Royal Niagara Golf Club - Old Canal Course

Royal Niagara was a great day out. The staff are very friendly and helpful. Played the Escarpment and the Canal. Both were beautiful and fun to play. The courses were in great condition, despite being a little wet. It had been raining the night before. Pace of play was good. No waiting, nobody pushing from behind. Great course for both the long and short game. Tee blocks from pros to beginners. We had a beginner with us and the "green tees" were an appreciated added feature. Will play this course again. On my favorites list.

great course. played on a thursday morning when it rained. NOBODY on the course. would have been a quicker round but cart paths only. beautiful setting and well maintained course. challenging but scorable

I have not played this course for some time and now wish it had still been one of my regulars

Beautiful course and a deal that could not be beat for the "HotDeal" price of $35/person including taxes & fees. Only gripe was with the bunkers which were either hard as rocks or contained standing water despite it not having rained in a few days.

I am a new golfer and this course was very challenging but fun to play. If you spray your drive off the tee, be prepared to drop as the rough is very unforgiving. Bring an extra sleeve of balls with you!

Played the Old Canal and the Escarpment. There must have been a lot of rain in Niagara on Monday as the course was pretty wet. The majority of the bunkers were unplayable due to water in them and those that were playable were very hard. The course was in reasonable shape, got better as the day went on and the sun came out. This is in the same price range as Legends but not even close in quality and staff friendliness. I am still amazed at the number of people who refuse to repair ball marks on the greens and who drag their feet on the greens.

We had an awesome time at this course. The only thing that I would change would be the ladies tees which were not very advantageous at some holes.

First time at this course. To start with they couldn't find my reservation. Then they kept asking me if I was sure I wasn't Miss so&so...Like I don't know my own name... they told us the course we booked was closed which made me wonder why they hadn't updated golf now seeing how I booked it the same day. It was cart path only. At one point we were parked on a tree line in the rough and the marshall came and told us to move the cart, it's cart path only..which is fine. However the foursome in front of us were driving all over the fairways and over the tee boxes and no one said anything to them. they also decided to join up with the threesome in front of them and play 7 on a hole and again nothing was said to them. The Golf Now price was reasonable for this course at $40 but the normal rate is $85 which is ridiculous. The Greens were in rough shape, worst I have seen at any course so far this year. The fairways on some holes were in rough shape from people not repairing their divets. The staff acts like you are at Augusta and are kind of snooty, but cordial. The layout of this course is confusing and there is no map on your score card.
Overall, I would say this course is ok, but Hunter's point, Bridge Water, Rolling Meadows, Pelham Hills are a better deal for your Money in this region and in better shape.

I can understand there was a bad storm but the bunkers aren't going to drain themselves. Nothing more disappointing then hitting into a bunker and losing your ball in 3 ft deep standing water. Time to invest in a pump. Especially at the price they charge.

We are golfers and given the tons of water on the course after the last big storm and then playing cart path only...the Old Canal 9 was flooded and especially difficult...There were so many times I had to lay up because of the rough areas crossing the fairways..
I am a woman and play from the whites and can hit 225 yards. On one hole..maybe the 16th on Iron Bridge...can't remember...I deemed it impossible for me to clear the rough in front of the fairway..I had to lay up and then hit over the huge line of swampy weeds...
The Iron Bridge 9 was 10X better... The bunkers had a foot of deep water in them and I realize that this was not the ''course's'' fault but oh my...it was a tough 18 holes...We have played Royal Ontario and you cannot compare the 2 especially for the overall beauty of the course...Royal Niagara was not my most favourite experience by a long shot...Sorry..but I'm being honest...There were also a couple of bachelor parties ahead of us and the round seemed to last forever as a result..

I found the course challenging enough to keep the game interesting.

An extremely challenging course. You have to shoot blind half the time resulting in many lost balls. The rough is rough, if you are an inch off of the fairway get ready to drop a ball. One of our foursome had to quit after 9 due to dehydration. He could not hydrate because there is not any water but at the clubhouse and there was not any cart girl. If you are a pro and don't mind losing 10 pounds of water weight this course would be good for you. I'll never go back and I almost forgot there wasn't any flag on the 9th hole.

this course is challenging and good for long hitter.

We booked an 8am tee time on a Sunday morning and felt like we had the course to ourselves. We played in less than four hours, which would have been faster, though with the fescue and tree lines, we took some time looking for balls. The course offers a good challenge from the blue tees, and the rates on GolfNow are excellent value. One note, the facility has three nine hole courses, and the marshals are not great at managing the cross-overs, so you may find a group appearing ahead of you when starting your second nine. While I feel the course is not as well marshalled as I like, the staff is very accommodating and helpful when you speak with them.

My golfing partner and I played the "Iron Bridge" and "Canal" courses. The fairways were overall, in quite nice condition and the ball sat up quite nicely for the most part. Where both of our "discontent" lay, was on the greens and more specifically, the speed of the greens.
On a golf course of this caliber, one would expect that the green speeds would be much higher and that the ball would roll much faster than it was doing. We were both disappointed on this level, but in fairness to the club staff and administration, the previous time I played this, the greens were much more enjoyable! Could have been just an off day!!
Overall, this a very well laid out course that can challenge even the best of golfers on various holes and also offers some very scenic views. Good value for your money!

I have played this course alot over the last few years and it has never been in better cond. They have new carts, that makes it even better because their last carts were aweful.

course was Ok for length and overall condition but the greens were some of the worst I have ever played.
Instead of cutting them all they did was roll them. Grass was 1' to 1-1/4' long just laying down on the green. Made them extremely slow and impossible to putt.
Would not recommend this course

Played the Old Canal course first and then Iron Bridge.
Not very busy and we were just a 2-some so pace of play excellent. We really enjoyed the courses, some interesting challenges hitting up hill to many greens; also over hazards or
thru narrow gaps. This was the first time we've played at Royal Niagara so didn't know the course. The greens were deceptive and you couldn't always tell how large the green was so this made approach shots challenging.
It had rained alot the nite before so some water in the bunkers.
Since it wasn't busy, staff could have been out to improve bunker conditions. Overall, a very good experience. We would come back. Glad we booked thru golfnow.com and will again.

We teed off just after 4:00 with the course open in front of us. We caught the group in front of us by about the 5th hole. They were slow and would not let us play through. We called for a marshall, as did the group behind us. A person was dispatched from the clubhouse who seemed more than a little irritated about being disturbed. He told us they would let us play through, but that never happened once he left. Terrible pace of play with no enforcement! The group in front of us teed off at 3:30 by our estimation and finished just before 9:00 with nobody in front of them. There was no beverage service on the course and humidex levels were in the high 30's. The greens were horrible, not kept, and extremely slow. I will not return to this course.

The Old Canal 9 starts with an interesting choice - will you be playing conservatively or aggressively? I like the question but was glad it was asked on the 10th hole of my round. I wodnt want to start on this hole. The rest of the nine provides some very interesting and visually stunning holes. The 2nd will test your control off the tee while the 4th gives you what seems to be a 100 yard wide fairway to hit only to follow thT with one of the more deceptive approaches to an elevated green which is farther away than the yardage would indicate. The 9 finishes up with 2 rather bland par 4's but the first 7 holes should leave you smiling.
Conditions were superb and pace of play at 3.5 hours for a threesome (for 18 holes) was superb. This isnt my favourite course in Niagara (T Waters) but its very close.

Best course in the region. Golf now allows me to play courses that are usually out of my price range.