Westmount Golf & Country Club

Westmount was founded in 1929 by members of the Grand River Golf and Country Club and opened for play in 1931, with a course by Stanley Thompson.

The timing matters: 1929 to 1931 was the end of Thompson’s great period, after Jasper, Banff, St. George’s and Capilano, and Westmount is a mature piece of work by an architect who had nothing left to prove. It is generally ranked in the Canadian top fifteen and has staged the Canadian Open and the du Maurier Classic.

What it asks of you

Rolling parkland on the west side of Kitchener, with more movement in the ground than most southern Ontario courses and the sandy soil that keeps a course firm.

The fairways follow the contours rather than cutting across them, dipping and rising, and they seldom leave a level lie. The landing areas off the tee are generous, which is deliberate: Thompson put the difficulty around the greens, where flashed bunkering guards putting surfaces that are both dramatic and quick.

It is an old-fashioned course in the best sense. Easy to walk without being flat, tight in its angles without being cramped, and demanding on every shot without being punitive.

What players say about it

Guests play by member introduction and the review record is modest but consistent. The notes below summarise recurring themes across specialist golf sites, traveller review pages and player discussion threads. They are other people’s opinions, not ours: we have not played the course, and we do not name or quote individual reviewers.

What comes up in its favour

• It is repeatedly described as one of Thompson’s finest designs, and the national rankings back that up.
• Conditioning draws consistent praise, and the greens in particular are called fast and demanding.
• Reviewers value the variety: every hole is said to ask a different question.
• The walk is praised as comfortable despite the rolling ground, which is a Thompson routing virtue.

What comes up against

• The uneven lies frustrate players who came expecting flat southern Ontario parkland.
• The greens are quick enough that a first-time visitor will three-putt more than they expect.
• Access is closed and the review record is thin as a result.
• Kitchener is off the main Ontario golf circuit, and visiting golfers rarely make the trip.

Getting there and when to go

The club is on the west side of Kitchener, around an hour and a quarter west of Toronto and half an hour from Kitchener-Waterloo airport, with Pearson an hour away.

The season runs from roughly April to November. Late spring and September give the firmest turf, helped by the sandy ground. Guest play is arranged through a member.

Green fees

Guest conditions and rates are set by the club and are not published. See the club’s own site.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, Wikipedia and published architecture and championship coverage for the history and the Thompson design, and the club’s own site for access. The opinion section summarises public reviews and guest accounts read in September 2026; we report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we do not reproduce or attribute quotes.

We have not played this course, and nothing here is a substitute for that. The club has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say in what it says. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.