So many great courses, so little time
Province is blessed with a rich collection of world- class layouts and it’s time you discovered more of them
The biggest dilemma facing anyone planning a B. C. golf getaway may be deciding where to go. There are just too many choices. Make that too many great choices. What we have here in British Columbia is an embarrassment of golf riches.
In literally every corner of our province, whether it be Vancouver Island, the Kootenays, Okanagan, Whistler or beyond, there is great golf to be found.
Kris Jonasson is the longtime executive director of British Columbia Golf — the sport’s governing body in this province — and he knows better than most just how rich the golf landscape is in B. C.
“British Columbia is one of the few places in the world where you can come for 10 years in a row and have a different area of the province to go to with a completely different experience,” Jonasson says. “And by the time you have done the 10- year rotation you can start again and there will be some new opportunities.
“You can go over to Vancouver Island and you’ve got opportunities in a world- class city like Victoria if you want to do that. Or you can go up Island and salmon fish and play golf at the same time. Whistler is completely different from Vancouver and you’ve got the various different regions of the Interior where you’ve got wine country in the south and stretching up north into the lake country when you get into the Shuswap area.”
You needn’t break the bank to enjoy a made- in- B. C. golf getaway. Each region of the province offers golf- hotel packages that offer good value.
So where should you and your friends go? Well, we’re here to help. To assist you in narrowing your choices, we have put together a few different golf getaways that in most cases include four rounds, hotel accommodation for three nights and maybe even some extras. In no particular order, here they are:
Whistler
Yes, Whistler is a ski resort. But come late spring, it turns into a golf mecca with four superb courses designed by the likes of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones Jr. and Bob Cupp. The peak- season rack rates in Whistler may be the highest in the province, but with a little advance planning the golf can be quite affordable.
The best deal is the Golf Whistler Passport, which is sold only to B. C. and Washington state residents and goes for $ 349 in peak season. That gets you one round at each of the four resort courses: Whistler Golf Club, Nicklaus North, Chateau Whistler and Big Sky in nearby Pemberton. Weekend rounds cost an additional $ 25 per person and power carts are included only at Chateau Whistler. If you want to ride at the other three courses it will cost you an additional $ 20 a head.
The Golf Whistler Passport offers significant savings as peakseason fees at Chateau Whistler, for example, are $ 175 a round including mandatory power cart. The passport can be purchased at golfwhistler.com/passport.
As for hotels, there’s a large selection in Whistler and comfortable accommodation can be found for about $ 150 ($ 75 a person) a night based on double occupancy.
So, for four rounds of golf using the passport and three nights accommodation, you can expect to pay as little as $ 600, or a bit more if you are playing on the weekend and want carts for all your rounds.
Golfwhistler.com also offers more upscale packages, such as one called Guys Golfing Glory. It includes five nights of private luxury accommodation at Nicklaus North, one round at each of the four Golf Whistler courses, beer and appetizers on the deck after each round as well as range balls and power carts for all rounds.
In peak season, groups of eight can stay in a 3,200- square- foot luxury home for about $ 1,140 each. For $ 90 more per head, you can get your own private shuttle to and from all of the courses so you never have to touch your keys.
Vancouver Island
From Storey Creek in Campbell River to Bear Mountain in Victoria, the Island offers a wonderful selection of courses. If you are heading over for a quick golf getaway, it’s best to focus on one particular area. We have decided to zero in on a mid- Island trip to the Parksville- Courtenay area.
The Crown Isle Golf Resort in Courtenay, which just played host to the PGA Tour Canada qualifying school, features a terrific layout that has first- class clubhouse amenities as well as on- course accommodation. It is a mustplay.
The folks at golfvancouverisland.ca have several packages to choose from or can customize one for your group. Their Mid- Island Escape includes three rounds at Crown Isle, Fairwinds and Pheasant Glen as well as two nights accommodation at the Quality Resort Bayside in Parksville for $ 429 per person in peak season.
