From sea to sky, birdie to eagle

A British Columbia golf trip promises stunning scenery and local wildlife, writes Andrew Marshall.

This is the scene. It’s early September, and after loading our golf clubs and luggage into the back of our hire car at Vancouver International Airport, we set the sat nav to Whistler, a 135 km drive, incorporating the scenic Sea-to-Sky Highway (also known as Highway 99), with stunning scenery of the Pacific Ocean, rugged mountain peaks, glistening lakes and waterfalls at every turn. It’s the start of our week-long British Columbia golf journey — teeing it up on some of the best golf courses around Whistler, Vancouver Island and Vancouver.

We begin in Whistler, consistently ranked as one of the top ski, snowboarding and mountain biking resorts in North America, and the numbers speak for themselves: one vertical mile drop; two side-by-side mountains connected by a cosmopolitan village; more than 200 trails; three glaciers; 38 lifts; and 16 alpine bowls. Whistler has gained even greater fame since hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the completion of the Peak-to-Peak Gondola — a stunning 4.4 km cable car crossing 415m above the valley floor that unites Whistler and the Blackcomb Mountains.

In recent years, Whistler has gained a reputation for activities on the green stuff as much as the white, with a collection of championship courses providing classic mountain golf. There’s Arnold Palmer’s first ever Canadian design at the Whistler Golf Club, which was the area’s first course built in 1983, the Golden Bear’s Nicklaus North Golf Course, Robert Trent Jones jun’s mountainside Chateau Whistler Golf Club and 30 minutes’ drive north at Pemberton lies Bob Cupp’s Big Sky Golf & Country Club played at the foot of the soaring granite outcrop of Mount Currie.

Alas, we only have time to play two of the courses — Nicklaus North and Chateau Whistler (also known as the Fairmont Chateau Whistler Golf Club).

Distinctly different from the other Whistler golf properties, Chateau Whistler is carved from the side of Blackcomb Mountain with dramatic elevation changes of more than 120m. Most people playing here opt to take a power cart, but we opted to walk.

"Are you sure you are up for it guys," the starter said with a look on his face as though we planned to walk blindfolded across a minefield. Making things easier were the snazzy state-of-the-art pull trolleys that wouldn’t look out of place in the gardening section of a DIY store — sporting huge mountain bike wheels and a handy metal basket for odds and ends. Chateau Whistler is a heart-pumping golf workout not to be missed, marching along pristine fairways that climb and plummet, through massive granite outcroppings, glacier-fed creeks and majestic centuries-old Douglas firs.

 

The bear essentials

Surrounded by mountains on the shores of Whistler’s Green Lake, the par-71 Nicklaus North which is the only design to bear Jack’s name, is eminently playable from five sets of tees, and on the nine par 4s and four par 5s, the water features, distinctive Nicklaus bunkering and landing areas are set up to invite players of all abilities to use drivers. Yet, for all the potential drama the long holes offer, it’s the five par 3s that will linger long in the memory, especially the 206m 17th played to a peninsula green.

The signature par-3 17th at Nicklaus North Course, Whistler. PHOTO: GOLF BC GROUP

Everything at the Nicklaus North Golf Course seems to revolve around bears — the black variety that inhabits the region. For starters, the pro shop is stuffed with enough Golden Bear gear to keep Jack Nicklaus clothed for a lifetime without visiting a laundry.

"There’s definitely a few black bears in some of the wooded and marshy areas on the course, but they are usually harmless," the guy at the desk informs us as we check in for our round.

"In fact one has been spotted out near the snack shack today."

When we reach the tee block of the par-3 10th surrounded by trees, there isn’t a soul around and the snack shack is closed. Not a good sign. Bear reminders such as bear-shaped tee markers; bear-proof litter bins and a "Bear Essentials" sign (a guide to the habits of black bears) didn’t help the tenseness of the situation.

After constantly looking over his shoulder, Paul proceeds to stiff a 6-iron to half a-metre and sinks his first birdie of the day; must have been all that adrenaline. For the remainder of the round we keep a close eye out for the local wildlife, but alas, the closest we come to a David Attenborough moment is when we discover what looks suspiciously like a pile of bear droppings next to the 14th green!

