Royal Niagara Golf Club - Old Canal Course

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.

Very challenging course in great condition. Enjoyed it very much.

Narrow fairways with lots of tall rough make it very important to control the tee shots. Greens are fast but not difficult. All staff are very friendly and helpful.

Will definitely play this course again. Played all three 9's and I still cant decide what one was my favourite

I really liked the course and the staffs level of professionalism. I just wish my skill was up to this courses challenging greens.

There's a lot of courses in the Niagara area...this course is absolutely in the upper echelon. Pristine conditions. I would not have played here if not for the great golfnow rate...no matter how great a course is, we don't pay $50+ for a round, period. So it was nice to experience a top notch course at a good value. From tee to fairway to green to everything else, this course was in top notch condition. If you are a bogey golfer, you will struggle to break 100 here, but the challenge was a nice change of pace.

This course is in fabulous shape. There has been a lot of rain lately so the greens are very slow and in need of cutting. The starter was friendly but there is a lot of confusion at the starter shack when they are starting three separate 9's, Our carts were sandwiched between other carts lined up in order of tee times which made it difficult to get into them for clubs etc..

Overall, worth a play.

Lots of shots are blind as day we played it was cart path only. Distances to carry environmental areas need to be marked to make experience more enjoyable. Greens have different reads and undulations to them.

Hot Deal was very good value.We played after 4 and first 9 clipped along but second 9 was slowed up so we didn't finish (our choice) .This course has many longish carries for the high handicapper, but was in good condition and I enjoyed it (H'cap 23).Wished I remembered to bring my yardage book!

The fairways were in wet condtion, but everything else was great, we were stuck behind foursomes for the front nine, so it was a very slow front 9. Other than that, a great course, will play there again in the future

I found the conditions of the greens very poor ... they were slow and quite bumpy. The group in front were casual golfers and there was no marshal around to move them along. There are much better courses around Niagara for the money.

The course was in very condition including the greens. Some of the tee box Signs did NOT have yardage infromation on them on the Escarpment Course. Not sure why. Not a big deal as the scorecard had them but it was just weird. I do not believe that the snack shop was open the day I went and only saw the Beer Cart once in 4 hours.