If your group has more time to play, the Vancouver Island Golf Trail package includes six rounds of golf at Bear Mountain, Highland Pacific, Fairwinds, Crown Isle, Pheasant Glen and Storey Creek. The package also includes two nights accommodation in each of Victoria, Parksville and Courtenay and starts at $ 949 in peak season.
Kelowna- Vernon
If British Columbia has a golfing breadbasket, then it is found in the Okanagan Valley. From the Osoyoos area in the south all the way north to Vernon, there is lots of great golf to play. And if you tire of the golf, well there’s always all those wineries to visit. It’s like one 19th hole after another.
Kelowna is the epicentre of Okanagan golf and with good reason. It has a superb collection of courses. Gallagher’s Canyon started the Kelowna Golf Rush when it opened in 1980. Solid tracks such as The Harvest — set amid fruit orchards and offering stunning views of Lake Okanagan — the Bear and Quail courses at Okanagan Golf Club and Tower Ranch followed. Just up Highway 97 near Vernon is Predator Ridge, which offers 36 holes of golf judged by many to be among the best in the province.
For those on a quick golf getaway, the problem will be narrowing your choices to just three or four courses.
Predator Ridge offers stay- and-play packages for $ 169.50 per day, which include studio accommodation on site, golf, power cart and range.
BCgolfguide.com offers threenight packages that include four rounds of golf at Predator’s Ridge course, Gallagher’s Canyon, Black Mountain and one of the two courses ( Bear or Quail) at Okanagan Golf Club for between $ 640 and $ 740 depending on choice of accommodation.
Kamloops
The Kamloops area sometimes gets overlooked as a golf destination, but it shouldn’t. It has some terrific courses. Tobiano was named the best new course in Canada by Golf Digest back in 2008 and in Score Golf Magazine’s 2013 list of the top 59 public courses in Canada, the Tom McBroom layout overlooking Kamloops Lake was ranked fifth.
Kamloops also boasts a Robert Trent- Jones Sr. classic in Rivershore Golf Links and up the highway in the Chase area one of the best layouts many still haven’t heard of in the Talking Rock Golf Course.
The golf is cheaper, for the most part, in Kamloops than in neighbouring Kelowna and Vernon. So is the accommodation.
If you are looking to really stretch your dollar, then this is the place for you.
Through the golfkamloops.com website, you can book a threenight package that includes four rounds of golf at Tobiano, Rivershore, Talking Rock and the fine Sun Rivers Golf Resort for about $ 450.
For that price, your group could perhaps afford to splurge for another round on the way home at highly- acclaimed Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club. The private club overlooking Nicola Lake in the Quilchena area is welcoming more public play this year and it’s definitely worth a visit. Its peakseason public rate this year is $ 199.
The Kootenays
The Kootenays are a lot closer to Calgary than the West Coast, which is unfortunate for Metro Vancouver- area golfers. But the long trip is certainly worth it as the area is blessed with what seems like a never- ending supply of great tracks. From hidden gems like Christina Lake and Castlegar in the West Kootenays to stunning layouts such as Greywolf and Eagle Ranch in the East Kootenays, you could spend a couple of weeks in the area and play a terrific course every day.
For the sake of this article we are focusing on the Invermere area, which has become something of a playground for southern Albertans. It’s time we British Columbia golfers reclaimed that territory.
Must- play courses in the area include Greywolf, which for my money is one of the best mountainside courses anywhere. It also has one of B. C.’ s best par 3s, the dramatic 6th hole nicknamed Cliffhanger.
Eagle Ranch, located just down the hill from Greywolf and the Panorama Resort, is always one of the best- conditioned courses in B. C. and offers a delightful mix of holes. Copper Point, The Springs at Radium and Mountainside and Riverside courses at the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort are other solid choices in the area.
BCgolfguide.com has threenight, four- round packages that include golf at Greywolf, Eagle Ranch, Copper Point and The
Springs starting at about $ 769.