Rivendell Golf Club ranked 13th in Canada

Jeff Green | Sep 02, 2016

Course manager Jim Lansdell and the staff at the Rivendell Golf Club in Verona don't pay a lot attention to the Internet during the golf season. There's too much to do every day, keeping the course in the best possible shape and making sure that everyone who comes to play, members and casual golfers alike, enjoys themselves.

And during the off-season they don't pay that much attention either, it turns out. That might change a little bit as the result of something that a visitor to the course told Lansdell last week.

“A golfer told me that we had been rated highly on a golf website, and then said that we should look into it because we were in the top 25 in national ranking, which is something we never would have expected because those kinds of rankings usually go to golf courses that have millions of dollars invested in their design and maintenance,” he said.

On the weekend Lansdell had time to do a search and that's when he found that GolfAdvisor.com had Rivendell as number 13 in their list of the top 25 courses in Canada for 2015, as ranked by Golf Advisor reviews.

The reviews that are listed on the site reveal why Rivendell was so highly ranked. Here is a sample from one of them: “Rivendell is ALWAYS in geat shape - hats off to the grounds crew. This course offers a great mix of challenging and tough holes. A hidden gem to be sure. The staff are second to none in accommodating your every need.”

Golf Now course rankings are compiled by sampling reviews posted on the Golf Advisor website. Courses are ranked based on how they are graded in several categories, including: off-course amenities, value, pace of play, staff friendliness, course layout and course conditions.

While Rivendell scored highly in all of the categories, it received the highest ranking, 5 stars, for staff friendliness and value.

Ken Harper, one of the owners of the course, was also unaware of the ranking, but he was not surprised that the staff who work at the course were singled out.

“It is quite a surprise and I feel very proud. It is a reflection of everyone who works here, not just the course,” he said.

John Steele is the president of the Member's Association, and was one of the five founders of the course, along with Harper, Bill Davy, Roger Bauder, and Mike Bourassa.

In response to the ranking, he said that he is “very proud of the course and those who are dedicated to it.”

The ranking reflects comments by Golf Advisor members in 2015, and most of the comments are consistent with what reviewers said previously.

And if anything the course is playing better in 2016 than it did in 2015. Since 2015 was a wet summer, Rivendell had some problems with too much water in low spots, but that has not been not been a problem this summer.

As golfers and even envious drivers on Road 38 driving by the course this summer have seen, it has remained green and lush even with the dry weather.

“The course reacts well to dry weather,” said Jim Lansdell, “it always has. We did start to pull way back on watering in early August to protect the water supply for our neighbors and ourselves, but the rains came before the course showed any water stress.”

Lansdell also said that the hot weather this summer does not seem to have diminished the enthusiasm of golfers in the region and those from further afield.

“I think over time people got used to the hot weather and did not let it stop them from enjoying golf.”

The course owners and staff are pleased with the recognition, even if they did not find out about the rankings until nine months they were announced .