Annual Osoyoos Golf Trip

The annual Osoyoos golf trip happened between May 28 to June 4 this year. We had originally planned to play 8 rounds of golf in 5 days but our last golfing day at Nk'Mip Canyon Desert Golf had to be cancelled as there was a severe thunderstorm forecasted for that day. We were still able to play 7 rounds of golf in 4 days however! Crazy? Most people will say so!

We played Fairview Mountain Golf Club and the Osoyoos Golf Club this year. We'll have to make our way over to Nk'Mip Canyon Desert Golf next time we come up.

Fairview Mountain Golf Club in Oliver BC

Fairview Mountain Golf Club

Our first round of the trip was at Fairview Mountain Golf Club in Oliver BC which is a short 20 minute drive from Osoyoos. It is a very beautiful course wil huge elevation changes. We played from the black tees but in hindsight, I think we should have played from the blues because of the high winds. Being buffeted by 20 km/h winds that gusted to 40 km/h made a challenging course even harder but we still had a blast. The bonus is that I can now say that I've hit my 9 iron a whopping 170 yrds and my driver over 310 yrds!

There are many holes where you tee off from high above the fairway and watch your ball drop, hopefully, to a safe landing zone. The greens are very challenging: they are quite fast and difficult to read. From what I gathered halfway through the round is that the breaks will go away from the mountain regardless of whether it looks like they break toward it.

Fairview Mountain Golf Club has an excellent practice/warm up facility. There is a driving range, hitting net, 2 short game areas with bunkers, and a putting area. Golf balls are all provided and free of charge. Here is a course tour of the club.

Quick Course Summary (Course Summary via Golf Canada)
Gold tees - 7025 yrds - 74.2/139 (Ratings/slope)
Black tees - 6573 yrds - 72.0/134 (Ratings/slope)
Blue tees - 6171 yrds - 70.2/129 (Ratings/slope)
White tees - 5683 yrds - 67.7/122 (Ratings/slope)

Osoyoos Golf Club

The Osoyoos Golf Club is where we spent the majority of our time at, playing 6 of the 7 rounds of golf in 3 days. This golf club has 2 full 18 hole courses: Park Meadows and Desert Gold. They have a daily double where you can play both courses on the same day and with a power cart included for the low low price of $139.

The harder of the 2 courses, in my opinion, is the Desert Course. There are a lot of elevation changes during tee shots and more hazards left and right of the holes. During the summer months, when the fescue has grown more, it becomes even harder to find your ball on errant shots as balls running off the fairway can get swallowed up. Add the threat of rattle snakes in said hazard areas, its just as easy to say "I'll drop here where it's safe". Many of the holes wind up and down the mountain side and there arent too many holes that are beside each other. Distance between holes can be quite far, hence why power carts are mandatory on this side.

Park Meadows is more of the type of golf that we're used to here in the lower mainland. There are more tree lined holes that run parallel to each other, and elevation changes are much less compared to Desert Gold. Errant tee shots arent as punishing since you'll be able to play off the other fairway but there are some blind 2nd shots so plan your misses accordingly!

I believe that Osoyoos Golf Club provides the best value golfing experience in the area. You dont have to play both courses on the same day but if you can, you should. If I only had time to play 1 round of golf, I would choose Desert Gold as it's a completely different type of course that I'm used to playing. 

Course Summary - (Course Summary via GolfCanada.ca)
Desert Gold: 
Gold tees - 6500 yrds - 71.6/140 (Rating/Slope)
Black tees - 6039 yrds - 69.4/125 (Rating/Slope)
Silver tees - 5571 yrds - 67.1/123 (Rating/Slope)
Bronze tees (Womens) - 4924 yrds - 68.7/118 (Rating/Slope)

Park Meadows:
Black tees - 6351 yrds - 70.5/122 (Rating/Slope)
Blue tees - 6200 yrds - 69.8/119 (Rating/Slope)
White tees - 5719 yrds - 67.0/110 (Rating/Slope)
Red tees (Womens) - 5259 yrds - 71.4/122 (Rating/Slope)