Updated on November 10, 2026
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What is the best golf course in Canada? Cabot Cliffs, on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, has been ranked No. 1 by SCOREGolf since it opened in 2015 and No. 1 by Golf Digest. Its neighbor Cabot Links is in 2nd place, ahead of St. George’s, in Toronto. Stanley Thompson, the renowned Canadian architect, designed six of the fifteen courses in our ranking.
Top photo: the Spray River and a fairway at Banff Springs. DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The 15 Best Golf Courses in Canada: The Rankings
15 courses shown.
| Rank | Course | Location | SCOREGolf 2026 | Golf Digest 2026 | Top100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cabot Cliffs (Cabot, Cape Breton) | Inverness, Nova Scotia | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Cabot Links (Cabot, Cape Breton) | Inverness, Nova Scotia | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | St. George's Golf & Country Club | Toronto (Etobicoke), Ontario | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| 4 | Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge | Jasper, Alberta | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 5 | Hamilton Golf & Country Club (West/South) | Ancaster (Hamilton), Ontario | 7 | 4 | 7 |
| 6 | Capilano Golf & Country Club | West Vancouver, British Columbia | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| 7 | Toronto Golf Club (Colt Course) | Mississauga, Ontario | 4 | 13 | 4 |
| 8 | Memphremagog Golf Club | Magog, Quebec | 10 | 7 | 20 |
| 9 | Fairmont Banff Springs (Stanley Thompson Course) | Banff, Alberta | 8 | 9 | 5 |
| 10 | Cape Breton Highlands Links | Ingonish Beach, Nova Scotia | 12 | 10 | 9 |
| 11 | The Paintbrush (The Pulpit Club) | Caledon, Ontario | 11 | 11 | 14 |
| 12 | Beacon Hall Golf Club | Aurora, Ontario | 9 | 16 | 19 |
| 13 | Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club | Vancouver, British Columbia | 16 | 14 | 27 |
| 14 | Westmount Golf & Country Club | Kitchener, Ontario | 13 | 19 | 13 |
| 15 | Tobiano (GreenTee Country Club) | Kamloops, British Columbia | 23 | 12 | — |
Consensus ranking = average of the SCOREGolf 2026 and Golf Digest 2026 rankings; Top100GolfCourses for reference. “—”: Course not included in the ranking. Click on a column header to sort.
Où se trouvent les golfs du Canada?
Click on a number to view the golf course, then click on its name to read its profile. Base map © OpenStreetMap.
How We Ranked Canada's Golf Courses
We compared the two Canadian rankings from 2026: SCOREGolf Top 100 (July 2026), the leading source in Canada, and Golf Digest (June 2026, Top 30). The consensus ranking is the average of the two; a course not ranked in Golf Digest’s top 30 is assigned the 40th ranking. In the event of a tie, the higher of the two rankings breaks the tie, followed by SCOREGolf. The rankings Top100GolfCourses is displayed for informational purposes. This ranking is reviewed annually.
The Rankings in Detail
Architects and years of opening: official websites of the courses and the ranking lists cited, accessed on November 10, 2026; no information is provided when the source does not specify it. Photos under a free license via Wikimedia Commons.
1. Cabot Cliffs (Cabot, Cape Breton) 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 1 · Golf Digest 2026 1 · Top100 3
It has held the No. 1 spot in the SCOREGolf rankings without interruption since it opened in 2015. The par-3 16th hole, perched on the edge of a cliff, has become one of the most photographed holes in golf; the course features six par-3s, six par-4s, and six par-5s.
2. Cabot Links (Cabot, Cape Breton) 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 2 · Golf Digest 2026 2 · Top100 6
Billed as Canada’s first true links course, located between the town of Inverness and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Built on a former coal transshipment site that served underwater mines.
3. St. George's Golf & Country Club 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 3 · Golf Digest 2026 5 · Top100 1
Formerly the Royal York Golf Club, founded in the 1920s with funding from Canadian Pacific. It has hosted the Canadian Open, including the 2022 tournament won by Rory McIlroy.
4. Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 5 · Golf Digest 2026 3 · Top100 2
Built by hand in 1925 by some 200 workers. Devastated and closed by a forest fire in 2024, it reopened in 2025 to mark its centennial.
5. Hamilton Golf & Country Club (West/South) 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 7 · Golf Digest 2026 4 · Top100 7
It has hosted the Canadian Open since 1919; Rory McIlroy won the 2019 tournament there by seven strokes. The most recent Canadian Open held at this course was in 2024, won by Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre.
