Filed under: Courses
Dentonia Park Golf Course is a City of Toronto, Parks and Recreation-managed par-3 ‘pitch-and-putt’ 2100-yard course in Scarborough, Ontario, a few km east of downtown Toronto, right on the TTC subway line at Victoria Park station.
Due to the ease of access, and the relatively lax scheduling (usually no credit card required to book a tee), and the very reasonable rates (lowest fees of all city courses in Toronto) of $22/$25 wkdy/wknd, Dentonia is the perfect place for a quick practice of your middle-game and putting skills, without the pressure that beginners may feel at other courses (such as a Scarlett Woods, which in contrast does have a starter and a relatively intense course marshall in a roving cart to keep the game moving). Nonetheless, late morning can still see the course getting quite full, and beginning golfers still get a taste of the responsibility of keeping pace.
The fairways and greens are fairly well kept, but the tees generally leave something to be desired. Early-season course management seems to be a bit behind, and only now are some tees in repair or finally being opened post-repair. Many are dirt only, requiring a tee-off even for those accustomed to hitting irons untee’d. 2 or 3 holes even have astroturf pads, which is quite unfortunate. (At least two of these are permanent tee-offs too, such as on the 7th hole.)
Because it is a par-3 pitch-n-putt, the course is quite compressed, and there are really only 2 long holes (which would still be medium-short on most courses) of 189 and 165 yards, with an average of 121 yards for the course. Due to encroaching roads and houses on a short course, woods are not permitted on the course. (Bring extra wedges instead to fill out your bag.)
The Holes
Most notable amongst the course:
1st Hole
Very strong slope on this green, which sits above a small valley that runs across the fairway - often you are pitching uphill out of the valley to the sloped green — and either end up far downhill on the green with a difficult uphill putt, or far uphill from the pin, with a long putt downhill on a fast green. Somewhat difficult.
4th Hole
Amongst the easiest of the holes, my personal best in the 5 times I’ve played Dentonia, the fairway leads downhill out of sight to the green on a very short hole. Often an overly-short pitch gets you rolling down the fairway right onto the green — this gave me a nice birdie on one occasion.
6th Hole
Probably the most difficult personally for me (course handicap 2) - the 2nd longest hole of the course (169y), with a shot across Taylor Creek which runs almost parallel with the ideal tee-off — teeing off just 20% short or off 20 degrees will put you in the water or into the forest.
7th Hole
Rather lacking astroturf tee, with the green sitting 100 yards off and 10-15 yards above your tee with no fairway — only long rough up the hill to the green. Challenging, with a nice bunker and a nasty under-repair sinkhole right to the left of the green. Some slope on the green requiring controlled downhill putts or long and strong uphill putts.
11th Hole
Longest of the course, with the tee a good 20 YARDS above the fairway. Often hard to find your ball, and the only hole with a near dog’s-leg approach (very narrow green access between bunker-filled hills), with the green 3-4 yards above the fairway.
13th Hole
151 yards with water hazard Taylor Creek off at 120 yards - misjudge your power, and you’re in the creek! Large, uphill, relatively slow green with the pin at the far end may throw you into a 3-putt if you are short, or roll back too far.
16th Hole
I do rather well on this hole, for some odd reason, but many find it difficult - the side of a forested hill runs along side the fairway, closing in from the left, with another forested slope downhill closing in on the right makes for narrow (15-20 yard) fairway access to the green at about 110 yards up on the 139 yard hole. Slight dog’s leg left protected by a small circular hill around the green, hooks are not welcome here if you want to help your handicap.
All in all, a nice fun short course for beginners and intermediates alike, or advanced players who want to concentrate on their middle game, especially distance control on their high irons and wedges. Some challenging tee-offs due to some lack of quality tees, but if you can hit off astroturf, you can hit off other relatively hard surfaces. The rough is quite long and more unforgiving than at Scarlett Woods for eg., perhaps due to the lack of grooming, with many egg’s nests as reward for missing the fairway — a good incentive to actually hit fairways for those learning.
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