Despite the recent unveiling of a billion-dollar casino resort and half a dozen sexy new golf courses, the citizens of Niagara Falls have remained faithful to the straightlaced, middle-aged Whirlpool. Opened in 1951 and owned and operated by the Niagara Parks Commission, Whirlpool was the last great work of iconic architect Stanley Thompson. With its reasonably priced green fees and high-quality routing through thick stands of heavyweight hardwoods, Whirlpool long ago cemented its reputation as the number one course in the Golden Horseshoe, a place of pilgrimage for players from Toronto and Buffalo. The course—which curls above the spray rising off the river, gorge and whirlpool—was rewarded with an update in 2001. More water was added to the claustrophobic second hole, the hardest on the course, while bunkers and tees were upgraded. The fairway of the 415-yard par four is lined with trees, and rises slightly to a green ringed by five big-fingered bunkers; the new pond bends around the front and right side of the putting surface. In 2006, Whirlpool was voted one of the top 100 courses in Canada by the ScoreGolf ranking panel.