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Wednesday, May 2, 2012 - North Shore News - A33

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Tobiano takes you on a journeyCourse setting is breathtakingMark HoodContributing writer

FOR me, travel and golf go hand in hand. Whether it’s a weekend away or an extended holiday,

packing the clubs always gives me the option to explore distant destinations in new ways and maybe, just maybe, fi nd a stunning course that resonates with something primal in my soul.

Located about 20 minutes west of Kamloops on the Trans Canada Highway, Tobiano is all of that and more.

Perched on the arid sagebrush steppes of the Western Thompson Plateau, Tobiano rises from the south shore of Kamloops Lake into the dry copper-hued hills and pines of B.C.’s interior. From a distance it looks like an enormous necklace: lush emerald greens and fairways rimmed by golden sun-baked fescue. Close up, it’s a complex leviathan of a course: bold in vision and uncompromising in execution.

Designed by Toronto’s Thomas McBroom, whose creations are garnering raves in Eastern Canada, Tobiano takes the very best of the landscape and gives you a doubly unforgettable golf experience in a breathtaking setting.

Each hole has fi ve different tee boxes based on your handicap, putting it within reach of players of almost every level of ability. At 7,367 yards from the championship tees, it’s a rugged test for the best; yet at 5,358 yards from the front tees, it’s still a challenge, but a more manageable one.

The landscape is rolling rangeland, vast and humpy, riven with windswept gullies and sage-walled fi ssures. The fairways and greens wind between, around and across them, by degrees rising and falling, yawing left and right.

Yet what seems a rugged and robust environment is actually a fragile quasi-desert ecosystem. To maintain optimum playing

See Dining page 34

NEWS photo Mark Hood

GOLF courses are generally quiet places, but at Tobiano, located about 20 minutes from Kamloops, the quiet and feeling of peace is palpable.

A34 - North Shore News - Wednesday, May 2, 2012

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conditions and maximize benefi t to the surrounding rangeland, Tobiano uses pin-point applications of small amounts of essential elements. This overcomes nutritional defi ciencies and encourages plants that resist turf diseases, drought conditions and weed infestation reducing the need for chemicals.

Their Integrated pest management program has allowed Tobiano to use “organism friendly” methods to get excellent results, again without chemicals. Course superintendent Terry Smith and his team of agronomists (Adrien VanDyk, Paul McDonald and Ryan Sauser) constantly monitor conditions so they can be proactive and keep the turf strong, even in sometimes less than favourable conditions.

It’s no surprise that Tobiano has captured the attention of golf connoisseurs. When it opened in 2008, it was named best new course in Canada by both Golf Digest and Score magazines. Since then, it has twice been named best Public Course in B.C., and in 2010 was ranked 16th in Score’s Top 100 Courses in Canada.

I had heard rumblings and rumours, tall tales of a wild, one-of-a-kind track and decided to go see for myself.

On a recent weekend I was joined by friends Dan Rothenbush of North Vancouver’s Lady Jane Landscaping and Lance Olsen of Jordan’s Fine Furnishings.

There are accommodation and golf packages available for playing in the Kamloops area

to help simplify the decision. We opted to stay at the new 540 Hotel, a sleek, modern facility in the centre of town and home to the Lake City Casino.

At this time of year, weather in the Lower Mainland is always a question mark, but in the Interior the closer you move to summer, the more reliable sunshine becomes. The three-hour-and-change drive up the Coquihalla Highway propelled us into the warm embrace of a beautiful early spring day.

We arrived at Tobiano about an hour ahead of our early afternoon tee time. It gave us a chance to shake off the journey, grab a meal, relax and warm up. The wood and stone clubhouse is gorgeous, open and airy with views across the course to the lake and the hills beyond.

There’s a large patio for summer reclining and an impressively priced menu with some creative selections in the Black Iron dining room.

We opted for fl atbread pizzas — chicken, caramelized onions, pancetta and barbecue sauce. They came with a three-bean salad and it was a great choice; light enough not to slow us down, satisfying enough to banish the hunger.

