Vancouver Open/ Furry Creek

[RoverRick]

Furry Creek Golf and Country Club: Is getting there is half the fun?

 

 

The first stop on the MGS Vancouver Open Tour was the Furry Creek Golf and Country Club. You have all heard the expression that getting there is half the fun. I would not go quite that far, it was no where near half the fun, but it does deserve to have some time and ink donated to it. This was a spectacular drive, judging by the pictures. I did not we most of it. You see there were two vehicles. The ManBearPig clan was riding with Barbajo in a Jeep something or other, and Best Grips and I were following in a Kia Sorento.

 

Barbajo was evidently a graduate of the Greater Boston Auto Theft and Getaway Car Drivers School. After a 20 minute “5 minute” detour by the MBP Office Cave in downtown Vancouver so he could pick up a just delivered wedge, we began a 30 or 40 mile journey, more like a high speed chase, up the “Sea to Sky Highway”. I did not get to enjoy all of the views but Best Grips had a camera in both hands and was snapping away.

 

I could fill this whole thread with some amazing views and not even cover the golf course. Needless, to say when they came up with the saying, getting there is half the fun, Furry Creek may have been where they were headed. I could only load 10 pictures so I left the ones of the drive completely off, but the Sea to Sky Highway, Howe Sounds and the islands are simply stunning. I did have a pretty nice handling rental car so I had a great time on the drive.

 

Like the NASCAR Cup Series, which starts every season with the Dayton 500, the biggest race of the year, the MGS Vancouver Open, came out of the gate with its most intimidating first tee shot of tour.

 

This is only requires an iron off the tee, as there is a 90 foot drop to add distance to your shot, but left and right and short are equally bad.

 

The view back to number 1 from the second tee box.

 

No matter where I turned I was faced with a breathtaking view, except Barbajo bent over teeing up the ball, but this course is a beautiful as they come.

 

Number 8 tee shot. Difficult pin placement with the right to left wind.

Short par 3 that I thought would be a hole in one, but left 3 feet for a birdie.

Believe it or not there was a fairway down there. Sadly, we all left it pretty much untouched, but we did find the rough.

 

And just when you become complacent about the mountains they take you out into the Howe Sounds and you get to see the islands.

 

Number 14.

 

This course is a bit of a different course. Because it was literally carved out of the mountain, the traditional par 4 is far and few between. There are many par 5's and par 3's. There are some short ones and long ones and 90 feet down and 40 feet up and it is a shot maker's golf course. The carts are equipped with GPS and as far as I am concerned everything about this was first class. It is sort of random as far as the flow from hole to hole because of the terrain but this is a minor inconvenience. Take lots of balls, and enjoy the view, and do not worry about the final score because unless you are used to dealing with those types of elevation changes, you will not have the desired results. Still it was worth it for the views and fun.

 

And what goes down must come back up. The first tee plays 90 feet down hill, while this hole, the 18th, plays 45 or 50 feet uphill from the fairway. From this view you can not see much of the bunker, but from the bunker you can see nothing but sand and sky.

 

Conclusions and recommendations.

 

If I ever return to Vancouver, I will have a tee time at this course, maybe more than one. I could certainly be talked into spending several days playing this course because it is the one that you want to beat. You just know that if you would have been in a better position with the previous shot it would have been an easy hole. The problem is the first time you play it you do not know that.

 

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=QnJQ9U9pW9Q

 

 

 

I will also add, that if you are a Happy Gilmore fan, than this was the course where they filmed that movie. I meant to reenact this scene with Barbajo when we got to the 10^th hole but it slipped my mind.

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Gotta agree with Rick on this course -- although I really didn't want to go all Bob Barker on his a**!

 

Furry Creek is a course that grows on you -- my first reaction was WOW! It's really a breathtaking place - with or without a golf course. Upon leaving Vancouver, however, I felt it was my least favorite of the courses we played. My feeling at the time was that some of the holes were quirky just for the sake of being quirky, and if it weren't for the mountains they'd just be silly.

 

But the more I think about it, it's one of those courses you need to play a few times to really get the feel of it and to find the best way around. The ravines show up in the strangest of places, and driver is only really needed on a handful of holes.

 

Oh, and bring your Grade-A short game. The greens are, overall, relatively small and well defended.

 

And, as Rick said, bring a lot of balls. And if you're in the chase care behind me, try to keep up....

[Aotearoa_Brad]

wow - completely beautiful! Great write-up Rick - looks like it was challenging for everyone, and left you wanting more - and I'd say that's a good recipe for a course.

[The Dansome]

I agree, it's a course I will need to revisit some time and really put more thought into shot placements

[Neova2]

I was glad I had my Range Finder with slope calculation when i played this course but was not as fortunate with the nice weather you guys had...

