Redtail Golf Course

About the club

This very private club, situated in the countryside of southern Ontario between St. Thomas and London, has fewer than a hundred members, and it is all about golf. Bankers Chris Goodwin and John Drake commissioned British architect Donald Steel to design the course. Minimalist before the term was even bandied about, the Redtail offers up slender fairways and a naturalistic feel; indeed a number of holes were built without any excavation of the ground. The less-is-more approach here makes use of an array of native groves and ravines for the first nine holes, after which the course opens up in a manner reminiscent of links courses. Some may find the greens a bit too punishing and the fairways a bit slender, but the holes hold the interest. An outstanding example is the par 3 9th, which seems straightforward at first, but metes out severe punishment for even minor mistakes.