The course is part of a resort but you don’t have to stay at the resort to play. The proshop was nice enough to set me up with an early tee time (8:20am) so that I could get out before the member groups, between 8:30am and 9:00am. That was a nice gesture!

That early tee time worked out great as I ended up walking in 3 hours and 15 minutes, staying about a hole ahead of the locals! I dallied on the back nine, which has the best views, but never felt rushed. After the round we had time for lunch nearby at The Gables Restaurant and walked around downtown. The town is worth a stop, even if you aren’t a golfer!

The main draw to Saint Andrews is its coastal location. The town is on a peninsula that juts out into the Passamaquoddy Bay. The town and course are surrounded by water and all sorts of little islands. Algonquin Golf Course is on the west side of the peninsula and fairly close to Maine, at least as the crow flies!

Simply put, the coastal setting at Algonquin is the reason you’ll want to tee it up here! The course is in a fantastic spot, at the edge of the water. The clubhouse, putting green and driving range all overlook the rocky coast and as you stand on the 1st tee you’ll see boats bobbing in the St Andrews Harbour.

From what I read, the course recently re-opened from a re-design by Rod Whitman and one of the goals of the project was to open up water views on the back nine. That portion of the project seems successful because once you get to the back nine, the scenery is as good as it gets and you have views of the bay from every hole!

Besides Whitman’s work on the course, Algonquin has had touches from some great architects. Whitman is highly regarded in Canada (think Cabot Links!), just like Thomas McBroom who is another well-known Canadian architect. McBroom did a re-design of his own back in the 1990’s. Plans from Donald Ross were even incorporated into the design almost 100 years ago!

The downhill 1st was my favorite hole on the front nine, because of the views from the tee! After playing the 1st you head inland to play the remainder of the front nine. You cross a couple small roads and then end up out next to one of the main roads into town, out near a Tim Hortons.

The 9th hole brings you back to the clubhouse before the back nine is on the other side of the clubhouse. The front isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, and I enjoyed playing it. However, it isn’t as awe-inspiring as the back nine! For reference, I played the gold tees which are 6,652 yards. Their rating is 72.7 and slope is 128.

If you played here before the re-design, then it is probably worth checking out the course again when you get a chance. The back nine ended up with most of the changes, including new holes, new tee boxes, and fewer trees. Also, changes were made for parts of the course to take on a quasi-links character. I believe the front nine also had some changes from the re-design, but those aren’t as evident. A couple new green complexes on the front seem to be the biggest changes there.

The par-3 10th and the par-5 11th are the new holes on the back nine and they replaced two par-4’s which were on the opposite side of the clubhouse. The 10th plays a whopping 220 yards and is one of the “links” holes. There are all sorts of knobs and humps around the green and you are probably best trying to bounce a long club up onto the surface. The 11th is another one of the links holes and allows you some space to play on a windy day. The 11th green puts you next to the water with a clear view of Maine!

The par-3 12th is the signature hole at Algonquin, as it plays downhill to a green that sits along the water! You end up with an impressive view of the bay, interrupted again by Maine! It is only 154 yards, but if you get any sort of wind then it will tricky to judge the downhill/into the wind combination.

The 13th is a short, potentially reachable par-5 that is the last of the holes that border the bay. The tee shot is blind and I took a gamble that there was room to the left, and there was! You’d probably be thinking the same thing as a fader/slicer with so much water to the right, ha!

The remainder of the front is mostly back and forth holes as you climb your way up to the clubhouse. As you’ll see in my pictures, the views remain because everything is open. Just like the front, the back was enjoyable to play. Probably the biggest difficulty that you’ll find at Algonquin are the green complexes, which had me baffled on my reads.

As you can tell, I was fairly excited by the design! Algonquin is my type of course, one that allows you to enjoy the scenery without having to hit perfect shots. This is style of course that you’d want to play on vacation! Unfortunately though, I didn’t catch it at a good time because of the conditions. Ultimately, the conditions soured my experience, especially at such a premium course.

Because of all the design work that had been done recently, new sod was needed for those areas. And, that new sod didn’t appear to be the best quality, as much of it didn’t grow in! Areas in the fairways and around the greens alternated from lush (the old turf) to thin and muddy (the new turf). There were significant portions of the fairways, namely the 11th and 16th holes, that should have been roped off and marked as ground under repair. I’m only going to share the flattering pictures of the course, so don’t judge it based solely on my pictures. Besides the trouble spots, the tees and greens were in nice shape.

My final verdict on Algonquin is to wait until the conditions get sorted out before playing here. Overall, the design is great and par-3’s here are quality! Once the conditions start to match the $100+ green fee then Algonquin would make for a perfect stop on the way to Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):