Golfing Breton and Birchwood

Rural golf extravaganza 3-courses, 27-holes 1-day

“What did you shoot on that hole?”

“I don’t know, I lost count,” I said to Graham, sitting next to me with his pencil poised to record. By this time we were rounding hole number 21 or 22 of a 27-hole golf extravaganza where we toured the golf courses of Breton and Birchwood. Any Idea of proper scorekeeping had been abandoned long ago. No one wants to count that high.

The idea for our golfing mini marathon was a concoction of sheer inspiration when we were discussing a topic to tackle for our Backyard Bucket List segment.

“How about we do three courses, 27 holes in one day!”

It was interesting to be sure. I can barely get through nine holes let alone doing a back to back to back day of golf. In fact I hadn’t even swung a club yet this year. Talk about baptism by fire. But despite my worries about backaches, arm cramps and hand blisters (of which none came to pass) I found that 27 holes on three very different courses was really fun.

Village of Breton Municipal Course, Breton 8:45 am:

Arriving 10 minutes before tee time, fashionably early as Graham (my golfing partner) prefers. We hit the Village of Breton Municipal Golf giddy with anticipation on what the day had in store for us. Long drives, long putts, spot on irons. None of that actually happened. After the first few holes a harsh dose of reality set in. We were really not very good.

This was the first time either of us had been on the Breton course. Without many water features, or many sand traps it is a great course to get your feet wet, so to speak, and can be quite a manageable course if you can keep your ball straight. Which we couldn’t. But even if you’re having trouble it’s a nice place to be. The fairways are open with trees on either side. It’s a beautiful way to get away from it all.

In spite of some difficulty when it came to getting the ball into the hole, I had a very good time at this course. It was well maintained and you could tell a level of pride was taken by the grounds crew working on the course.

The clubhouse offers sub sandwiches and has a nice wide patio that, had we not been in a rush, could be most enjoyable.

Big Tee, Breton 11:15:

Big Tee is a privately owned course off Hwy 20, and one that I underestimated.

As I did early recon on the courses we were going to visit I thought Big Tee was going to be a pretty open course where I could get away with the odd fly ball because naturally all have to do was just continue play on the neighbouring fairway, or green or tee box and rely on my irons to get me back in the game (all of these scenarios did happen). I was wrong, with a number of water features, large trees, brush, and undergrowth. It was amazing how fast I lost balls starting with hole number one.

Hole number one has a crazy left dog leg as well as a water feature so naturally to avoid it all I teed up and whack! shanked it waaay right, right into a hay field. Graham did the exact opposite and hooked his toward the treeline. This pretty much set up the rest of our game. There was a lot of huffing and puffing and not a little swearing, but in the end we made it round the course with our dignity more or less intact.

Big Tee has some big obstacles such as large trees in the middle of the fairway, moats around greens and big elevation changes. It is a small course that packs a punch.

The Village, Birchwood 2:00:

We rounded off the day at The Village course, in Birchwood. It has been years since I played this course, about 15 to be exact, and even though my game was well over par it was significantly better than 15 years ago.

This course is a real rural gem. Situated along Modeste Creek there are a number of creek crossing obstacles, elevation changes, narrow fairways and trees. The course has a challenging level of difficulty but with quaint bridges, the winding creek and trees it is an enchanting course to play. An errant tee shot will cost you though, as we both found out more than once.

With a 25 minutes drive from Breton we were able to regroup from our earlier problems and get in a positive frame of mind going into the last nine holes.

With a tee box right in front of the clubhouse on the first hole the pressure was on to have a good show off the start. Whack! Straight and far, it was by far the best drive of the day. That was followed by a surprisingly good three wood hit on hole three as the highlights of my round. Things were looking up, until hole- four where an upward elevation change the creek edge led to two lost balls and a drop. From here my game was as erratic as a heart rate monitor after running up the stairs. With some higher highs and lower lows.

Again putting vanity aside, golfing The Village course was very enjoyable and a wonderful way to get outside and spend the afternoon.

After the round, again had we had time, beer and wings in the clubhouse lounge would have been an absolute cherry on the day.

So what did we learn? Playing all three courses in a day is really quite doable as long as you’re able to set aside the time. They’re all quite affordable and have a friendly welcoming atmosphere. Together they offer a real variety of challenges and a chance to get out and about in a rural setting. We’d both like to do this again sometime. But maybe we’ll get a little practice first.