I had the opportunity to visit the site of the new "Sagebrush" course at Quilchena in beautiful British Columbia, last Thursday. GCAtlas's own Jeff Mingay, working with Rod Whitman and Canadian tour pro Richard Zokol, had invited me to drop by if I was in "the neighbourhood", and I couldn't resist when I was in Penticton last week on vacation, about a 2-hour drive away.
I'll enclose some photos [I apologize for the size, but hey, big pictures convey the big scale they're working with], with a brief description of what I can remember from our 2-hour visit with Jeff...
When we arrived, Jeff was working on the 7th fairway. We drove around the property with Jeff pointing out the various 6-foot tall stakes scattered throughout the area to denote the tee, landing zone, and green sites. One of the biggest issues was in dealing with the extreme property, and in getting up towards the higher elevation, it was decided to route the first hole upwards. The view below is from the greensite of the first hole, with the tees down below near the "hump" in a line between the SUV and the marker in the foreground. The landing zone is the white stake to the left of center of photo. BTW...the power line will be removed and relocated.
Once we had driven up to the site of the first green, we got out and walked along the second fairway [below], the highest elevation of the front nine, toward Nicola Lake.
The landing zone on #2 [below] is located in a "saddle" overlooking the lake, with a natural greensite further toward the lake. It wasn't difficult to understand that this hole would have stood out in the original routing plans as one that was just waiting to be built.
Further along in the routing, we stood on the site of the 5th hole's teeboxes [below], staring toward the lake, at what I believe will be a shortish par-4. For history buffs, the trail below is the original stagecoach line that ran through the area in the 1800's.
One of the holes which stood out in my mind was the par-3 sixth [below], approximately 260 yards from the tips, but as Jeff pointed out, downwind, downhill, and at high elevation. The greensite will be to the left of the bush in the center of the photo.
Number 7 was the hole they were working on when we arrived.
Dick Zokol and Jeff pose politely [below] in front of the work on the 7th fairway.
Dick [below] is looking toward the greensite of #7, which is massive, and may turn into a huge green.
Number 10 is a par-3 [below], which Jeff said was Rod's fav. Located on the edge of the property of the back nine, it currently features a prominent dead snag which will be cut down.
The next hole, a long par-4 [below], may stretch to 500 yards. It will feature a long downslope which may result in 400 yard drives, and then uphill to an elevated green. The greensite is located at the white marker over the cone-shaped tree in the center of the photo. This hole seemed to be Jeff's fav.
#12 is a short par-3 up high above the 11th green, with 13 a "drivable" par-4 of some 300 yards coming back down.
Jeff mentioned that the 16th hole would drop down some 200 or 250 feet. When I questioned him on that, I realized shortly afterwards when we drove back towards the proposed clubhouse site that he indeed was correct, having looked up toward the tee site from the "road".
#18 is a hole of some 430 yards, with the fairway below the clubhouse location, all with the view of Nicola Lake in the background.
We had the pleasure of meeting Richard Zokol shortly before we left. Dick, if you're "lurking" out there, it was great to meet you. Good luck with your project, and I hope that everything turns out the way you want it to. Dick mentioned some ideas of his, one of which is the possibility of building a "Himalayas" type of putting green for the members. He stated that he could easily imagine some members wandering out at 2 in the morning to have another go at it.
He also said that a practice area will be built down toward the other end of the front nine, a short 3-minute cart ride from the clubhouse, one which would simulate a "fairway" and not a "range".
Overall, the scale of the place is massive. Jeff said that to stick a skinny fairway on it would look totally out of place. Fairways will, in general, be wide. Not only for scale, but also to accommodate the wind, which I was told is constant in the afternoon, along the lake.
I hope that these photos add to the enjoyment of the place as shared by Andrew's earlier photos of the course. I will attempt to post a few more pics in the coming days.
Thanks Jeff, for taking time out for the visit. I'll keep in touch.
JJ