admin's blog

 Jim Lee
jim@bcga.org

Duncan Meadows on Vancouver Island is hosting the Royale Cup Canadian Women's Amateur Championship July 18 - 22.  

The event includes some of the best women amateur golfers in Canada, if not the world.  Jennifer Kirby recently made the cut at the US Women's Open, and Vancouver Islander Christina Proteau who just missed the cut at the US Women's Open by one stroke.  Some BC youngsters will also be in the running include Christine Wong and Soo-Bin Kim.

 I had the opportunity to watch some of the BC Women's Amateur Championship (results here) held last week at Alberni Golf Club on Vancouver Island.  I was very impressed by the field, and particularly the play of many of the junior golfers.  Christina Proteau, who is 28, won the event, but she was chased by several junior golfers, some as young as 16.

 
The Vancouver Golf Show starts this Saturday morning at the new Trade and Convention Centre.  This promises to be a much better venue than the cavernous BC Place.  Its close to the Skytrain stations downtown, so there's no need to take a car, but if you do, there is considerable parking available at less expensive cost than at the Stadium.  You can get more information on the show at:

http://www.vancouvergolfshow.com/

 While the recent winter weather - completely unexpected in many parts of the province - may set things back a bit, most courses in BC are looking forward to their usual spring openings.

I found the following article from the USGA Green Section e-newsletter of interest.  Having had the opportunity to play the courses at Bandon Dunes, I have to agree with the article.

British Columbia Golf Courses have again fared well in the annual rankings of the best new golf courses in Canada.  In the past 3 years, 10 BC golf courses have been listed, and in 2010 this dominance continued with Predator Ridge winning the title, followed by Shadow Mountain and Redstone Resort. 

Olympic View (OV) has long been my favourite Victoria course ( I don't often get a chance to play the private courses).  With the opening of the Mountain Course, and its views and some great holes, I wavered, but soon decided that with the incremental cost in lost golf balls and damage to my ego, it simply was beyond my ability.  OV  has a great blend of diversity of holes, with some interesting elevation changes, walks through the woods and distant views that make it enjoyable to play on a regular basis. 

Golf courses, resorts and hotels are offering up some great prices now for golfers to take advantage of.  Kamloops, which is rapidly becoming a great golf destination, has a particularly good offer with 2 nights in a 4 star hotel in downtown Kamloops and 3 rounds of golf at the area's top courses.  This is an opportunity to play "Best New" courses at Sun Rivers, Talking Rock and Tobiano and to follow up at Rivershore (a Robert Trent Jones design), The Dunes, or Sun Peaks.

All for $399!

I was able to attend the Skins Game at Bear Mountain Resort this past Monday and Tuesday, although working there so unable to see as much of the golf as I would have liked.

I think all golfers at some point in time have had problems with their clubs while traveling.  Its frustrating, but for most of us a minor inconvience as we can rent or borrow clubs at our destination - but what happens when professionals lose their clubs?  The following  is from Scoregolf's e-newsletter.