Green fees included a GPS power cart, bottled water and access to the practice facilities. There’s an outdoor driving range and large putting green. When you check in, they arrange to have a range spot waiting for you, complete with practice balls. It’s a nice touch.

It’s not far from the practice range to the fi rst tee, where your Tobiano

experience really begins.Number 1 is a rising

dogleg left par 5. At 576 yards from the tips, 489 yards from the front tees, it’s a great introduction to what lies beyond. We were playing from the middle tees so it was 551 yards and all of that. The narrow landing area is where the fairway pivots left and there’s a nasty bunker to the right. Beyond the rough is fescue and sagebrush.

There isn’t a lot of room for error so if you can hit a draw, this is the place to pull it off.

Your approach shot is uphill and the green is well fortifi ed with sand on both sides, with the fi rst of some particularly gnarly pot bunkers coming into play on the long left side. The putting surface slopes upward, front to back, and even in late April it was lightning fast. You do not want to fi nd yourself with a downhill putt here.

Earlier I mentioned that playing Tobiano was doubly unforgettable and there is a duality of experience that begins on the fi rst hole.

First, from a golf perspective, the course conditions are absolutely superb. Creeping Bentgrass tees, fairways and greens are lush and full, cut nail-scissor close with absolutely no winter kill. Fairways are cut to a height of .35 of an inch, tee boxes to .25 and greens to .12.

The result is a consistently spectacular playing surface, and from the time you pick up your club until you fi nish your swing, you are playing in

Dining room has creative menuFrom page 33

NEWS photo Mark Hood

THE Black Iron dining room at Tobiano offers impressive views and an impressively priced menu.

See Best page 36


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the best conditions you will fi nd anywhere.

When the real heat comes in the summer, Tobiano’s greens and fairways will be greased lightning.

Smith and his crew did epic work in the fall to have the course so playable so early in the year. I have never seen anything like it.

You may have tricky lies based on where you end up, but never because of turf conditions.

The second part of the experience is just standing in that incredible setting. Golf courses are generally quiet places, but at Tobiano the quiet and feeling of peace is palpable. It almost takes you to a heightened sense of consciousness that’s hard to explain.

There is virtually no background noise. Birdsong and breezes rustling through sagebrush are the soundtrack, and the primary colours of the landscape — deep green grass, bright yellow fescue and the vast blue sky — the visuals.

It has become a marketing truism that on a new course, every

hole is the signature hole. Tobiano comes closest to that out of any place I’ve played.

Once it hits you, between golf shots your round becomes a montage of gorgeous images. A view of the lake here, a glance at the hills there — blue, gold and green.

Combine the playing experience with the between shot experience and you are left with a series of exquisite moments to remember your round.

Your highlights from a trip to Tobiano will be highly personal. Here are some of mine.

For us, the 5th hole was a 450-yard par-4 running down the broad trough of a gully. Centre right off the tee gives you a chance to fi nd the downslope of a ridge that cuts across the fairway. If you make that and stay on the short grass, in the summer you’ll get some incredible roll towards the green.

Number 8 was a treacherous S-shaped par-5 that skirts the bluff above the lake. Rear tee boxes have you hitting over a gully to a fairway that runs left to right, which is fi ne as far as it goes. But your second shot can be blind to a landing area that slopes toward the lake and staying left is your only real guarantee of remaining on the short grass. Accuracy is everything here.

Standing on the south side of the 15th green, between the bunkers and the putting surface, gives you a view of your group and across the lake to the vast country beyond. For me it’s the most beautiful spot on this beautiful course, and for a few moments it feels for all the world like you’re the only people on Earth.

Number 16, a 540-yard par-5, is a wild Bentgrass rollercoaster rising and falling, pitching and heeling, left and right up and over a ridge to a narrow-fronted green wedged between some formidable bunkers. The green slopes upward from front to back and you don’t want to be above the pin, but the front is narrow and the bunkers are waiting, so your shot has to be just right.

In truth, I could have picked almost any hole and been able to tell similar stories. One of the problems with Tobiano is that words don’t really do it justice. You have to play it to understand.