6. Capilano Golf & Country Club 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 6 · Golf Digest 2026 8 · Top100 8
Opened in 1937 after extensive earthwork carried out by Stanley Thompson. The holes are arranged in pairs along the mountainside, with a view of Vancouver right from the tee box of the 1st hole.
7. Toronto Golf Club (Colt Course) 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 4 · Golf Digest 2026 13 · Top100 4
The first course designed in Canada by Harry Colt. The land was purchased in 1911 along the Etobicoke River; the course opened the following year.
8. Memphrémagog Golf Club 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 10 · Golf Digest 2026 7 · Top100 20
A project funded by Paul Desmarais and Jean Monty for a club with fewer than 50 members. It entered the SCOREGolf Top 10 for the first time in 2026 (15th in 2024).
9. Fairmont Banff Springs (Stanley Thompson Course) 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 8 · Golf Digest 2026 9 · Top100 5
The par-3 “Devil’s Cauldron” is the course’s signature hole. There are about 150 bunkers, often clustered together and following the contours of the nearby hills.
10. Cape Breton Highlands Links 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 12 · Golf Digest 2026 10 · Top100 9
Thompson called it his “mountains and ocean” course: it runs from the Atlantic up a mountain valley and back to the sea. It lies in Cape Breton Highlands National Park and was restored under Ian Andrew after a flood in 2010.
11. The Paintbrush (The Pulpit Club) 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 11 · Golf Digest 2026 11 · Top100 14
Created by Chris Haney and Scott Abbott, the inventors of the game Trivial Pursuit, and named after a wildflower (Devil’s Paintbrush). Pot bunkers, blind shots, stone walls, and ruins: “the best tribute to Old World golf in Canada”
12. Beacon Hall Golf Club 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 9 · Golf Digest 2026 16 · Top100 19
A private course set on a 265-acre site in the Oak Ridges Moraine, 30 minutes north of Toronto. The out course is wooded, while the back nine features undulating links-style terrain; the par-3 16th requires a full carry.
13. Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 16 · Golf Digest 2026 14 · Top100 27
Hosted the 2005 and 2011 RBC Canadian Opens and the 2023 CPKC Women’s Open. The club was founded in 1911 as the Shaughnessy Heights Golf Club and moved to its current location in the 1960s.
14. Westmount Golf & Country Club 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 13 · Golf Digest 2026 19 · Top100 13
Designed by Stanley Thompson, the architect behind many of Canada’s great golf courses from the interwar period. All the par-3 holes play downhill.
15. Tobiano (GreenTee Country Club) 🇨🇦
Rankings: SCOREGolf 2026 23 · Golf Digest 2026 12 · Top100 —
Opened in 2007 overlooking Kamloops Lake; several tees require crossing ravines (arroyos). Its name is an equine term for a piebald horse, reflecting the colors of the landscape. Published green fee: 18 holes, 2026: from CA$130 (early spring, Monday through Thursday) to CA$210 (high season), shared golf cart included.
Where can you play golf in Canada?
Ontario includes six courses from our top 15, located around Toronto (St. George’s, Toronto Golf Club, Beacon Hall, The Paintbrush), in Hamilton, and in Kitchener. Nova Scotia has three on Cape Breton Island (Cabot Cliffs, Cabot Links, Highlands Links), British Columbia three (Capilano, Shaughnessy, Tobiano), Alberta two in the Rockies (Jasper, Banff Springs) and Quebec one (Memphremagog).
See also
The Countries with the Most Golf Courses
The 15 Best Golf Courses in England
The 15 Best Golf Courses in New Zealand
The 15 Best Golf Courses in Australia
The 15 Best Golf Courses in Japan
Top 100 Golf Courses in the WorldFrequently Asked Questions About Golf Courses in Canada
What is the best golf course in Canada?
Cabot Cliffs, in Nova Scotia: Ranked No. 1 by SCOREGolf every year since it opened in 2015 and No. 1 by Golf Digest.
Where is the Canadian Open held?
It rotates between courses. In our top 15, St. George’s hosted it in 2022, Hamilton in 2019 and 2024, and Shaughnessy in 2005 and 2011.
What courses did Stanley Thompson design?
In our top 15: St. George’s, Jasper Park Lodge, Capilano, Banff Springs, Cape Breton Highlands Links, and Westmount.
How many golf courses are there in Canada?
2,564 according to the R&A's "Golf Around the World" report; 4th in the world: see The countries with the most golf courses.