GHSC News Item: October 13, 2024 – Scarlett Woods (2024) 

Reported by: George Supol, GHSC Hickory Ambassador

On Thursday, October 10, 2024, Golf Historical Society of Canada (GHSC), was pleased to present “A Special By-Invitation Only Golf Scramble” as part of the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Scarlett Woods Golf Course, which is owned by The City of Toronto.

Here is a link to our original event flyer and our original registration site.

Fourteen three- and four-player scramble teams participated, consisting of:

• 3 GHSC teams: Lorne’s Team (#1), George’s Team (#2) and Golf Classics (#3)
• 3 City of Toronto teams: The Managers/Supers (#1), The Assistants (#2) and The Supers (#3)
• YMCI ’74 Alumni team
• Golf Ontario/Scott Burk team
• 2 ladies’ teams: LPGA Amateurs GTA Chapter and Optimists Ladies Golf Club of Toronto
• 2 City of Toronto vendor teams: Battista Paving and Triple Bogey Beverages
• KT Partners LLP CPA’s and another team of their friends from Summer Fresh

In total, 50 players participated in this Golden Anniversary event.

The Course
In 1972, Metro Toronto Council approved a development program for the South Humber Regional Park System. Among its features was the Scarlett Woods Golf Course, which opened on July 1, 1974, near Jane and Eglinton, at a cost of approximately $549,000. Both the golf course and the adjacent Scarlett Mills Park take their name from John Scarlett, an Englishman who settled in the area, raised a family, and helped develop the Humber Valley during the early 19th century.

Here are some additional interesting facts about Scarlett Woods GC …

• It was designed by Howard Watson (1907-1992). Born in Dresden, Ontario, in 1907, Howard was a renowned golf course architect who designed over 150 courses in Ontario, the United States, Colombia, and Jamaica.
• It supports Disc Golf during the winter.
• It is the home of the Optimist Ladies Golf Club.
• The course is an executive style with 7 par 4s and 11 par 3s for a total par of 61. It features large elevated and sloping green complexes. Each of the greens is generally well protected by a couple of large often deep bunkers, positioned either left and right or front and back. 
• Many public players consider Scarlett Woods GC to be the “jewel” of the City-owned courses because it is – a great place to learn to play golf and improve one’s game, challenging for all types of players, affordable, and easily accessible by both car and transit. The course supports players of all ages to exercise and have fun in under 4 hours.

The Day’s Play
Upon arrival, players were greeted by GHSC President Lorne Emery and fellow Board Member and Chief Organizer, George Supol. Each player received a sleeve of golf balls and a GHSC poker chip ball marker.

Players then participated in a putting contest where they were given one practice shot and three real shots to sink a difficult, 12-foot speedy, double-breaking, downhill putt. Of the 40 players who participated, 12 players were able to make one putt. No one was able to sink two or three putts so there was no clear winner. The 12 successful players were as follows:

• GHSC Members (Lorne Emery, Vaughn Perusse, Stan Lapidus, Rick Murray, Chris Cade, and Russell Dick)
• Grant Fraser, from The Golf Journalists Association of Canada (GJAC)
• Scott Burk, author of the wonderful book “Toronto’s Lost Golf Courses”
• Dennis Gallant from Cambridge GC
• Tom Fiset, Sonja Chepurnyi and Owen Holiday from Triple Bogey

Not counting the practice putts, 40 players putting 3 balls each means there were 120 attempted putts of which only 10% (i.e. 12) were made. (Statistically speaking, a scratch golfer normally makes about 20% of the putts from this distance, while an average golfer will make about 5%.)

Anyway, the course was soft and in great shape and the recent weather had been rainy. The afternoon temperature was between 12 and 15 degrees and it was mostly sunny with light winds generally from the northwest.

An interesting wrinkle with the day’s play was that players using historical golf clubs (those with steel, aluminum or hickory shafts, and also small-headed woods) each received a one-shot bonus handicap deduction from the team’s final scramble score. If a scramble team shared a set of historical clubs for the round, they similarly received a total one-shot bonus deduction for the team.

The winning scramble teams and their final bonus-adjusted scores were as follows:

• 1st place: Golf Classics Team (-8)
• 2nd place: Triple Bogey (-6)
• 3rd place: The Supers (-6)
• 4th place: YMCI ’74 Alumni Team (-5)
• 5th place: Lorne’s Team (-4)

Closest-to-the-Pin winners were:

• 4th hole (127 yards) – Francesco Peraccini from Battista Paving
• 8th hole (161 yards) – Michael Nocera from Battista Paving
• 13th hole (118 yards) – Dennis Gallant from George’s Team
• 16th hole (81 yards) – Vittoria Peraccini from Battista Paving

The above winners, and other players who stayed around after the golf, were all treated to prizes supplied by both the City of Toronto and GHSC. These included golf shirts, sweaters and hats, beverage packages, golf balls/tee packages, and a few bottles of wine.

Post-round speeches included GHSC President Lorne Emery who explained GHSC’s mission – GHSC is dedicated to the fun and enjoyment of Canadian historical golf experiences through playing, collecting, learning and sharing.

Event Organizer, George Supol, explained that this event was the third time that GHSC had successfully partnered with the City’s Parks and Recreation Department to celebrate a key anniversary of one of the City-owned golf courses. Previous golf course anniversaries celebrated were: Humber Valley 100th (2019) and Tam O’Shanter 90th (2023).

A special thanks goes to Goran Mitrevski of the City of Toronto, for his support and promotion of the event and for supplying the majority of the prizes. Also, thanks to Thistle Golf and of course Andy Shaw, GM at Scarlett Woods.

In the end, this was another fun and shared golf experience – with a historical twist. Below are some pics we took at Scarlett Woods. Click on an image to see a full version. 

(Another fun historical golf experience.)