Dentonia Park Golf Course

It's been close to 4 years since I moved to Scarborough, and I haven't golfed one round since. So I approached this visit to Dentonia, just down the street from where I live, with some trepidation. There's nothing more embarassing than looking like a noob at anything, but for some strange reason looking like an amateur on the golf course is particularly disquieting.

We spent a couple of hours over 2 days practicing at the driving range just 300 yards on the other side of the Danforth, with the hopes of recovering some of the lost "basics" of this most unnatural game. Those 2 practice days paid off.

A former co-worker from years gone by warned me that you had to be part billy-goat to hit Dentonia. She was right. Nestled in amongst the highrises and the eastern edge of Greektown, Dentonia is a golf ball maker's dream-come-true. While classified as a par 3 course, Dentonia hits much longer than its 2175 yards. Most holes are in the 100 to 120 yard range, but there are several that are closer to 200 - offering up challenges like extremely tight fairways, very mature forest on either side, extended water play, nasty hidden bunkers, and an almost unmatched topography. Many holes have the tee and pin on vastly different elevations.

It takes about 3 hours to get through this course on a moderately busy weekeday. We didn't have much luck on this Friday. It was quite busy - hence we were paired up with another twosome of college students looking to improve their game. It added an element of pressure I wasn't too happy about - I would've preferred to just hit with my son by ourselves. Oh well.

This is a jewel of a course. Very challenging, very scenic considering where it is, and extremely reasonable prices. Friday after 12 noon the prices went from $22 to $25 per. Nothing wrong with that at all.