Royal Niagara Golf Club - Old Canal Course

The starter was super-organized. We had a cart with a card on it with our name and starting time. We were paired up with 2 locals (we were visiting from the US) who were good to play with. Groups were separated enough so that we didn't have to wait, or have a group wait for us until the last few holes. Very challenging but fun course!

This is very challenge course with lots of bunkers and narrow fairways.
We quite enjoyed to play there although my partners lost lots of balls in the deep rough and waters.
The green conditions are good and are difficult to read due to uneven and up down conditions.
Great course and great value!

A great place to play with a mixed group of varying handicaps

After a few years absence from playing Royal Niagara, I recently moved in to St. Catharines and decided to play my first round in almost 9 months (due to rotator cuff injury and surgery) at Royal Niagara. This course proved to be the comeback track of Niagara. It is a fantastic 'out there' experience. The course is well manicured and the greens are now in very respectable condition. I am hosting a men's day in a few weeks and will present this track to my playing buddies. Actually, I would join this course, I was that impressed.

Beautiful laid out track, a challenge for every level of golfer. Not over crowded, therefore, you can enjoy the pace of play.

K so it rained the night before so you'll have to take this with a grain of salt.

I will try this cours again when it's dry but the cours should have never been aloud to be played on with how wet it was. It was cart path only due to it but talk about wet. You had to hit everything out of water... It's started to rain on our second hole so we packed it in.

We are from out of town and only go to the falls once a year and they would only give a rain check even after two holes. If the cours wasn't so bad I would understand but we should have been told how wet it was as I asked right off the bat. We had to fight just to get tell end of May which still is no help as it's rain weather then too. Staff need to learn a little more about customer service.

Other then that I bet this cours is amazing when dry.

it's a good course that challenges your course management skills. bring lots of balls.

Not a good course for the average golfer. All landing areas are narrow and small with many hazards and fescue to swallow up errant shots. Greens and tee decks were not in the pristine condition you would expect from kaneff golf. Does not match up with kaneff's other locations in the GTA. Even streetsville glen had nicer greens. Weekday pricing isn't bad for the quality of the course, but not worth the weekend green fees. If you are a low handicap looking for a challenge, this may be a good course for you. If you are in the 20 handicap range like myself, go somewhere else. That being said, all the royal niagara staff we dealt with were excellent. Everyone was very courteous and helpful, and the refreshment cart ladies were all very attractive, which I know has nothing to do with golf, but is always a nice bonus!

Great course. Friendly staff. 4.5 hours to complete 18 holes on Sunday afternoon. Minimal waiting time on tee boxes

great day staff very friendly. Would recommend. great location. great conditions

The course is very challenging for an average player like myself.

The greens appear to have been recently aerated because they were rough and somewhat slow.

7$ to hit range balls before your round?

Rough was not cared for and a lot of old bunkers grown over.

Missing fairways even by little tends to result in lost balls or a long search. Pace of play would improve greatly if they kept the rough manicured.

It rained the whole week prior to the round and the course was dry and in great condition.

The 9th on old canel has changed from a par 4 to a par 3. I guess to avoid errant tee shots and new homes being built. Not a great finishing hole. Temporary fix???? Not sure

Marshalls have no idea to maintain pace of play.
Sand traps were more like mud traps

Rough thick

Tee markers not in place on Bridge nine (this was at 11:20)

Wind howled, but the rain stayed away - no bugs! The course is drying up and cart rules were 90 degrees - better ride than it would be a walk - walking would be a long round. The staff need to spruce up the visual appearance driving up, and around, grass and weeds not tended to for some time - looks sloppy for a Kaneff course. Marshall had some great tips off the 1st with the water well in play. Play guide for $2 is a bit of a money grab in my eyes, but worth it; especially for 1st time playing. Look forward to playing it again soon.

well maintained course, nice landscaping.
A bit chalenging, made the game interesting.
I will go back and play this course again.
Got my money worth!

Hi there,

I played Royal Niagara yesterday.
On the website here the price said 30$ plus taxes and the tee time was for 7:24am old canal.
Another one said Iron Bridge at 8:00 and was 42.00. I figured that it was a hot deal because we booked it the night before.
Now I use to work at Royal Niagara and I know that they have 27 holes. so my assumption was that you started on the old canal then they would send you to the next nine when you were at the turn. But when I got there they told me that it was only nine holes that I would be playing and that it would cost me 55$ if I wanted to play all 18, so I decided to just play the 9. The only reason I agreed to play the nine holes is because they were going to charge my visa card if I did not play.
I am really upset with this I have a new baby at home and I only get out to golf maybe once every couple of weeks and I was not expecting to play 30$ plus taxes and online service charges (total about 75$ for 2) to only play nine holes and when we got to the ninth hole the tees were closed and we were teeing off from the fairway this was also not mentioned to use when we signed in.
Nowhere on the confirmation or on the site does it say that is only nine holes .
I am a frequent user of golf now and I love the services and flexibility that It gives to golf when I want a where I want for a good price.
With that being said this is the worst experience that I have ever had with trying to book a tee time. I don’t put the blame on the web site but I do put the blame royal Niagara for not telling listing if you are golfing 9 holes or 18. I assume that I am not the only one that booked this thinking that they were playing 18. And as we were finishing the Marshall escorted us to our car to make sure that we were not playing another nine. Something needs to be done with the service provided by this golf course. I believe that me and my playing partner are entitled to some sort of compensation.

Course was in very good shape considering our spring weather. Greens were in excellent shape but were very slow (needed cutting and rolling). Fairways were dry and the need for a 90 degree rule was annoying. Traps were in the process of being groomed and where in terrible shape. Sand in the traps where not uniform and depth of sand was not good.

Greens a little rough but it is early in a horrible spring