21 of 70: Tobiano Golf Course, Kamloops BC

View from the first tee box

On Friday the 18th of May we played Tobiano which was a memorable experience. We first had to find the course and that proved to be far more difficult  than we had expected. Our GPS was of no help, Google maps got us lost, and after we finally had the golf course in sight, we had problems finding the clubhouse. In our humble opinion, the signage needs improvement.

All par 3 are played over ravines

That being said, Tobiano is an exceptional golf course and well deserving of all the accolades it has received. It has been recognized as the best public golf course in British Columbia and is ranked sixth amongst Canadian public courses. In SCOREGolf Magazine Top 100 courses in Canada, it ranks 16th. It is certainly one of the jewels in Thomas McBroom's portfolio. Tobiano was carved out of rugged territory overlooking Kamloops Lake and routed amongst incredible ravines which need to be negotiated on almost every holes. The layout offers five par 5, five par 3 and 8 par 4. McBroom designed the course with five sets of tees which are named rather than colour coded. The Tour tees play at 7367 yards, the Iron for low handicappers, the Spur for mid handicappers, the Lake (15 to 22 handicap) and the Sage up front playing at 5358 yards. I played from the Lake tees (6109 yards) and had to work very hard  for my 98. There is no water hazard on this course but the canyons and ravines play as lateral hazards and did cost me a fair number of strokes.

But the ravines aren't the only hazards on this course. The views are incredibly spectacular and it is quite difficult not to be constantly distracted playing Tobiano for the first time. Each hole offers a number of different panoramic views over the lake, the surrounding mountains, the adjoining holes up and down the canyon. And long freight trains run on both sides of the lake giving the landscape a moving perspective for the longest time. 

Long put on 16th green

But the game goes on and one still has to line up that put and get that ball in the cup sooner or later. In this picture, I caught Brenda in action on the 16th green. Waiting his turn to put is Ben. We had the pleasure of playing with Ben and his wife, Audrey who are from Kamloops and had played Tobiano in the past. Their guidance was helpful but first hand knowledge of the course remains essential if one expects to score well.

Hoodoos

While waiting our turn to play the 17th hole par 3, Ben drew our attention to the hoodoos carved out of the ravine behind the tee box. That sent Brenda back to work with her camera to gather further evidence of our passage through Tobiano. In spite of the distraction we managed another ravine crossing and another bogey. Going back over my scorecard I realize  I only posted one par in that round. Time to pay more attention to my game. But I can't leave this installment without a picture of the wildlife, so here comes the marmot!