Well, my tournament last Tuesday was held at the FCGC, which is right in between Vancouver and Whistler and is literally on Howe Sound. It is heralded as "BC's most scenic golf course" and home to "BC's signature hole."
http://www.golfbc.com
Personally, I didn't like the course and if it weren't for the views, I would have left extremely disappointed. I found it very gimmicky and significantly more difficult than the course rating suggests. It is a 6 par 3, 6 par 4, 6 par 5 layout that runs sea to sky. It's interesting and has potential, but I don't like it the way it stands. It is a "walk-free" course, meaning that you have to take a cart (and with good reason), which is okay because the carts are loaded with a pretty spanky GPS system.
Anyhow, on to the photos:
Tee #1 - par 4, 160 yard vertical drop - water on the left, Furry Creek on the right, so keep it in play. A 5 iron off the tee left me with about 120 in. My approach was pushed a bit and hit the right mound off the green and bounced just a bit long and right of the cartpath. Some woman walking her dog subsequently STOLE MY BALL while we were still in the fairway! I yelled at her to put it back but she just looked at me and walked away. Weirdo.
Same hole, picture of my friend teeing off:
Tee #6: par 4 with a HUGE ravine cutting it in half. Three of our tee shots hit the hill on the right (the brownish area to the right of the cartpath, but significantly higher) and all bounced and rolled back to the fairway, which was pleasant as this was our starting hole for the tournament:
Tee #7: same ravine as #6 and have to carry about 175Y (or more?) to be safe. Short par 4 from the blues/golds (238Y) but a fair uphill and a long par 3 from the whites/reds (200'ish):
9th green: The picture's a little dark, but the savvy amongst you will recognize this green as the one where Bob Barker had a violent incident with a certain "hockey player":
Tee #9: it's not a long hole, probably somewhere around 300, but a creek runs across the front of the green, so going long off the tee is risky:
View from the 11th tee: My friend teeing off, I forgot to take a picture of the actual hole. Ah well, a great view, possibly the best from a golf course in BC. The water is Howe Sound, where the Pacific juts into the mainland.
View down from the 11th: A great shot of the 14th hole.
12th tee: Par 4, good view back up into the course. Another crazy hole that drops a huge amount to a small landing area that you then have to cross another ravine to the green. Another example of the gimmickyness of the course:
14th tee: "BC's signature hole" - a long (200Y) par 3 into swirling winds as the green juts out right into Howe Sound. It's beautiful, but not impossible, and there's a nice bailout area to the right (that I took advantage of). This picture was staged because my friend missed the follow through on the actual swing:
Another view of the 14th without my flat butt. Notice how windy it was:
My favourite shot of all: me putting out (that's putt-ing, you pervs) on 14. It was really cool to stand out there and look around. Quite magnificent, really:
Anyhow, that's a brief overview of the course in all it's splendor. I didn't love it and played like ass (probably related to not loving it). Ah well, a pleasure to play it once anyhow.
http://www.golfbc.com
Personally, I didn't like the course and if it weren't for the views, I would have left extremely disappointed. I found it very gimmicky and significantly more difficult than the course rating suggests. It is a 6 par 3, 6 par 4, 6 par 5 layout that runs sea to sky. It's interesting and has potential, but I don't like it the way it stands. It is a "walk-free" course, meaning that you have to take a cart (and with good reason), which is okay because the carts are loaded with a pretty spanky GPS system.
Anyhow, on to the photos:
Tee #1 - par 4, 160 yard vertical drop - water on the left, Furry Creek on the right, so keep it in play. A 5 iron off the tee left me with about 120 in. My approach was pushed a bit and hit the right mound off the green and bounced just a bit long and right of the cartpath. Some woman walking her dog subsequently STOLE MY BALL while we were still in the fairway! I yelled at her to put it back but she just looked at me and walked away. Weirdo.
Same hole, picture of my friend teeing off:
Tee #6: par 4 with a HUGE ravine cutting it in half. Three of our tee shots hit the hill on the right (the brownish area to the right of the cartpath, but significantly higher) and all bounced and rolled back to the fairway, which was pleasant as this was our starting hole for the tournament:
Tee #7: same ravine as #6 and have to carry about 175Y (or more?) to be safe. Short par 4 from the blues/golds (238Y) but a fair uphill and a long par 3 from the whites/reds (200'ish):
9th green: The picture's a little dark, but the savvy amongst you will recognize this green as the one where Bob Barker had a violent incident with a certain "hockey player":
Tee #9: it's not a long hole, probably somewhere around 300, but a creek runs across the front of the green, so going long off the tee is risky:
View from the 11th tee: My friend teeing off, I forgot to take a picture of the actual hole. Ah well, a great view, possibly the best from a golf course in BC. The water is Howe Sound, where the Pacific juts into the mainland.
View down from the 11th: A great shot of the 14th hole.
12th tee: Par 4, good view back up into the course. Another crazy hole that drops a huge amount to a small landing area that you then have to cross another ravine to the green. Another example of the gimmickyness of the course:
14th tee: "BC's signature hole" - a long (200Y) par 3 into swirling winds as the green juts out right into Howe Sound. It's beautiful, but not impossible, and there's a nice bailout area to the right (that I took advantage of). This picture was staged because my friend missed the follow through on the actual swing:
Another view of the 14th without my flat butt. Notice how windy it was:
My favourite shot of all: me putting out (that's putt-ing, you pervs) on 14. It was really cool to stand out there and look around. Quite magnificent, really:
Anyhow, that's a brief overview of the course in all it's splendor. I didn't love it and played like ass (probably related to not loving it). Ah well, a pleasure to play it once anyhow.
