Brookside Golf Course

Grand Manan is one of the more unusual addresses in Canadian golf — a remote island in the Bay of Fundy, reached only by ferry from Black's Harbour on the New Brunswick mainland. The crossing takes roughly 90 minutes, which means anyone teeing it up at Brookside has made a genuine commitment to get there. The island is better known internationally for its dulse harvesting, its dramatic sea cliffs, and as a destination for birdwatchers drawn by the Atlantic flyway than for golf, which makes the presence of a course here something of a quiet surprise.

Brookside is a small community course — the kind of layout that exists to serve locals and the visitors who discover the island each summer rather than to chase rankings or tournament prestige. Golf on Grand Manan carries the unhurried character of the island itself, and a round here is less about scoring than about the improbable pleasure of playing golf at the edge of the Atlantic.

Expect a modest, well-loved track where the sea air and the scenery do much of the heavy lifting. The Bay of Fundy's famously dramatic tides and coastal light are never far away, and on a clear day the experience of being on this island — far removed from the mainland in every sense — is the real draw.