Rebranded, renovated and ready for the spotlight

Build it. They will come.

More than three decades ago, that mantra guided brothers Jerry and Roman Humeniuk to create a world-class golf facility 50 miles north of Toronto. With three distinct 18-hole layouts, Osprey Valley was a unique offering. Now, thanks to the recent North Course renovation — a “refresh more than a rebuild,” according to architect Ian Andrew — combined with a new 65,000 square-foot clubhouse that features VIP suites, event spaces and a restaurant, practice facilities, and luxury stay-and-play cabins, this sprawling property is transforming into a golf mecca.

Flash back to 1992. That’s when the Heathlands, modeled after Ireland’s Portmarnock Golf Club, opened. The course was the first of three Doug Carrick designs in the rolling hills of Caledon. The Hoot, inspired by Pine Valley and wasteland courses of the Carolinas, and the parkland-style Toot (now the North Course) followed in 2001. Finally, in 2018, the property entered a new era when the club aligned with the PGA Tour and the TPC Network, becoming Canada’s only TPC property and rebranding as TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley.

Andrew worked with Carrick on all three of the original courses. Chris Humeniuk — who now leads the family golf legacy started by his father and uncle — hired Andrew (who left Carrick to start his own golf course architecture firm in 2005) to renovate the North Course. Before committing, Andrew asked Humeniuk to make sure Carrick was not interested in the project. With that hurdle cleared, design discussions started in earnest.

“I did a lot of the design on the original course, so it felt like I was renovating our work, not just Doug’s work,” Andrew says. “I did not want to undo Doug’s routing or alter the original concept, but the North Course needed a refresh.

“I wanted to lean into something a little more brawny and try to separate it from the other two courses. It was more of a philosophical change — adding a few accents here and there and making it more challenging off the tee.”

During one of his earliest walks of the property with Humeniuk to discuss design ideas, the architect recalls the client asking him: “Are we creating a public golf course where championships will be played or a championship golf course where the public can play?”

Andrew did not have an answer. The question referred to what North Course assistant superintendent Aaron Hill calls: “the worst-kept secret in Canadian golf” — that the property was in consideration to host Canada’s lone PGA Tour event.

“There was a sightline on what the vision is for this place and on what we had to produce,” says Hill, who has worked at Osprey Valley since 2013.

The renovation started in July 2023 when they closed the North Course. Thanks to a mild start to the winter, work continued right up until December. By the time the first spring flowers were showing, the refreshed course was ready.

“It was a tight timeline, but we got it done,” Hill recalls. “Usually, if you are a superintendent and you know there is a Canadian Open coming to your course, you have at least three years to prepare. But I embraced that part and thank goodness we had a rainy summer in 2023 or we would have lost a ton of sod. Your irrigation system can only do so much when there were days we were getting 30 to 40 skids of sod.”

With Mother Nature’s increasing unpredictability, another important part of TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley’s recent renovation included a new irrigation system. What made this project unique is that Hill, along with TPC Toronto Osprey Valley head superintendent Dave Hunter, took on the installation rather than outsourcing it.

“Not a lot of turf bosses would decide to tackle this job,” Hill laughs. “There were a lot of long days in the trenches. Dave and I had our hands all over that project. We had a few guys from Turf Care making side bets that we would not be able to pull it off in-house. But we proved them wrong and banged it out in one summer. That was a huge accomplishment. And now we can trust the system more because we had our hands on it. … It was not just some hired gun that installed it.”

FlightLine Golf was the only “hired gun” the TPC Toronto Osprey Valley turf team relied on. The golf course construction contractor worked collaboratively with Hill’s team and Andrew to build and reshape all 49 bunkers on the North Course, creating smaller, softer and simpler hazards. They then installed Better Billy Bunker liners in each trap and replaced the drainage, the sand and the surrounding sod.

 

Making it official

During a news conference in Osprey Valley’s new clubhouse earlier this year, the secret everyone knew was made official when Golf Canada, along with Chris Humeniuk, announced that the North Course would host the 2025 RBC Canadian Open.

Despite Andrew and Hill not knowing for sure during the design and grow-in phases whether the Club would one day host a Canadian Open, they knew the property would be the site for other championships; it had already previously hosted The Osprey Valley Open (a PGA Tour Canada event) and last month the course hosted the Fortinet Cup Championship — the season-ending tournament on the PGA Tour Americas. So, while Andrew’s initial design had the public player front of mind, once it was clear that some of the world’s best players would play the North Course, the architect pivoted. On the fly, he decided to narrow the fairways some more. “I changed my mind on just how skinny to go,” Andrew recalls. “In the end, we removed 6.5 acres of fairway.”

Go bananas!

In 2007, when Royal Montreal hosted The Presidents Cup, Andrew watched bombers like Tiger Woods struggle hitting what he dubs “banana fairways.”

“Tiger and the rest of the longer hitters struggled because they had to turn the ball over,” he says. “That is a takeaway I’ve had in my pocket for a long time. Getting the fairways to slowly curve like a banana is a great way to deal with length off the tee. … Have the fairways continue to curve, so to get in the ideal position the long hitters can’t just bomb it. It’s subtle. The bunkering and the fescue also slowly turn, putting a premium on your tee shot.”

Besides narrowing the fairways, the North Course increased from 7,105 to 7,480 yards and the par was reduced from 72 to 70. To add more flexibility — especially for when the course hosts major tournaments like the Canadian Open — back tee boxes were added to make some of the par 4s really long.

The number of bunkers on the North Course was also reduced in the latest renovation with some relocated to more strategic spots, further tightening the course off the tee and narrowing the corners. As part of this tightening — and to improve the views — many trees were also removed. Finally, a nearly 6,000-square-yard grassy mound was added in front of the green on the 13th hole.

Hill says working with Andrew was a pleasure and the architect valued his input. “I love his less-is-more approach,” Hill says. “There is nothing extravagant. There is a major flair, but everything is highly functional. The bunkers are all in the right spots without having to look like they were painted by Picasso. … A bunker is a bunker is a bunker.”

And the build is far from done. Besides course-specific clubhouses, still under construction and set to come are:

• An 18-hole putting course
• A 50,000 square-foot practice facility
• A golf academy
• Golf Canada’s new home
• On-site stay-and-play accommodations

“It’s so exciting,” Hill says. “It is fast becoming a golf mecca. When you work in this job for more than 10 years, things can become routine. It’s wild to see all of the development, but I just try to keep it simple. This project came at the perfect time. It kind of revitalized my career.”

David McPherson is a Waterloo, Ontario-based author, writer and communications consultant.