Flemingdon Park to close?

[Arthur Dailey]

According to what I consider a somewhat badly written posting on the BlogTO site, the Flemingdon Park golf course will be turned into another condo development.

Flemingdon might be the easiest public course to access from 'downtown' Toronto. The type of course generally instrumental in introducing many to golf and making golf
'accessible'.

I am guilty of never having played Flemingdon Park, so if it is open in 2023 hope to redress that situation.

https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-t...is-dr-toronto/

https://www.flemingdonparkgolfclub.ca/course-history

[Weirfan]

Also have never played it.

always sad to hear of a course closing, especially one that is easily accessible to those in the city as their options are limited.

[Ignatius Reilly]

My BiL and his best friend are enthusiastic, bad, and cheap golfers. They live in Leaside and it's incredibly handy so I've played a dozen or so rounds there in the past few years.

It's actually changed my mind about premium vs discount golf. Some of the holes are interesting (2nd green is quite elevated, 8 is a quirky short par 4 with one big tree right where you want to hit your ball). Conditions are better than I would have imagined, but not pristine either. It's very short. Handy and cheap make up for all that.

As for the development - several comments assert that it's on a floodplain and not buildable. That seems correct, but.... how much money is a developer going to sink into the work of creating a plan that can't be built? They must think it's feasible.

It ticks a lot of planning boxes, high density, some affordable housing, tons of open parkland around it, and quite accessible to transit thru the Wynford stop on the Eglinton LRT.

Two quibbles with the article - the LRT may be delayed but it is definitely going to open, and "relatively" soon. Also, "one Toronto golf course's air of luxury" is a pretty misleading way of describing the Flemingdon Experience...

Whenever we've been paired up with others, they've all been excellent company. I would actually miss it if it were to go, but this article has a lot of "maybe" to it.

[Pingeye2_fan]

My BiL and his best friend are enthusiastic, bad, and cheap golfers. They live in Leaside and it's incredibly handy so I've played a dozen or so rounds there in the past few years.

It's actually changed my mind about premium vs discount golf. Some of the holes are interesting (2nd green is quite elevated, 8 is a quirky short par 4 with one big tree right where you want to hit your ball). Conditions are better than I would have imagined, but not pristine either. It's very short. Handy and cheap make up for all that.

As for the development - several comments assert that it's on a floodplain and not buildable. That seems correct, but.... how much money is a developer going to sink into the work of creating a plan that can't be built? They must think it's feasible.

It ticks a lot of planning boxes, high density, some affordable housing, tons of open parkland around it, and quite accessible to transit thru the Wynford stop on the Eglinton LRT.

Two quibbles with the article - the LRT may be delayed but it is definitely going to open, and "relatively" soon. Also, "one Toronto golf course's air of luxury" is a pretty misleading way of describing the Flemingdon Experience...

Whenever we've been paired up with others, they've all been excellent company. I would actually miss it if it were to go, but this article has a lot of "maybe" to it.

Growing up at Kennedy and Eglinton it was one east bus ride to get there.
When I played it as a teenager it was always in great shape.
Don’t think the seniors were happy to see us youngsters there though.

[4underthru9]

Sad indeed! Played a lot of golf there,. When, working down town and the DVP traffic was at a standstill.
Would get off at Eglinton and just go play. Some tines with work mates who happened to be near by.
Biggest Beef, golfers who waited for the 1st Green Par 4 to clear, guilty as charged. LOL
My notes suggest that the family very nice folk, leased the land from the City, maybe Arthur Dailey can comment on that?

[Bosco]

That will suck - used to live at top of Pape n O’Connor which made it my best close by option - that was a nice little 9 holes to go around once in a while.
We would always joke with the shop staff about opening another 9 holes north of Eglinton.

[bogey5]

Used to play occasional evening rounds there. Quick, convenient, cheap kind of golf we could use more of. Really too bad if it goes away but again golf is just about the worst use of good land and that hasn't changed in 200 years.

[IrishGuy1979]

As for the development - several comments assert that it's on a floodplain and not buildable. That seems correct, but.... how much money is a developer going to sink into the work of creating a plan that can't be built? They must think it's feasible.

They are only building on a small part of the site at the north where it's not in the flood plain.

[Ignatius Reilly]

I hadn't seen the siting.

Now I wonder why we would destroy an entire golf course to turn 5% of it into highrises.

It looks like they would be on the 1st fairway, the clubhouse and maybe some of the parking lot.

I guess we'll see what happens. It's just a proposal at this stage and I don't know how the owners of Flemington feel about selling it.

[Pingeye2_fan]

I hadn't seen the siting.

Now I wonder why we would destroy an entire golf course to turn 5% of it into highrises.

It looks like they would be on the 1st fairway, the clubhouse and maybe some of the parking lot.

I guess we'll see what happens. It's just a proposal at this stage and I don't know how the owners of Flemington feel about selling it.

Wonder what that parcel of land is worth?

[4underthru9]

I hadn't seen the siting.

Now I wonder why we would destroy an entire golf course to turn 5% of it into highrises.

It looks like they would be on the 1st fairway, the clubhouse and maybe some of the parking lot.

I guess we'll see what happens. It's just a proposal at this stage and I don't know how the owners of Flemington feel about selling it.

IIRC the land belongs to the City and is just leased to the golf club owners

[Ignatius Reilly]

IIRC the land belongs to the City and is just leased to the golf club owners

It appears to be privately owned.

I wonder if the owners thought it was undevelopable. This article says the developers have struck a deal with the owners.

https://streetsoftoronto.com/european-union-film-festival-coming-to-toronto/

In a twitter feed on the issue, someone pointed out that there is the same amount of land nearby which is used for parking lots at the Science Centre. Maybe that would be a better location. The parking lots could be enlarged and put underground. Might even improve the streetscape there.

[frankat]

John Moore on CFRB plays there quite often. He has mentioned in the past about them closing but just the other day he mentioned he can't wait to get out there. I believe he knows the course operators quite well. It's a family run business.

[The McCleery Crow]

I played here before work in 2015 when I worked on Winford. Perfect way to start the day. That said, it seemed like you needed to know a secret handshake to book a tee time at this place. It’s the perfect place for the new golfer but it’s almost like a pseudo private club. I really hope the condo proposal is given the “Get F**ked” by the city.

[4underthru9]

I played here before work in 2015 when I worked on Winford. Perfect way to start the day. That said, it seemed like you needed to know a secret handshake to book a tee time at this place. It’s the perfect place for the new golfer but it’s almost like a pseudo private club. I really hope the condo proposal is given the “Get F**ked” by the city.

Congrats on your win today.

But I don't think you'll win on this one, the city needs the taxes.