The anticipation of playing golf quickens the pulse, but when you step atop the elevated tee at Eagle Creek and admire the meandering holes cut through majestic forest, your heartbeat is likely to go even faster.

Opened in 1991, the only Canadian design of golf legend Ken Venturi is a bucolic rural retreat that epitomizes golf's great duality; the course is a beautiful, soothing escape from nearby Ottawa, but it also will excite and challenge you as a stern test of golf.

Venturi, a 14-time PGA Tour winner, used the magnificent land full of nature's gifts to maximum advantage, threading fairways through 230 acres of forest, creeks and clear ponds. You will no doubt see all kinds of birds, reptiles and furry critters during your round.

Eagle Creek is an exceptional risk-reward course. Almost every hole dares you with dangerous options as well as easier ones, providing experienced players with course management decision and novices with a course they can thoroughly enjoy.

The 18th is the most famous par-5 around Ottawa. The 573-yard dogleg wraps around a 16-acre lake, tempting many players to risk going for the green in two. After this nerve-wracking finish, you can relax and enjoy a beverage and a wonderful meal in the colonial-style clubhouse.

Only minutes from the noisy debates of Parliament Hill, Eagle Creek is regarded as the top course in the Ottawa area, and there's no argument about that.