Last October, we made our way onto the Vancouver Island Golf Trail for the first time. In that visit, we explored the Northern region of the trail, playing three of the four golf courses in the Courtenay and Campbell River area. These included Crown Isle Golf Course, Storey Creek Golf Course and the new Campbell River Golf & Country Club. Aside from golf, we were also able to experience the world renowned fishing in the region, which included snorkeling with the salmon!
After visiting Kamloops earlier in the summer, another region of beautiful British Columbia, we returned to Vancouver Island in mid-September. This time around, we traveled to the Parksville and Qualicum Beach area, where we checked off three more of the Vancouver Island golf courses off of our list! These golf courses are Fairwinds Golf Club, Pheasant Glen Golf Resort and Eaglecrest Golf Club. And as with all our trips, we had the opportunity to explore all the other things that the region has to offer on top of its golf courses.
Day 1
Highlights:
Spanning 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the North to the South, there are four regions and thirteen Vancouver Island golf courses on the golf trail. The Parksville and Qualicum Beach area is located in the Central region. To get started on our trip, we flew from Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to Nanaimo Airport (YCD), which is approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from our first destination, Fairwinds Golf Club. Alternatively, you may travel to Nanaimo via BC Ferries from the Vancouver area.
Fairwinds Golf Club is part of a residential community that includes a Wellness Club and a full-service marina. The oceanfront community is also continuously expanding. With “an established and active community of over 700 existing homes,” there are plans for expansion as the Westerly, a building with 39 one- and two-bedroom homes, will be ready for occupancy in Spring 2020. Timber Ridge, a 35-unit townhome development, is also in the works along with Fairview Landing, a 40,000 square foot community hub that’s adjacent to the marina and will consist of residential rental units and commercial space.
Fairwinds Golf Club was designed by Les Furber, one of Western Canada’s leading golf course architect. From the tips, the course only plays 6,181 yards however, it would not be wise to underestimate the host of the 2019 BC Junior Boys & Girls Championships just because of its length. For our round, we played from the White tees, which plays to 5,699 yards. As Fairwinds’ Golf Operations Manager Ryner Wilson said, it will be the longest 5,700 yards you’ll ever play and he was right!
The first hole is only 287 yards from the White tees and it appeared to be quite narrow. A slight dogleg left takes driver out of your hands as playing for position would be the smart play. As we found out, this would be a reoccurring theme at Fairwinds. With towering fir and arbutus trees lining the fairways and hidden nuances on the greens, Fairwinds is certainly a “target-style” golf course.
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If you’re hitting fairways and your wedge game is on, a low score is certainly a strong possibility. Being aggressive may also lead to a low score but if your game is off that day, trying to overpower Fairwinds may not be the best strategy. The temptation to overpower the course will be there though and that’s what golf is all about, risk and reward! Fairwinds epitomizes this perfectly and we can’t wait to return to take another crack at the golf course.
After our round at Fairwinds, we drove North for fifteen minutes to Tigh-Na-Mara Spa Resort, where we would stay for the next few days on Vancouver Island. The “rustic charm” of the resort was apparent right when we arrived on the property and when we checked into our Oceanview Gabriola Studio, the view absolutely blew us away (sunrise view from our room pictured above)! We ended our night with a meal at Cedar Restaurant and Lounge, where our Angus beef steak was perfectly cooked in the Montague Broiler (reaching temperatures in excess of 1800 degrees).
Day 2
Highlights:
On our second day of the trip, GM and Director of Golf, Gord Melissa, welcomed us to Pheasant Glen Golf Resort in Qualicum Beach. Pheasant Glen has hosted multiple Provincial and National Championship golf tournaments and next year, it will add to the list and host the 2020 Canadian Men’s Senior Championship. The slogan of the golf course is “Nature’s Golf Course,” and it’s easy to see why as the front nine (Glen Nine) “winds through high grass, meadows, and creeks” and the back nine (Pines Nine) “zigzags through a heavy stretch of Douglas fir.”
From Pheasant Glen’s website, it states that its greens have a “well-earned reputation as fast and smooth.” Even though it was quite dewy on the morning of our round, that held up to be true as the greens were rolling so pure. The golf course eases you into the round as the opening holes appear to be wide open with the absence of trees. However, wayward shots can find hazards rather quickly if you’re not careful. The Pines Nine looks more narrow, with towering trees in the background. A few doglegs also gives the perception that there’s less space to hit your tee shots than there actually is. A funny quirk at Pheasant Glen is that there are three par 3s in a stretch of five holes from hole 11 to 15. This is offset by three par 5s in the Pines Nine, which certainly gives more opportunity for scoring.
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Although Pheasant Glen is a resort, there are limited accommodations on site at the moment. Construction will start on two 24-unit buildings this winter but currently, there are sleeping barrels created by One of a Kind Creative Woodcrafting, that will be available for rent next Spring. This will certainly provide golfers with a different experience and you’re literally steps away from the golf course!
After we spent the morning tackling Pheasant Glen, we traveled 30 kilometers away to Horne Lake Caves Provincial Park. It is here where we joined the Riverbend Cave Explorer guided tour. It is the easiest and most popular tour as it does not involve any crawling or vertical climbing and we must agree, it was an ideal introduction to cave exploring. The tour consists of approximately 45 minutes of trail time and an hour and 15 minutes of cave time. The passion from our guide, Myles, really shone through as he educated our group of the “amazing crystal formations and ancient fossils while learning about the history and geology of the cave.” We were also very impressed with Myles’ emphasis on preserving the caves and having a low-impact philosophy on the tour.