After two days in Whistler we drive back down the picturesque Sea to Sky Highway, towards Vancouver and a tee time at Furry Creek Golf & Country Club — "British Columbia’s Most Scenic Golf Course" and where some of the scenes from the cult comedy golf movie Happy Gilmore were filmed. One glance from the first tee, with its striking 50m plunge towards the tranquil waters of Howe Sound and we quickly realise we have arrived at a course like no other. There are precious few courses that can generate a genuine sense of awe for several holes at a stretch. Exceedingly rare is a layout that can sustain the feeling for an entire round. Furry Creek is such a place. One of the classic holes is the par-3 14th that dares you to drive over a beach littered with bleached driftwood logs to an emerald green jutting into Howe Sound.

After munching on steak sandwiches washed down with a couple of Arnold Palmers (half lemonade and half iced tea) at the club’s Sea to Sky Grill we continue to Horseshoe Bay for the 95-minute ferry crossing to the port of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. BC Ferries is known for showcasing British Columbia’s spectacular scenery and proud maritime history and travelling this way is like a mini-cruise in itself.

Nearby Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia with a fascinating history preserved in the city’s many museums and heritage buildings. The picturesque Inner Harbour is the hub of downtown activity and bustles with kayaks, yachts, whale watching boats and float planes.

Twenty minutes away was our home for two nights, the Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort & Spa — a master-planned community built around Vancouver Island’s first Jack and Steve Nicklaus co-designed golf course, the Mountain Course. The resort combines the secluded luxury of a rural mountainside wellness resort with world-class golf.

There’s no question of roughing it here, with suites so spacious you need a map to find your way around.

Everything about Bear Mountain is top-end; a stunning forested mountainside design, tee blocks good enough to eat off, fast undulating greens and thick US Open-style green side rough that will really test your lob wedge skills to the maximum. To assist all golfers, GPS computerised, satellite-linked systems on each power cart relay the distance to pins and hazards, even allowing you to make lunch orders ready to pick-up before starting the back nine. The lobster sandwiches are highly recommended.

 

Olympic golf

A short drive from Bear Mountain is Olympic View Golf Club, another excellent Vancouver Island course. Here, it’s all about tranquillity, seclusion and nature, with the magnificence of the Olympic Mountains, soaring bald eagles, grazing deer and two waterfalls including a spectacular 18m tumbling behind the green of the par 4 17th — one of the most photographed golf holes in British Columbia.

"Olympic View Golf Club was the first course in British Columbia that Tiger Woods played in 1994 in a US amateur event, and of course he won it," president of Golf Vancouver Island, Jason Lowe says as we enjoy lunch in the clubhouse restaurant after our round.

We also learn from Jason that if you make par or less on the 97m par-3 16th, you’re better than Tiger Woods, who bogeyed the hole two days in a row even though it’s rated the course’s easiest hole.

It was clear that Jason was excited about Vancouver Island’s emergence as a hotspot for British Columbia golf.

"There are around 50 courses here and the Vancouver Island Golf Trail (that showcases a dozen or so of the best courses), that starts in Victoria and stretches 250km to the Campbell River, with a few hours driving between them," he tells us.

"Along with Olympic View and Bear Mountain, my picks would also include, Storey Creek Golf Club and Fairwinds Golf Club."

After a late afternoon ferry crossing from Swartz Bay to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, we arrive back in Vancouver, set against a stunning natural backdrop of mountains and ocean.

This gateway to the Pacific Rim is is sassy, sophisticated and outdoorsy, a city with a cosmopolitan attitude offering superlative shopping, lavish dining, top-drawer theatre, funky districts, galleries, great nightlife and the beautiful Stanley Park — 400ha of greenery that hugs the downtown area and provides a playground or an oasis for everyone.

If you still have enough time and energy for teeing it up, other courses in the Vancouver area include: Northview Golf & Country Club, featuring two Arnold Palmer championship courses (Canal and Ridge), Mayfair Lakes Golf & Country Club near the airport, a Lee Trevino public course at Swaneset Bay Resort & Country Club, and be greeted by the stylish caddies dressed like Payne Stewart at Westwood Plateau Golf & Country Club, which offers glorious views of Lower Vancouver from several holes.

It has been a long way to come for six rounds in eight days, but as we pack away our clubs for our flight home, we are already discussing another British Columbia golf trip — with images of the stunning scenery, local wildlife and well-struck drives soaring towards a backdrop of forested mountain slopes etched firmly in our minds.