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= The St. Marys Golf and Country Club = The St. Marys Golf & Country Club, established in 1931 with its original 9 holes, the “Ainslie Nine’, is both an annual member and pay-as-you-play, 18-hole championship golf course and wedding & event facility. St. Marys, Ontario, Canada is a small community of almost 7,000 residents where the Thames River winds its way through 30 hectares of scenic trails, parkland and country roads. St. Marys is a 15 minute drive from Stratford, Ontario, 30 minutes from London, Ontario and approximately 45 minutes from Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge.

Under private ownership since 1993, the golf course and event facilities have been upgraded with numerous additions and renovations. In 1994, a new nine holes was constructed, the ‘Gowanbrae Nine’, which expanded the property from 9 holes to the 18 superlative holes today. Designed by David Moote, of Moote & Associates, the new layout utilized the rolling St. Marys topography and maintained the degree of difficulty of the original course, by adding two ponds, in addition to the two creeks currently in play on the golf course. Over the past 15 years the Course had been upgraded continually including paved cart paths, the planting of well over 500 trees, the creation of Ted’s Pond and waterfall feature, ongoing sand trap upgrades and a new #17 Green and #18 Fairway, opened in early 2011.

The Club is locally owned and operated by four families: The Staffen Family, who are the controlling shareholders providing ongoing visioning and financial leadership under the Club’s President, Rob Staffen; the Ainslie Family (who have owned land that the golf course sits on since the mid 1800’s); the Courtnage Family with Dave Courtnage following in his father’s footsteps as a Director of the Company; and Rick, Sandy and Kellen Fifield; who run the operation on a day-to-day basis.

Golf Course History
The St. Marys Golf & Country Club, established in 1931, is both an annual member or pay-as-you play championship golf course.

Visitors to St. Marys are captivated by the town's landscape, architecture and touches of Scotland, allowing the town to proudly hold true to its motto ‘The Town Worth Living In’. The original Scottish settlers brought a strong, colourful culture and a strong work ethic to the town. Along with them, they brought the game of golf as a unique form of recreation.

Beginning in the late 1920's, golf was originally played in St. Marys on a farmer’s field. Tired of competing with livestock and often being forced to pick up from an unplayable lie, a newly formed and dedicated group of golfers packed up their gear and regalia and moved to the present site. The original nine holes, the 'Ainslie Nine' were established in 1931.

The Dirty 30’s took their toll on the financial resources of the club. To mitigate some of the financial struggle, the St. Marys Lions club took over the course in the 50's. Local citizen shareholders joined forces with the Lions Club in 1963 to provide additional funding to build the present club house.

As popularity of the game of golf grew rapidly in the 1980’s, pressure grew to expand the course. The course was purchased under private ownership in 1993 by local entrepreneurs Dave Ainslie, Ted Courtnage, Rob and Earl Staffen, and Rick and Sandy Fifield. In 1994, an additional nine holes, the ‘Gowanbrae Nine’, were constructed, at a cost of almost one million dollars.

Over the years, the course has gained its reputation as one of the more challenging and picturesque courses in Southwestern Ontario.

Designed by David Moote, of Moote and Associates, the new layout utilizes the rolling St. Marys topography and maintains the degree of difficulty associated with the original course via two additional ponds, in addition to the two creeks already in play on the golf course.

The St. Marys Golf & Country Club has been rated in many newspaper articles and magazines, has hosted numerous OGA events, including a qualifier for the Ontario Amateur, has been host to the Mid-Western Optimist Junior Golf Championships since 1998, and has become the home course for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, also located in St. Marys. The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Celebrity Classic Golf Tournament, hosted every June, includes Candian celebrities with each foursome and tournament participants come from Stratford, London, Kitchener, Waterloo, Toronto, the GTA, all over Canada, as well as the United States.

Wedding & Event Facilities
In 2014, the St. Marys Golf & Country Club invested in a major renovation to its banquet facility. In addition to major changes to the entrance, an entire wall was knocked out and replaced with glass windows on the North facing side of the building. The purpose of the new 'Wedding and Event Centre' at the St. Marys Golf & Country Club is to play host to weddings and events year-round and hosts up to 180 people. As part of the renovations, outdoor wedding pergolas were added to host wedding ceremonies. The idea of the ceremony area was to take advantage of the golf course views. Post-renovations, brides are now able to wed surrounded by nature in one of Southwestern Ontario's most charming towns. As stewards of the community, the St. Marys Golf & Country Club decided to work with local florists, hotel accommodations, transportation, decorators and more. Along with the renovations came

Concern with Nature
The goal of the St. Marys Golf & Country Club is to maintain the course in an environmentally friendly manner. The golf course encourages development of nature in all it’s animal and floral forms as part of St. Marys.