ClubLink and The Club at Bond Head part ways amid ending lease agreement
(image: Toronto Golf Reviews)
BOND HEAD, ONTARIO - The Club at Bond Head is a hidden golfing gem within the GTA.
Opened in 2005, the club features two par 72 championship courses, the North Course and the South Course, both designed by architects Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Jason Straka of the prestigious Hurdzan Fry Design
company. Their quality is recognized, with both courses being featured in the Top 100 courses in Ontario in various years.
We at Toronto Golf Reviews have been lucky enough to review both of
these courses and were greatly impressed. They currently hold
the top two spots in our course rankings and are probably the two
courses I've played the most in the past few years.
Since 2009, Bond Head has been operated by ClubLink, Canada's largest owner/operator of golf courses, under a lease agreement. Under ClubLink's daily fee program, members of the public were able to play the courses, in addition to ClubLink members.
Yesterday, an email was sent out to those affiliated with Bond Head informing us that ClubLink had reached the end of their lease agreement and that a new operator would be taking over operations.
What exactly does this mean for The Club at Bond Head? At the moment, without knowledge of who the new operator is, it is difficult to say.
We can speculate on a few things however.
A staffing change is a possibility, as it is unclear if the current staff are tied to ClubLink or not. The new operator may want to take the club in a different direction, with new directors, superintendents, instructors, etc.
Some of our readers have mentioned rumors that the club will close in
2022. I was initially skeptical but this recent news has made me rethink
this. Why didn't ClubLink renew their lease agreement? The daily fee program was very popular, according to those I've spoken to over the years, one would assume profitable as well. At the time of the takeover in 2009, a news release from the club cited that the ensuing lease agreement was beneficial to all parties. What has changed?
Perhaps the most important question for golfers however is if the course will remain public and at what cost. Bond Head's popularity over the years has been directly tied to its pricing. The price-to-quality ratio of Bond Head is unmatched, in our opinion,
and a great way for golfers to see what a playing a high-quality
course is like, without breaking the bank.
I think this puts Bond Head in a unique and lucrative position in the GTA golfing market. I hope that the new operator recognizes this and keeps the prices affordable, and the club public for that matter. We've seen countless times the trend of great courses coming under new management and increasing drastically in price; so much that it was simply not worth it any more. I hope Bond Head is the exception to this.
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More details about this news are bound to emerge in the coming months. We've reached out to both ClubLink and The Club at Bond Head for more information and are awaiting responses as of now.
Stay tuned for more details on this story,
-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews