There’s nothing like a panoramic vista from an elevated tee to help suffering golfers forget their self-inflicted miseries (the shank, the slice, the four-putt). From a lofty vantage, the course is laid out before you, offering an unimpeded view of your ball as it sails into the hazards (or, by some fluke, onto the fairway or green). Finally, an elevated tee gives the confidence-boosting illusion that you can drive it as far as the pros.

Bigwin Island Golf Club, 18th hole
The most dramatic finishing hole in Ontario. Thankfully, Doug Carrick built a very wide fairway here, knowing most golfers would be distracted by the majestic view of Lake of Bays, which runs alongside the fairway and wraps around the green. The sixth hole, called The Lookout, is equally sensational, as you tee off from the highest point on the island to a fairway carved out of the deep Muskoka forest below.

Copper Creek Golf Club, 10th hole
One of the most intimidating tee shots you’ll ever play. From the tee more than 70 feet above the fairway, you’ll see a huge pond that stretches all the way down the left side of this 459-yard hole, right up to the tiny peninsula green. Alas, you’ll also see an impenetrable forest all the way down the right. Be brave. There is a fairway there, somewhere.

Duntroon Highlands Golf Club, ninth hole
With a tee block halfway up the Niagara Escarpment, the ninth at Duntroon Highlands offers quite a commanding view of Georgian Bay off in the distance. On a clear day, it almost looks as if you could reach the bay with only a driver and long iron. You’ll certainly be tempted to try and fly one over the pond halfway between the tee and the green. Go for it. You didn’t climb all the way up there just to layup.

Eagles Nest, third hole
You don’t often associate the area around the old Keele Street dump with the words “gorgeous” or “beautiful,” but the view from the third tee at Eagles Nest is just that. Called Doon Hill (Scots for downhill), it almost makes you feel like a hilltop voyeur as you stare down at the lush fairway, a curvaceous beauty stretched out below, dressed only in a sand trap negligee.

Glen Abbey Golf Club, 11th hole
The gateway to the Abbey’s famous valley holes, this 452-yard par four is one of the most sublime tee shots in Canada. From on high, the green looks tiny and impossibly distant, surrounded by the steep, sloped forest on the other side of the valley beyond 16 Mile Creek. Those magnificent oak trees and the swath of green down below will give you the inner stillness of a monk and almost make you forget you paid more than $200 to play.