Tight Course Displays Bowen Island Grandeur
December 15th, 2010 10:46 AM
Imagine standing on the bow of a BC Ferry. The salt wind blowing through your hair and the ferry’s horn announcing your arrival for a round of golf. Sweet, eh? Well that’s how your day will start when you decide to go play the nine-hole Bowen Island Public Golf Club.
From North Vancouver to the first tee in an hour, that’s how long it took me to get to Bowen Island, including the 20-minute ferry ride. And when I pulled my Corvette into the parking lot I had to do a double take.
OK, I can see the ocean right in front of me, but is this really little Bowen Island or am I in the big as all get up and go Cariboo? Tall mature forest surrounds this club and everywhere I look there is a sense of size on a grand scale. There are large hills, rolling fairways and fast sloping greens. And, thanks to general manager and superintendent Spencer Grundy, his dedicated maintenance crew and the warm sea air, the Bowen course is open all year long.
Bowen is not as tight as the strings on Mr. Burns’s purse, but it is close. The first hole is a long uphill 394 par four. It is the longest of the par fours and probably the widest. You have plenty of room to spray to the right from the tee and although there is a roadway on the left that plays as a hazard, even a hard hook, as I thankfully found out, shouldn’t get you into trouble. The green is small, well protected and, like most greens, looks like an upside down soup bowl.
Number six was my favourite little hole on the course. It plays only 126 yards from the tips but it is no pushover. The green is almost bowler-hat-shaped and the pins are always hidden. To get to the back left pin you must hit it hard up the throat of the green, landing it short and letting it release over the hill and down. To get to a front pin you must skip it in from the front. To get to a back right pin position you’ll need religion.
Bowen closes with a boom! On the ninth you stand on top of the hill looking down over the fairway and out over the ocean. If your timing is right you’ll see the ferry to Nanaimo glide by almost begging you to take a photograph. Fog banks often sweep in giving the whole place a spooky Loch Ness feel.
I remember patting my camera thinking I would be ready if local sea serpent Caddy ever popped out of the depths. The hole itself is not very difficult. Lots of room right and it plays down hill so a good drive will get you to the 130 or 150 yard mark on this 364-yard par four. There is a pond on the right and a creek crosses over the front of the green. Clear that and there is nothing left to the hole excepting this is the trickiest green on the course.
A Player’s Tip
You can enjoy the ferry ride, play 9 or 18, eat at any of the local restaurants overlooking the Pacific and be home in time to watch the early news. To play Bowen Island well you must be accurate off the tee. Ditch the driver and hit your 3 or 5 wood. What you lose in distance you will gain in scoring.
Bowen Island Golf Club 604-947-4653 www.bowengolf.com
The North Shore’s Tom Cattermole is a freelance golf writer. Cattermole@telus.net
Ema Peter Photography 604.789.6339 www.emapeter.com
Copyright North Shore Magazine Issue Aug - Sep 08
From North Vancouver to the first tee in an hour, that’s how long it took me to get to Bowen Island, including the 20-minute ferry ride. And when I pulled my Corvette into the parking lot I had to do a double take.
OK, I can see the ocean right in front of me, but is this really little Bowen Island or am I in the big as all get up and go Cariboo? Tall mature forest surrounds this club and everywhere I look there is a sense of size on a grand scale. There are large hills, rolling fairways and fast sloping greens. And, thanks to general manager and superintendent Spencer Grundy, his dedicated maintenance crew and the warm sea air, the Bowen course is open all year long.
Bowen is not as tight as the strings on Mr. Burns’s purse, but it is close. The first hole is a long uphill 394 par four. It is the longest of the par fours and probably the widest. You have plenty of room to spray to the right from the tee and although there is a roadway on the left that plays as a hazard, even a hard hook, as I thankfully found out, shouldn’t get you into trouble. The green is small, well protected and, like most greens, looks like an upside down soup bowl.
Number six was my favourite little hole on the course. It plays only 126 yards from the tips but it is no pushover. The green is almost bowler-hat-shaped and the pins are always hidden. To get to the back left pin you must hit it hard up the throat of the green, landing it short and letting it release over the hill and down. To get to a front pin you must skip it in from the front. To get to a back right pin position you’ll need religion.
Bowen closes with a boom! On the ninth you stand on top of the hill looking down over the fairway and out over the ocean. If your timing is right you’ll see the ferry to Nanaimo glide by almost begging you to take a photograph. Fog banks often sweep in giving the whole place a spooky Loch Ness feel.
I remember patting my camera thinking I would be ready if local sea serpent Caddy ever popped out of the depths. The hole itself is not very difficult. Lots of room right and it plays down hill so a good drive will get you to the 130 or 150 yard mark on this 364-yard par four. There is a pond on the right and a creek crosses over the front of the green. Clear that and there is nothing left to the hole excepting this is the trickiest green on the course.
A Player’s Tip
You can enjoy the ferry ride, play 9 or 18, eat at any of the local restaurants overlooking the Pacific and be home in time to watch the early news. To play Bowen Island well you must be accurate off the tee. Ditch the driver and hit your 3 or 5 wood. What you lose in distance you will gain in scoring.
Bowen Island Golf Club 604-947-4653 www.bowengolf.com
The North Shore’s Tom Cattermole is a freelance golf writer. Cattermole@telus.net
Ema Peter Photography 604.789.6339 www.emapeter.com
Copyright North Shore Magazine Issue Aug - Sep 08
