One of the newer courses to make a splash in Niagara is Thundering Waters, which opened with a prime time television special. The course is co-designed by two time major winner John Daly, who publicized the event by trying to whack a ball across the Niagara Gorge from Canada to the United States.

Long John didn't make the transborder carry but his fans didn't seem to mind. In the button-down world of PGA golf, Daly is an unlikely folk hero. His battles with the bottle, his ex-wives, a substantial waistline and gambling debts have only boosted his fame and his "grip it and rip it" philosophy has made him one of the most popular golfers of his generation. For the Thundering Waters project, Daly worked alongside Canadian architect Bo Danoff to create a surprisingly subtle layout. The first 14 holes cut through a corridor of hardwoods and feature a couple of terrific short par 4's, while the finishing holes show a more exposed, British Open style of golf.

Another new kid on the block is the Grand Niagara Resort. Too many modern layouts feature smashmouth golf, where the ordinary hacker (and that's about 90 percent of us) gets gobbled up by courses that are way too hard. Grand Niagara, which was designed by Rees Jones, is wonderfully sublime.

Jones is both a Yale and Harvard grad, has designed more than 100 courses and tweaked most of the recent US Open and Ryder Cup layouts. He gives golfers two or three options on nearly every hole. If you want to walk on the wild side and launch the ball over the lakes and the marshland that bite into the heart of Grand Niagara, then yank out the big stick and let it fly. But players who prefer something a little more cerebral can find a route that takes most of the hazards out of play.

Legends on the Niagara is another one of the area's more recent projects. Built at a cost of $27 million by the Niagara Parks Commission, Legends includes two championship layouts, a nine-hole short course, and arguably the finest practice facility in Canada. Sparing no expense, the Commission went straight to the top and hired Doug Carrick and Tom McBroom, the country's pre-eminent architects, to design the courses. Fittingly, for a project that is located just a few minutes from a casino, the architects decided to divide the 1,000 acre property by flipping a coin. Carrick won the toss and chose the north end, designing the `Battlefield Course' which curls around a War of 1812 site. It is a typical, high-end Carrick course – heavy on the fescue and coal mine deep bunkers. McBroom designed the Ussher's Creek loop, a more traditional course that uses the creek as a risk/reward barrier and features wider, flatter fairways.

While the new Niagara courses are memorable, don't forget about some of the area's old world layouts, especially Whirlpool, the last great design by architect Stanley Thompson. Opened with considerable fanfare in 1951 with a special exhibition by Masters' winners Jimmy Demaret and Cary Middlecoff, the course boasts a stunning Hollywood style backdrop that includes the Niagara River whirlpool rapids and gorge. Over the past decade the Niagara Parks Commission has touched up the grande dame, renovating the bunkers, adding new forward tees and sprucing up the clubhouse. The character of the course though remains the same – tight and tree-lined with the Thompson touches of rolling fairways and heavily bunkered greens.