Briarwood Golf Club, Halifax

Reopened in 2011 after a two-year hiatus, Briarwood Golf Club’s 18-hole executive course invites clubbers to an abridged layout stationed in the heart of a vibrant ecosystem. Briarwood’s shorter links make an ideal training ground for casual golfers; aces can loop the verdant grounds to shore up their short game or fulfill their mission to graze on the grasses of all the world’s courses. Each fairway plays into immaculate, revitalized greens, which were reseeded before 2011 and should be growing out of their brambly adolescence and into smooth, pimple-free adulthood in their second consecutive season of usage. A burbling river runs throughout the course, and cool breezes gain momentum on a course-side lake before swooping through the towering tree lines and tickling the collared necks of Briarwood’s birdie-hunting guests.