Bushwood History

Course History
The course was originally developed by local visionary, real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist Arthur Latcham (1895 – 1979) who turned 188 acres of farmland into a private golf club. The 18-hole Markham Golf & Country Club was designed by noted Ontario golf course architect Rene Muylaert and built by his brother Charlie. It opened in the late 1950s with noted Canadian touring professional Al Balding as the Head Professional. The course later changed names to The Willows and in 1973 it was renamed the John Evelyn Golf Center, when the popular Head Professional from Tam O’Shanter took control of the 27-hole facility. For 20 years, John, his wife Patricia and their children Roly, Jay, Sean and Mary operated the Club until John passed away in 1993. As fans of the Hollywood comedy flick “Caddyshack” and knowing the ins and outs of the golf business all too well, the family renamed the facility Bushwood GC in 1995. Today, Mary Evelyn oversees day-to-day operations as Managing Director for her family.

John Evelyn	Rene Muylaert	Al Balding

Architect Profile
For more than four decades Rene Muylaert (1936-2005) has criss-crossed this province filling in the Ontario landscape one golf course at a time. For a youngster who grew up on the sandy soil of a tobacco farm near Strathroy, Muylaert found his passion in life making the world a greener place designing close to 50 courses. While his name may not be recognized up there along with Ontario’s greatest architects he has certainly designed more courses in this province than Doug Carrick, Thomas McBroom Robbie Robinson or event the legendary Stanley Thompson. Muylaert took his first job as a teenager cutting grass at Uplands Golf Club in Thornhill. In 1954, he moved to Maple Downs G&CC shortly after it opened as an assistant greens keeper and from there, he was asked to help design Markham G&CC (now Bushwood GC) as its head greens keeper by Arthur Latcham. From there he went on to design & build Chinguacousy Country Club, now Caledon CC with his twin brother Charlie. Next up was Glen Eagle GC north of Bolton. By 1965 golf course design became a fulltime endeavour with Charlie looking after the construction end of the projects through his company, Green-Par-Golf Construction. Never wanting to stray too far from home, the bulk of Muylaert’s work can be found in the Greater Toronto Area, just north of it and throughout southwestern Ontario. It includes the likes of - DiamondBack, Emerald Hills, St. Andrew’s East, St. Andrew’s Valley, Horseshoe Valley, Indian Wells, Nobleton Lakes, The Oaks, West Haven, Peninsula Lakes, Spring Lakes, Mill Run, Western Trent, Brooklea, Bathurst Glen, Richmond Hill, Unionville, Hawk Ridge, Granite Ridge, Pheasant Run, Sparrow Lakes, International, Victoria Park East & West, Glen Cedars, Nobleton Lakes, Tangle Creek, Scenic Woods, Heritage Hills and others.


Championship Course
Bushwood GC is home to a wonderful 18-hole parkland layout that has matured into a solid test over the past 50-plus years. The course is player friendly with four sets of tees to choose from: Red at 5,077 yards, White 5,695 yards, Blue 6,216 yards and Gold at 6,464 yards from the tips. Surrounded by neighbouring farmland, the tightly contoured fairways ramble over gently rolling terrain, with signature trees on many holes, 60-plus bunkers, and there’s the Duffin’s Creek wetland that twists and turns throughout the front-nine.


Executive Course
Our nine-hole executive course is a perfect setting for young and novice players to improve their games without the hazards of our championship layout and is also challenging for those who want to play a quick nine with friends or colleagues. The 1,602-yard, par-31 layout is fun to play with six par-3s and three par-4 holes ranging in length from 116 to 255 yards and tiny well-manicured greens that demand accurate shot making and creativity.



The Academy at Bushwood
The Practice Academy at Bushwood is the perfect setting to learn the game first hand or to take lessons from our highly trained professional staff. We have a 24-station natural grass teeing area, as well as practice pitching and putting areas. Veteran Head Professional and teacher John Hayward oversees the Academy - it’s his vision to grow Junior Golf at Bushwood. In 2010, John will introduce Junior and Ladies leagues on both courses at Bushwood with instruction at the Academy and will encourage Family golf to help grow the game within the local Markham and Stouffville communities.