Muskoka Bay Golf Club

Overview: Muskoka Bay Golf Club is an 18-hole resort course in Gravenhurst, built through the rocky, forested landscape of Ontario’s Muskoka region. Doug Carrick’s design uses exposed Canadian Shield, low wetlands, elevation changes and large natural corridors rather than trying to flatten the site into a conventional parkland course. From the back tees the official scorecard reaches 7,367 yards at par 72, but the resort presents the layout as a visitor course with multiple tee options and a relaxed Muskoka setting. The result is a round in which the landform is part of the strategy: carries, uneven lies and the angle of approach matter as much as raw length.

History: Muskoka Bay opened in 2007, with Golf Digest crediting Carrick’s design and Ian Andrew’s assistance. The project turned a difficult piece of rock and wetland terrain into a nationally noticed resort course without hiding the character that made the site distinctive. Today the course operates as part of Muskoka Bay Resort, with resort guests, members and public golfers accommodated through the current tee-time system. That resort identity is important to the experience: the course is not an isolated municipal track, but the centrepiece of a golf-and-stay destination north of Toronto.

Did You Know? The scorecard’s 7,367-yard back-tee routing is threaded through rock outcrops and low wetlands rather than a blank, level canvas. Carrick’s achievement was to make those difficult natural ingredients the visual and strategic identity of the course, so the same hole can demand a different decision depending on the lie and the line over the land.