Grand Niagara Resort

One of North America’s most prolific, yet underrated golf course architects has now brought his design magic to a Canadian course we can all play. Rees Jones, known to many as the “Open Doctor” for his modernizations of classic major championship courses, also redesigned the courses being used for BOTH the Bell Canadian Open and last summer’s Canadian Women’s Open this summer, and this year’s President’s Cup.

But those are all private courses. The recently opened Rees Jones Course at Grand Niagara Resort in Niagara Falls is open to all of us looking for unique golf adventure. The centerpiece of a resort that will include a 350-room hotel, vacation ownership properties, fine dining, a winery, a full-service spa and fitness center, and in 2009 a course designed by Greg Norman, the Jones Course is only Rees’ second Canadian original. He also designed Royal Oaks Golf Club in Moncton, New Brunswick with colleague Keith Evans in 2000.

But his renovations of the Hamilton Golf and Country Club for the Bell Canadian Open, the London Hunt and Country Club for last year’s Women’s Canadian Open, and extensive re-design of the famed Blue Course at Royal Montreal for the upcoming President’s Cup will have his work, and name, very familiar to Canadians very soon. 

Jones believes his Grand Niagara layout “could host a major championship.” And he ought to know better than anyone in the business. In his work as the “Open Doctor”, he’s modernized classic championship courses originally designed by Donald Ross (Pinehurst #2), A.W. Tillinghast (Bethpage Black and Baltusrol) and his father Robert Trent Jones (Congressional and Hazeltine). He headed up the renovation of famed Medinah for this year’s PGA Championship, and another of his originals, the Tournament Course at the Redstone Golf Club, is the new home to the Houston Open.

Yet despite having his name connected to many of the most tantalizing tracks around the world and his family’s design heritage, Rees Jones might be one of the most under-appreciated designers of our time. Ask anyone to name a Rees Jones original (even though four of Golf Digest’s Top 100 are his) and it might take them a moment. But tell anyone you just played a Rees Jones course and they’ll likely match your smile and add a tinge of envy.

That will likely change with the Rees Jones Course at Grand Niagara. In typically-understated Jones fashion, Grand Niagara is a unique challenge. The fairway angles, positioning of hazards and exquisitely contoured greens demand intelligent course management, tempting players with a variety of risk-reward options.

Water is evident on most holes, but generally avoidable, with few forced carries. As a young golfer playing the traditional Scottish-style courses (he says he was “awestruck” the first time he played St. Andrews), Jones’ usually take what the landscape gives him and shapes more classic lines.

There’s no trickery, no railroad ties, no bells-and-whistles, just a playability that is the signature of Jones’ projects. The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, Pinehurst and Bethpage Black are examples of Jones’ ability to “dial-up” a course for a major tournament, but subsequently dial it back for regular play. Jones strives to have his courses be just as challenging for the pros as they are for us rank amateurs. His personal test of any of his course’s success is simple.

Do you want to play it again tomorrow? Consider yourself “dialed-in” when you visit the stunning Rees Jones Course at Grand Niagara Resort.

Statistics:

PAR: 72 YDS
Black 7425
Gold 6890
Silver 6407