Kelowna Golf and Country Club with commentary by consulting archie Jeff Mingay

[Garland Bayley]

Hole 14 282 to 373
Hole14 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


Elevated tee (higher that shown in elevation graph) to drive to fairway up slope or hill crest if long enough.
Hole14Elevation by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


Tee shot has some aspects of a cape hole, without the water.
PicHole14TeeShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


Approach to green has hazard continuing along the right side. Exciting hole.
PicHole14Approach by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

Hole 15 143 to 183
A par three over water. 
Hole15 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


Interestingly Google's elevation graph gives the water some contour. 
Hole15Elevation by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


An example of one of the world's most boring golf holes. You no longer are playing golf, but instead simulating the driving range experience. If you miss your shot, you are required to take another ball and repeat. That's what you do at the driving range. Golf is where you hit your shot, and then when you arrive at your ball you think and decide how you can best accomplish the next one, or two, or three. A par three over water interjects the primary thought of how do I avoid the water. It limits the options and the thinking. And, if you miss your shot, no thinking required to tee it up and try again. Where's the sleeping emoticon? Apparently this  is it. An internet search labels it as the sleeping mask emoticon. I guess it does double duty.
PicHole15TeeShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

Hole 16 424 to 505
Straight bunkerless short par five over some terrain undulations.
Hole16 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


Graph needs to be shifted to the right, as the tee shot is about the height of the distant fairway.
Hole16Elevation by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


The routing has located the elevation changes so that the landing area is near the area where the fairway begins to level out.
PicHole16TeeShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


There is still a slight rise for the second shot that keeps the green surface obscured.
PicHole16Approach by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


The green also has some front to back slope.
PicHole16Green by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Jeff_Mingay]

The 14th is not a Macan hole, either. Unfortunately, it's very difficult hole for higher handicap golfers (especially women and seniors) and not really not that challenging for low markers by comparison.

Everything's been changed here since Macan's days, including the location of the tees and the green. The green in use today was designed by Les Furber and co. And, as I understand, it was built in this location only so the green could remain in play while the new Furber green was built. For the record, this is never the best reason to choose a location for a green! The green you see above and to the right of the Furber green, in the aerial posted, is the old green. It's now a nursery. I think the hole would be much improved if the old green site was restored, softening the "dogleg".

The tee shot at 14 is somewhat interesting, especially since a large number of trees were cleared last year on the inside corner. You can see the trees that were removed in the aerial view that's posted above. The visual "cape effect" wasn't there when these trees existed. Long hitters could still carry the corner, over the trees, but the tee shot didn't look as interesting as it does now. Again, the hole would be even better if the old green site, which you can see from the tees was restored. This green site is just left of the skinny lone pine in the tee shot view posted above.

#16 is very much like the 10th, a lay-of-the-land Macan hole with a great old-fashion look and feel and a super cool green. The best holes at Kelowna are simply laid over the best pieces of sandy terrain without any obnoxius artificial shaping work screaming at you. They're very classy holes, in my opinion.       

[Garland Bayley]

Hole 17 133 to 149
Hole17 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


This is the short par 3 of the group which plays a little down hill.
Hole17Elevation by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


View from the tee.
PicHole17TeeShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

Hole 18 435 to 452
I have to wonder if the tee setting on the back of the 11th tee box was added to lengthen this strong finishing hole.
Hole18 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


There is a significant dip before the green.
Hole18Elevation by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


The big hitters need to decide whether they are going to try to hit it long and get the ball to run much further down the hill into the dip before the green, or whether they will not chance a severely downhill stance, and have their tee ball finish before the fairway begins to run downhill.
PicHole18TeeShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr


It's probably a good fairway wood or hybrid in if you stay on the more level part of the fairway. Probably my favorite hole on the course, hopefully that conclusion is not skewed by my hitting fairway wood onto the green and winning the hole.
PicHole18Approach by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

I enjoyed this course with the biggest disappointments being the newer holes 2 and 3, the extension of the green into the pond on 12 and the mostly water carry 15th.

Since Jeff says the 6th is Mac's work, and 12 somewhat parallels it, I have to wonder if 12 was another of his half par holes with the green set just before the "swamp", and someone later coming in to push the green out into the newly formed lake.

[Jeff_Mingay]

You have good taste, Mr. Bailey... the 18th is indeed another excellent Macan hole. Like the adjacent 10th, it's a really good par 4. The only problem here is, the club calls it a par 5 (at 452 yards)!

I don't recall the history of the current 12th hole off the top of my head, I'll have to look it up.

[Jeff_Mingay]

For the sake of interest, here's a look at:

The approach to Macan's 7th hole, now in the cemetery


And, the setting for Macan's par 3 8th hole (also in the cemetery)

[Jeff_Mingay]

Here's the new front-right bunker at the par 4 8th hole, without grass


Same bunker, with grass (but no sand, yet)

[Jeff_Mingay]

And, a look at a concept we've considered for the 14th hole (not approved by the club, just a rough concept with the original green site restored)

Current view


Concept

[Mike Hendren]

Stylistically, not unlike Fircrest.  I like the way Macan draped Fircrest over the natural beauty and contours of the Pacific Northwest, rather than trying to compete with mother nature.  Looks like he did the same at Kelowna.

Garland, thanks for taking the time to put together this profile.

Mike

[Jeff_Mingay]

Great point Michael, Fircrest is the best example of Macan's lay-of-the-land style of architecture. By comparison with many modern creations (in this case say nearby Chambers Bay), certain Macan holes might look like "nothing", but there's usually more than enough golf to be played. And, again, the seemingly simple nature of such courses is so refreshing. 

[Garland Bayley]

Fircrest is wonderful. I played on a rainy day, and didn't take pictures. I hope to rectify that in the future.

[Doug Hodgson]

I'm going to Kelowna next week.  Looking forward to playing at Kelowna GC.  Not my first time to Kelowna and played several courses there but not KGC.  Also first time on Predator since its Carrick expansion...

[Tyler Kearns]

My buddy is one of the professionals at Harvest Club in Kelowna and it is quite good and in great condition.


Tyler

[Jeff_Mingay]

Wow, this six year-old thread reminds me that we've done a lot of work at Kelowna since 2012. Bunker work's completed at 1, 5-9, 13, 15, 17 and 18. We've removed bunkers at 10 and 11. Those par 4 holes are bunker-less now. Some new tees have been installed, adding length and improving the short course. Fairway mowing's been adjusted, here and there. And, a new short game warm-up area was built this spring. Etc.


We still have some big plans for 1 (tees), 2, 3, 4, 10 (tees), 12, 14, 15 (tees) and the practice areas to carry out over the coming years. Tree work, too.


Enjoy KGCC, Doug!