Le Boivin

Par 68 layouts often get dismissed before a golfer ever arrives, but Le Boivin in Granby earns its respect through design intelligence rather than brute length. A card heavy with par 3s and short par 4s demands precision and course management over power — the kind of round where a player who hits greens and avoids trouble will routinely outperform a longer hitter who doesn't think.

Granby sits in the Eastern Townships, the stretch of Quebec that rolls through the Appalachian foothills southeast of Montreal. It's genuinely scenic country — farmland, hardwood forests, and lakes — and the region has a relaxed, unhurried quality that carries over into its recreational culture. The Townships have quietly supported a solid community golf scene for decades, and a course like Le Boivin fits that tradition: accessible, local, and tied to the rhythms of a short but intensely enjoyed golf season that runs from May through October.

Players coming in expecting a pushover because of the par are likely to leave with a more complicated relationship with the scorecard than they anticipated.