While I very much enjoyed staying at the Inn at Laurel Point during our recent weekend stay in Victoria, I was very disappointed with a golf experience at Bear Mountain. If you are not familiar with Bear Mountain is is a master planned community with a checkered financial past. But in recent years, a lot of development has occurred and the community is taking shape.
I stayed at the Westin Hotel a few years ago and enjoyed the golf experience that was associated with the hotel. However, it seems that another receivership has impacted the golf course facility and it is no longer associated with the Westin Hotel. The new owner took over in April.
Our poor experience started when we couldn't even find the proshop. Eventually we found it tucked into the corner of a recreation centre. I assumed this was a very temporary arrangement but I was told it has been like this for a couple of years. I couldn't believe it, especially since the regular green fees are in the order of $265 (including cart), unless you are a Vancouver Island resident (or have a reciprocal arrangement) when they are reduced.
After the disappointment of not finding the proshop, our next disappointment was that there was no where to buy something to eat. But we were told there would be a beer cart out on the course where we could purchase some lunch. (in fact, when it did arrive it didn't have any sandwiches!)
As we were about to tee off we were confronted by a sign that said 'golf paths only' which meant these two old men would have to walk up and down the steep terrain. It was nuts, since the course was bone dry.(The starter explained the owner didn't want to allow carts on the fairway until later in the month.)
While the course was dry, it was too dry. The tee boxes looked awful and while the layout is dramatic, the overall experience wasn't very good.
While I may go back later in the summer to see if the new ownership makes a difference, it may take a while before the wonderful experience I enjoyed in the past will be repeated.
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| Don't be fooled by the website. This is no longer an Ecoasis Resort. There isn't a fancy proshop, at least I couldn't find it. |
If you want to play golf in Victoria, there are many better choices. If the situation improves later in the summer, I'll let you know.
1 comment:
I’m from Saskatoon and just got back from golfing Bear Mountain valley course yesterday and the mountain course the day before. Because I went with a member I paid $149 on Sunday and $139 on Monday. I didn’t think the course was worth this amount. The sand traps are full of stones, and weeds and tall grass grows around them because lawnmower can’t reach and I guess they don’t use a weed whipper?? I agree it was hard to find what you call a clubhouse or where you pay. For those of you thinking of playing it anyway. The mountain course is the one to play. Seemed wider and maybe a little longer and lots of nice views and elevation changes. The valley course has more streams not strategically placed but mostly in areas that make it impossible to reach green so play a 100’ shot and then play a longer shot to green. Lots of boulders or large rocks in middle of fairway or surrounding the green. Also the greens are ridiculously undulated. One player putted and it didn’t look too hard but kept rolling until it rolled right off the green. On 18 I played a wedge to the center of elevated green only to see my ball rolling off about a minute later as I walked to the green. And because of all this the round will be slow as hell as groups in front of you search for their lost balls. Oh and just about forgot. The driving range for irons is off mats. You can play your driver off in front but there is very little grass. Little tuffs of uneven grass.
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