I spent about a week in beautiful British Columbia in August, first in Victoria, where I had the chance to play both Royal Colwood and Bear Mountain (Mountain Course). We then flew into Kelowna and bunkered down in Vernon. While there, I was supposed to play Predator Ridge (got rained out), the truly exquisite Sagebrush (
already recapped in this thread on GCA), and Tobiano, which was named Best New Course in Canada for 2008 by both ScoreGolf and Golf Digest.
I was still on quite the high after playing Sagebrush the day before but was suitably excited to be playing Tobiano as well. Like Sagebrush, Tobiano was built on a former ranch site and offers unbelievable panoramas of the mountains and the pristine Lake Kamloops. The land is quite severe and I can only imagine how difficult it was to come up with a proper routing, as the player is forced to play from one finger of land to another throughout the round.
It's a completely different playing experience versus the more cerebral Sagebrush, where the ground game was a huge factor. At Tobiano, you're playing much more "target golf".
Note: All Yardages from the Back Tee Deck, which measure out to 7367 Yards. The course plays considerably shorter than that, however, due to the elevation and the routing also provides more than a fair share of downhill tee shots.
Hole #1 - 576 Yards Par 5
Tee Shot
The tee shot is downhill and can be played right of the fairway bunker in the distance. Everything here slopes heavily to the left, especially on the layup shot, where it's almost impossible to keep the ball in the fairway. I can't imagine how much play the left rough gets around the 150 marker here. The approach shot is uphill to one of McBroom's so-called "infinity greens", as you can't see the putting surface until you're about 100 yards away. There's a lot of room off the tee but it's a pretty severe opener and requires a decent strike just to reach the short grass off the tee, something that's all to prevalent out here.
Hole #2 - 350 Yards Par 4
Approach Shot
The shortest par four on the golf course and driveable from the other tee decks. It's a semi-blind tee shot that accepts a fade off the tee around a bunker on the inside of the dogleg right. A perfect drive will give you a wedge into a pushed up green shaped like the top of a cowboy hat. A definite birdie hole but three putts are likely commonplace.
Hole #3 - 162 Yards Par 3
Tee Shot
A short to medium length par three in a lovely setting. This is no pushover though and misses will be punished as I found out after hitting what I thought was a perfect tee shot that ended up going long. The green is pretty shallow and multi-tiered. Wind is a huge factor at Tobiano and it really can cause fits on holes like this one.
Hole #4 - 510 Yards Par 4
Approach Shot
Pretty non-descript tee shot, relatively speaking, on the very long dogleg left par four. Lots of little swales and hollows to deal with on the fairway here and you can hit a running shot in for your second, likely with a fairway metal or long iron, to a large green. One of the least interesting holes on the course.
Hole #5 - 480 Yards Par 4
Tee Shot
So we go from one of the more boring holes on the course to perhaps the most thrilling. This par four looks like you're playing on a half-pipe, as huge mounds of land frame both sides of the fairway all the way down to the green. The hole plays considerably downhill the whole way and a big fade is the desired flight off the tee.
Approach Shot
Your approach shot will likely be from about 200 yards but won't play nearly that long. However, you need to avoid a deep bunker in the front left and a right to left flight will likely be best. This hole is simply a joy to play.
Hole #6 - 462 Yards Par 4
Tee Shot
I know that many here will wonder how walkable this golf course is. Up until this point, the transitions from green to tee have been quite short and manageable but you have a very winding walk/drive from the fifth green to the sixth tee and an even longer transition to the sixth fairway. The tee shot is up on a finger of land well above the fifth green and you have to carry over about 150 yards of brush to reach the fairway. This is a fun tee shot to hit: well defined target and slightly downhill, with a right to left flight the most desired.
Approach Shot
The approach shot is considerably uphill to another of McBroom's infinity greens, with the mountains and Lake Kamloops looming ominously in the background. My approach came up short and I would imagine this happens quite often on this intimidating shot! There is a bunker short right of the green that can't be seen from down below and the green is very large and slopes sharply from back to front and from right to left. Very good golf hole.
Hole #7 - 197 Yards Par 3
Tee Shot
When I said that this course has a lot of 'target golf', one look at this tee shot proves my point. I couldn't help but laugh when first seeing what we faced here - the tee shot is all carry over a 100 foot deep depression area and the green is almost unfairly shallow for the iron (or wood) you need for the shot at 29 yards deep.
View of the back of the green from the 8th Tee
There is a tremendous amount of room left and right - this green has to be well over 100 feet wide but there is almost no room for error in length. I think this hole is a bit too penal for the beginner (and there are A LOT of beginners out at Tobiano...more on that later) - we had a pretty decent lady playing with us and she played the front tees. She still had 110 yards from there, all carry and that is an awful lot to ask for your front tee deck. Granted, the drop zone is on the other side of the chasm but this hole definitely doesn't help the pace of play out here (and more on that later too). Super tough par three even for the most accomplished players.
Hole #8 - 589 Yards Par 5
Tee Shot
And you thought the last tee shot was tough!!! Check out this bad boy! From the back tee, it's a 225 yard carry to reach the fairway. FROM THE BLUES (regular mens tee, total yardage of about 6100 yards), it's a 179 yard carry. I think that's pretty ridiculous and wonder if it's maybe lazy architecture to not find a tee block that doesn't have a carry that long. Only the front tee deck is on the other side of the chasm but that turns it into a 412 yard hole.
View from the Fairway, About 250 Yards Out
Same view, just showing the Lake a bit more
Even the layup here is no bargain, as the fairway cants severely to the right toward another bluff well above the Lake. The third is likely a mid iron hit downhill into a green that moves diagonally from front left to back right.
View from behind green looking back up to fairway
Simply put, this is one of the more penal par fives I've ever encountered.
Hole #9 - 418 Yards Par 4
View from green looking back toward tee
If you're hoping for a bit of a breather after this four or five hole stretch, you're not really finding it here. The tee shot on this midlength par four is downhill to a very wide landing area but the approach shot is drastically uphill to a green protected by deep bunkers in front and on the left. The green itself is multi-tiered and closes a very tough stretch of holes to end the outgoing nine.
I'll be back tomorrow with the last nine holes. I'm interested to hear opinions on this amazingly beautiful but unrelenting test of golf - has anyone played here? What are your thoughts?