Golf Escapes 2009 - (Page 35) Golden Golf Club enjoys a climate with just one-quarter of Vancouver’s rainfall. GolDen Golf club You might be lucky and spot bears by some courses. What to see and do en route Take time out in Vancouver to visit the historic Gastown district and see its steam clock, watch the joggers and visit the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park, take the gondola up nearby Grouse Mountain and step out on the Capilano Suspension Bridge. In Whistler, you can hurl yourself down the Ziptrek zipwire, ride the new Peak 2 Peak Gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains and go bungee jumping over a white-water river. You can also learn about the area’s native heritage at Whistler’s new Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre. The road to Kamloops offers many Kodak moments, including alongside Duffey Lake. The Thompson Okanagan’s leisure possibilities include many lakes, among them 97-mile-long Lake Okanagan, where you can cool off in the summer heat. Explore Shuswap Lake on a houseboat and visit neighbouring towns Salmon Arm and Sicamous. As you follow the Trans-Canada Highway through British Columbia’s “Mountain Playground”, you can take an excursion to visit the Glacier, Kootenay, Mt Revelstoke and Yoho national parks. Or perhaps get a close encounter of the furred kind at the world’s largest grizzly bear habitat, at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. Yoho National Park’s Lake O’Hara. Syvlia DolSon, www.coaStphoto. Cooke, features grassy dune hillocks peppered with pot bunkers. Predator Ridge resort, near Vernon, has 27 holes set among 1,200 acres of pine-covered ridges, lakes and wheatgrass meadows. Luxury wooden cottages and villas are augmented by the lavish, new 150-room Kristall Resort and wellness spa. Talking Rock Resort opened in August 2007 alongside Little Shuswap Lake. It is owned and operated by the Little Shuswap Indian Band, and is next to the 66-room Quaaout Lodge hotel. Canoe Creek is another new course at Salmon Arm, on Shuswap Lake, and features pot bunkers in a links-style design. Fred Couples’ signature course at golf community The Rise, on a ridge above the northern part of Okanagan Lake, opened in 2008. Tyrolean-style ski and summer activity resort Sun Peaks’ 18 holes skirt dense stands of pine and spruce trees and criss-cross a winding creek 4,000 feet up in the mountains a 45-minute drive north of Kamloops. The course is open from mid-May to mid-October and golfers often see wildlife including deer, coyotes and bears. Pressing on towards the Rockies, Revelstoke is the next stop. Golf has been played at Revelstoke Golf Club, originally a horse racing track, for over 80 years. Work starts this spring on Nick Faldo’s first design in Western Canada at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, a $1 billion luxury community and leisure development. The course will open in 2011 with golf playable from mid-April to October. Two hours east of Revelstoke along the TransCanada Highway, beyond Rogers Pass, Golden Golf Club sits alongside the Columbia River. Its original nine holes, by Bill Newis, opened in 1986 while the second nine were added by Les Furber 10 years later. Mountain town Golden lies 2,500 feet up, yet gets less than a quarter of the rainfall that Vancouver receives. From this area you can reach six national parks in under two and a half hours, Yoho being the closest at just 30 minutes away. And it is just a three-hour drive through the Rockies to Calgary. Recommended duration: 12 nights Overnights: Vancouver, Whistler, Kamloops, Vernon, Revelstoke Golf ESCAPES 2009 35 touriSm britiSh columbia
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