At the end of our cave exploring experience, we returned to our accommodations at Tigh-Na-Mara where we would once again visit Cedar Restaurant for dinner. This time, we decided to try the restaurant’s 12″ rustic pizza, cooked out of their new 6,000 pound Wood-Stone oven! The pizzas have proven to be very popular among guests and the newly installed oven is a huge reason why. With recent renovations, guests to the restaurant will be drawn to the semi-open kitchen, which has the oven front and centre. It is a strong persuasion for diners to try the rustic pizza and we’re sure that they won’t be disappointed!
Day 3
Highlights:
The start of our third day in the Parksville and Qualicum Beach area saw us continue our eating fest. Our first stop was Bread & Honey Food Company. Its menu “features local, sustainable and seasonal Pacific Northwest ingredients.” For our breakfast, we had freshly made pastries to start and they were so good, we have got to say that they were definitely comparable, if not better, than some high end restaurants in Downtown Vancouver! Our smoked salmon egg benedict was also delicious and it was perfectly paired with some of the best hash browns we’ve ever had. It is no wonder that Bread & Honey Food Company was voted one of Yelp’s Top 100 places to eat in Canada in 2017. In fact, its ranking was number one in Parksville, number three in British Columbia and an impressive number ten in all of Canada!
With a full and satisfied stomach, we made our way towards Eaglecrest Golf Club, where we would play our final round of the trip. Eaglecrest is semi-private and one of Vancouver Island’s oldest golf course. The history of the property is quite interesting, with Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh having paid a visit in 1951. It wasn’t until 1971 that Eaglecrest first established a nine-hole golf course. In 1990, the golf course expanded to eighteen holes and at that time, it was the only 18-hole golf course in the area.
Given Eaglecrest’s history, it is not surprising that our first impression of the golf course was that it was a classic design. The fairways were lined with towering evergreen trees and the greens were very small, demanding precise ball-striking. Due to the nineteen year gap in which the golf course expanded from nine to eighteen holes, Eaglecrest does not have a traditional “cookie-cutter” routing. After the front nine, you are actually at one of the farthest point from the clubhouse. Despite the interesting routing, there was a good flow between the varying links-styled and tree-lined golf holes. Eaglecrest may not be one of the more well-known golf courses on the Vancouver Island Golf trail but it definitely shouldn’t be overlooked.
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With the conclusion of our golf experience on this trip, it was time to kick back and relax. We first dropped by Coombs for lunch, a small community that’s famous for the Old Country Market and its goats on the roof! We then returned to our accommodations and of course, it wouldn’t be an experience at Tigh-Na-Mara if we didn’t visit the famous Grotta Spa. The Grotta Spa at Tigh-Na-Mara was voted the number 1 spa in Canada and the number 5 spa in the Americas in 2018. The Grotto Spa offers many signature treatments and services but the highlight is its mineral pool. The 2,500 square foot mineral pool was “designed to emulate a natural stone grotto”. It is “infused with natural minerals and trace elements which detoxify the body and rejuvenate the spirit.”
Once our bodies were recharged and rejuvenated, we headed out to explore the craft breweries scene in Parksville and Qualicum Beach. Our first stop was Love Shack Libations, a nano-brewery founded by beer enthusiast Dave Paul. The atmosphere and vibe of Love Shack Libations is one of a kind. Upon arrival, Dave welcomed us to his packed brewery like we were regulars. Despite essentially being a one-man show, Dave managed to serve everyone while entertaining us with stories of his brewery’s origin. Dave wasn’t merely serving his customers but hosting his guests. It is not a surprise to find that Love Shack Libations was only opened twice a week for four hours due to Dave’s challenge to keep up with demand. If you’re in the area, be sure to drop by and experience one of the most unique vibe you’ll find in a brewery.
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Our next stop took us to Mount Arrowsmith Brewing Company, a “family-run collaboration of passionate beer enthusiasts who deemed the communities of Parksville and Qualicum Beach were in dire need of great locally made craft beer.” And indeed, a great locally made craft beer was produced, validated by its Blond Ale being named the world’s best golden ale at the World Beer Awards. Mount Arrowsmith offers a 20-seat tasting room in a centralized location in Parksville, where tasting flights, growler fills, bottle sales and tours through their facility are available. Sharing plates may also be ordered with your beer and we highly recommend the house made mini donuts because as Mount Arrowsmith says, beer and donuts belong together!
Closing Thoughts
The Parksville and Qualicum Beach region of the Vancouver Island Golf Region was a wonderful experience. Although the three golf courses of Fairwinds, Pheasant Glen and Eaglecrest may not be as well known as other courses on the trail, there is no falloff in terms of the quality of golf. In fact, this collection of three golf courses may possibly be the most underrated on the entire trail and surely deserves more recognition.
In contrast to the Northern part of the Vancouver Island Golf Trail, where a Fins and Skins trip may be more suitable for a buddies’ trip, the central region caters more towards a family vacation or a couples-retreat. The facilities at Tigh-Na-Mara are world-class and the culinary experiences at both the resort and around Parksville and Qualicum Beach are topnotch! Cave exploring, a visit to the small community of Coombs and a brewery tour are all activities that offer a more relaxing pace to the trip. To find out what playing on Island Time is all about in the Parksville and Qualicum Beach region, visit Golf Vancouver Island to plan your own trip and don’t hesitate to drop us a line if you have any questions!
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Source: Golf Vancouver Island