Back in Kamloops, we debriefed in the comfort of the 540. We were equally impressed with Tobiano yet our favourite moments were slightly different. So it goes.

Kamloops is a great town to visit and one of B.C.’s most welcoming destinations. The 540 Hotel’s

Best view on the 15th From page 34

See Play page 37

THE course crew at Tobiano did epic work in the fall to have the course so playable so early in the year. NEWS photo Mark Hood


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location in the heart of the city puts all the entertainment venues within walking distance. We made the rounds and had a legendary evening.

Later, one of our group decided to try his hand in the Lake City Casino and did rather well at the blackjack tables. I had the good fortune to play Tobiano that day and was content to count my blessings.

It’s hard to pick a course for beauty in this beautiful province and there are some excellent challenges as well. Tobiano must rank near the top of the top 10 on both counts for those lucky enough to play it. Put it on your list.

Play experience is worth the trip

NEWS photos Mark Hood

GORGEOUS images and a superb play experience combine for a memorable round at Tobiano golf course.

From page 36


I N C L U D E STwo nights accommodation at Hotel 540 $50 Black Iron Restaurant Credit

Two one-hour group Golf Clinic at Tobiano

Two 18 hole rounds of golf at Tobiano

U P G R A D EShuttle service between hotel and Tobiano $20 return.

Based on 4 people, 2 people per room, 2 nights, 2 days golf. Must be booked and used before October 31st 2012

G E TA WA Y S P E C I A L

Hotel 540, 540 Victoria Street, Kamloops, BC.1.800.663.2837 | www.hotel540.ca

a place for everyone

TOBIANO GOLF RESORT38 Holloway Drive, Kamloops, BC, V1S 0B3 | 1.877.373.2218 | www.tobiano.ca

TOBIANO GOLF RESORT38 Holloway Drive, Kamloops, BC, V1S 0B3 | 1.877.373.2218 | www.tobiano.ca

Gleneagles: 604-921-7353 Ambleside: 604-922-3818

Visit us online at:westvancouver.ca/golf

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Mark HoodContributing writer

ON May 16 some of the best golfers in British Columbia are coming to West Vancouver’s Gleneagles Golf Course for the fi rst-ever Vancouver Golf Tour-Golf West Vancouver Shootout.

A joint effort of the District of West Vancouver, Golf West Vancouver and the Vancouver Golf Tour, this 10-player format features the rising stars of local golf, including North Vancouver pro Bryn Parry (2011 Rogers cup winner; former Nationwide Tour player; six-time British Columbia Golf Association Player of the Year; and the best player on the Vancouver Golf Tour for the past three years).

Ten players will start on the fi rst tee, with the player

recording the highest score eliminated on every hole. If there is a tie for high score, the players will be eliminated via a putt-off or a chip-off. Only two players will be left by the 9th hole to compete for the $1,000 fi rst place prize out of a total purse of $1,750.

“We are very pleased to be hosting the fi rst ever VGT Golf West Vancouver shoot-out at Gleneagles Golf Course. This will be a great opportunity for the residents of our community to come out and see some of the Lower Mainland’s best professional golfers,” stated Dan Henegar, manager of parks arboriculture and horticulture for the District of West Vancouver.

The Vancouver Golf Tour has been developed to give Lower Mainland professional and amateur golfers the opportunity for a high level of competition in a PGA Tour environment, minus the excessive time commitment

and travel costs. This growing golf tour has been designed to give local players the opportunity to learn how to win in pressure situations and develop the confi dence to play on worldwide major golf tours.

“Gleneagles is going to provide a very good test for the VGT’s professionals,” said Fraser Mulholland, commissioner of the Vancouver Golf Tour. “While this is a fun format, I know the guys will bring their ‘A’ game as they will be competing for the fi rst-place prize of $1,000.”

The fun begins on May 16 at Gleneagles’ fi rst tee at 3:30 p.m. where the participating pros will hold a 45-minute golf clinic. The shootout follows at 4:30 p.m. There’s no charge to attend, and it’s a great chance for golfers of all ages to support the Lower Mainland golf community and watch some of the best in the sport show their stuff.

Rising stars set to compete

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