Golfing in the Okanagan

[simmer2]

We are heading out to the Okanagan for five days and we are staying in Penticton. I've played Predator Ridge, Gallagher's and Fairview Mountain so I'm looking to try out a new course. Any suggestions?

[Saint Troy]

Black Mountain, The Harvest, The Quail/Bear, Tower Ranch are all solid in the Kelowna area.

[JBrick]

Check out The Rise in Vernon. It's a Fred Couples course that just opened last year.

[Two Fivenagame]

heh....something funny/odd about naming, well, anything other than a sex-offender correctional facility, Preditor Ridge.

Anyone?

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by Two Fivenagame

heh....something funny/odd about naming, well, anything other than a sex-offender correctional facility, Preditor Ridge.

Anyone?

What's a Preditor?

[Two Fivenagame]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

What's a Preditor?

A poorly spelt version of Predator


i'll go...

[malcolmk14]

[troutman]

Can't recommend any courses, but don't play in the middle of the afternoon - way too hot.

[Mayer]

Depending on how far you want to drive, you could golf Hyde Mountain on Mara lake. It's in Sicamous and it is spectacular.

http://www.hydemountain.com/

[Kolbe31]

When I stayed in Vernon a couple summers ago, I made the drive out to Sicamous to play Hyde Mountain. Beautiful course, but probably a little out of your way!

[Cowboy89]

If you're staying in Penticton, N'Kmip golf course in Oliver is a decent course to play.

[driveway]

Isn't the Okanagan on fire right now? Highway 97 is closed in both directions just south of Kelowna and the detour onto Highway 33 to get to Penticton from the south is going to add hours to your trip.

http://www.drivebc.ca/details.jsp?eventId=82758

And here's an inaccurate map of the fires:
http://www.kelowna.com/2009/07/19/unofficial-fire-map/

Anyways, have fun!

edit: I guess that by asking now on CP for suggestions you're not leaving for several days and have time for the fires to die down. Ignore my doom-and-gloom post then.

[Russic]

Beware the sandtrap on hole 4, and the giant burning mountain on every hole.

[edn88]

Was just in Kelowna last week, and played Quail, Tower Ranch and The Bear.

Tower Ranch is a very tough course, but worth playing - be aware if you book with less than 48 hours notice, you pay less than more than 48 hours notice. Also, booked at Quail and the Bear at GolfBC.com - where you can book online and save significantly. If you have to choose though, play Quail - the Bear, despite being a Nicklaus design is a pretty boring course.

[simmer2]

Originally Posted by driveway

Isn't the Okanagan on fire right now? Highway 97 is closed in both directions just south of Kelowna and the detour onto Highway 33 to get to Penticton from the south is going to add hours to your trip.

http://www.drivebc.ca/details.jsp?eventId=82758

And here's an inaccurate map of the fires:
http://www.kelowna.com/2009/07/19/unofficial-fire-map/

Anyways, have fun!

edit: I guess that by asking now on CP for suggestions you're not leaving for several days and have time for the fires to die down. Ignore my doom-and-gloom post then.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions; we are waiting to see what happens with the fires; we leave on Thursday so we're hoping they have time to die down by the time we get there.

The Fred Couples course in Vernon, has that one opened yet? I thought I heard they were having troubles financing it.

[dercoch]

The Fred Couples course in Vernon has been open all year. If you go during the afternoon, the place is usually deserted. The course is pretty nice, depending on what you like. There are a lot of blind tee shots and elevation changes. Lately, I've personally gotten a bit tired of this type of "target" golf where you have to play to certain distances. Mind you, that's probably because there are a lot of them around here.

By the way, the highway just opened this morning, so you should have no problems getting around the valley.

I'll second the comment made earlier about booking your rounds online at golfbc. You'll get a better value that pretty much anywhere else in town that way. For example, the lowest rack rate in town is at a muni-type course called Shadow Ridge. It costs $45 after 1:00. On the golfbc website you can get tee times at 4:00 for that price at The Bear, Quail or Gallagher's Canyon. If you wait until 5:00, you can get those places for $35. Otherwise, you can expect to pay a minimum of $70 for prime-time play in Kelowna.

One more comment. Don`t walk Black Mountain. I made that mistake a couple of weeks ago. Nice course, but man is that a tough walk. It`s also a new course, so the greens are a bit sandy still. It`s pretty unique in that they have 6 par 3`s and 5 par 5`s there.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

If you're staying in Penticton, N'Kmip golf course in Oliver is a decent course to play.

Yeah, and you won't spend all your weekly wages to play a round there either. If you're brave enough to play in the afternoon you can usually get out for $50 with a cart with GPS and the course is seldom busy so you can move right along. Of all the courses in the Oliver/Osoyoos area, thats my favorite. Just watch for the win on 13 to 18 if you do play in the afternoon it can really pick up and make those holes a bit more challenging.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Just played Tower Ranch and Black Mountain last week. Both beautiful, excellent and challanging courses.

We played at 8am each morining and we were the only people on the course until about 11 am. We played on a Tuesday and a Thursday. It was like having your own personal golf course.