Bayview Golf and Country Club

Bayview Golf and Country Club was built in 1960 at Thornhill, north of Toronto, on a layout by C.E. Robbie Robinson. Doug Carrick, Thomas McBroom and Ian Andrew have all worked on it since.

It is a private par 72. Sources give the length as 7,070 or up to 7,100 yards.

What it asks of you

Four architects on one course is either a mess or an education, and here it is the second, because they arrived in order and each worked on what the last had left. Robinson built the routing; the others adjusted bunkering, greens and tees to keep pace with equipment.

Robinson is the most prolific Canadian architect most golfers have never heard of, and his signature is the long par 4 that bends gently and asks for one side of the fairway. A 7,000-yard course from 1960 was very long for its time and is still respectable, which tells you he built for the future.

Ian Andrew in particular is known for restoration rather than modernisation, so the more recent work has pulled the course back towards Robinson rather than away from him.

What players say about it

This is a private club and public reviews are limited. The points below summarise what recurs. These are other people’s opinions, not ours: we have not played the course, and we name and quote no one.

What comes up in its favor

• Conditioning is the point cited most often, and it is described as excellent.
• The length gives the course standing among Toronto’s private clubs.
• The successive architectural work is well regarded by people who follow Canadian design.
• The clubhouse and the club’s facilities are frequently praised.
• Its position in Thornhill makes it convenient for north Toronto members.

What comes up against

• Access is restricted: a private club, visitors through a member.
• Sources disagree on the yardage, which is a small but persistent irritation.
• At over 7,000 yards it is long for a high handicap.
• The Ontario season is short.

Getting there and when to go

The club is at Thornhill, north of Toronto, about half an hour from downtown and forty minutes from Pearson airport.

The season runs roughly from April to October. June and September give the best conditions. Visitor access is arranged through a member.

Green fees

Visitor conditions are set by the club. See the club’s own site.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, the club’s own pages and course databases for the 1960 building, the Robbie Robinson layout and the later work by Carrick, McBroom and Andrew, and public course records for par and yardage. Sources disagree on the yardage, so we give both figures rather than choose one. The opinion section summarises public reviews read in September 2026; we report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we reproduce no quotations.

We have not played this course, and this page is no substitute for a round. The club has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say over its content. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.