St. Andrew's East began with a walk across an empty field.
In the winter of 1986, Bill MacWilliam and David Paterson walked a piece of property north of Toronto and saw what it could be. Within days, they owned it. Within a year, construction was underway.
Their goal was straightforward, and at the time, somewhat unusual: build a private golf club that existed entirely for its members. No outside tournaments filling the calendar. No tee sheets controlling the morning. No initiation fees walking out the door when someone left. Just a great golf course, owned by the people who play it.
The Club opened in 1989 with a full membership and a waiting list. Forty years later, the founding principles haven't changed.
The course itself has. Architect Rene Muylaert laid out the original 18 holes across 165 acres, with the clubhouse positioned on the highest point of land — a decision that opened four natural starting points and made the no-tee-time model work from day one. After Muylaert's passing, the Club engaged award-winning architect Doug Carrick to develop a long-range renovation blueprint, and the course has been methodically improved against that plan ever since.
The most recent renovation, completed in 2025, addressed irrigation, bunkers, cart paths, and tee complexes — continuing the work of making a very good golf course into an exceptional one.
The land, the principles, and the community have remained constant throughout. Everything else has gotten better.
