon on Saturdays and Sundays. Golfdealz.net's scorecard outlines each deal and also serves as the punch card that players show to pro shop staff members to redeem each round while preserving the retirement fund for their aging putters.

In 1914, golf-course architects incorporated the three branches of the Sydenham River to form a wishbone in the middle of Bear Creek Golf Club's 6,154-yard layout. Coming into play on nine holes, the waterway factors prominently into the par-5 10th hole, where it flows just beyond the tee box, crosses the heart of the fairway, and snakes along the front of the green, providing an ideal venue to practice skipping ball markers across the surface. Tall trees hover at the edges of most fairways, waiting to complicate play after errant drives or approaches.

After putting out on 18th green, guests can watch fellow golfers traverse the course from the raised deck at Bear Creek’s Golfview Restaurant. Inside, aromas of chicken wings, quesadillas, and burgers fill the air along with the warmth from a stone fireplace, where golfers can destroy incriminating scorecards or Petrarchan sonnets they wrote about their sand wedge.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 71 course
• Length of 6,154 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 70.8 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 128 from the farthest tees
• Four tee options
• Scorecard