 

As with all mountain courses, you need to bring the clubs you are most comfortable hitting STRAIGHT with, not the ones you wish would hit straight... I used mostly 3wood and hybrid off the tees and only once used the driver so this course is about accuracy not distance.

 

The course is short so I played from the Gold tees and later on in the round I sorta regretted the decision as it wasn't about length but the longer tees had a lot more blind teed shots than the shorter ones...

 

If you have trouble hitting off sidehill lies, this course is will give you a workout as I don't recall a single flat fairway on any of the holes on the front 9 as it was played on the mountain.. the back 9 where it was played along the shore was a lot easier (in terms of elevation change) but the wind and water comes into play. You could say the front and back 9's are like playing two different courses.

 

 

I will also add, that if you are a Happy Gilmore fan, than this was the course where they filmed that movie.

 

part of the movie was filmed here at Furry Creek, the other part (the clubhouse and parking lot scenes) were filmed at my former golf club at Swan-e-Set Bay in Pitt Meadows... remember the scene where the utility tower fell over after the crazy guy drove a car through it and landed on Happy's putting line? that scene was at Swan-e-set - at the time I was wondering why the heck did we have a huge utility tower in the members' parking lot, and it turned out they were filming that day...

[RoverRick]

Neova2 welcome and thanks for adding your insight.

[GolfSpy WD]

Hey RR,

 

What can you say about the layout and conditions of the greens/fairways? Also, were there any holes that really stuck out to you either in a good or bad way (other than #1).

 

This is kind of a blanket statement for all your reviews. I enjoyed all of them, but I'm curious for more .

[RoverRick]

Hey RR,

 

What can you say about the layout and conditions of the greens/fairways? Also, were there any holes that really stuck out to you either in a good or bad way (other than #1).

 

This is kind of a blanket statement for all your reviews. I enjoyed all of them, but I'm curious for more .

 

Well, I did not want to become too boring with the details, but at Furry Creek, it is easier to list the boring holes. 15, 16, 17 were holes that can be found anywhere. It is the other 15 holes that make it worth the trip.

 

Furry Creek has a local rule that if you go into one of the many ravines that you have to cross you get to drop on the other side. This means instead of laying up and hitting your second from short of the ravine, you go for it and if you land in the ravine, big deal, drive to the other side and drop and hit 3 from there. I pointed that out to MBP and Barbajo on the 11 hole. This is a 485 yard par 5. The problem with this hole is that the last 94 yards is a ravine and the green is 40 feet above the fairway. They both had great drives and were debating about going for it. This particular hole, I found out later, Best Grips had to lay up with a 50 yard wedge shot because he did want to lose one in the ravine. Not sure if he knew of the rule, but he was in the other group. I told our group that they should go for it because they may get lucky, and be on the green in two. If not they would be dropping by the green and hitting 4. Of course everyone wanted to know if they could reach the green. Sadly the answer seemed to be no. One of them did hit it pin high but it was lost in the woods to the left of the green. This green was also severely sloped. From the drop zone, MBP hit a great chip but was short, Barbajo hit one the same line but hard enough to get to the hole. It almost stopped, but trickled past the hole, and then down the slope and went all the way to the bottom of the green some 35 feet away and at least 10 feet down on the other level of the green. Super Tuna and I were both very short of the flag because we did not want to join him. Barbajo hit the next putt, looked like about a waist high swing that came within a foot of the hole, stopped and came right back to him. He was not pleased but I have to admit is was pretty funny standing on the hill looking down at him.

 

Number 10 was my favorite, but only because it was a short par 3 that I had a 2 foot putt for birdie. Number 14 jutted out into the Howe Sounds (the name of that piece of ocean). And number 4 we had the miracle ball of MBP. He never saw his second shot, so hit a provisional, and duffed it, twice. When we got to the green, I stepped out of the cart and his original was down by my foot. So instead of chipping for a 7 he was chipping for 3 and made a birdie instead of a quadruple at best. Yes, I know these are more about the game than the course but when you only play a course once, you, or at least I, remember how it was played more than anything.

 

There were significant elevation changes on most of the holes, except 14-17. They were both up hill and down hill and even side hill. Significant portions of the greens were blocked by trees on a few holes. On number 8, you could see the wind blowing right to left, but the pin was so far right that the mountain kept you from using the wind and hitting a draw you had to hit a fade or a cut back into it.

 

But there were so many unique holes, and that is the beauty of this course.

[The Dansome]

 

MBP hit a great chip but was short,

 

And number 4 we had the miracle ball of MBP. He never saw his second shot, so hit a provisional, and duffed it, twice. When we got to the green I stepped out of the cart and his original was down by my foot. So instead of chipping for a 7 he was chipping for 3 and made a birdie instead of a quadruple at best.

 

first off that chip ended up a foot and a half short from 60 feet with 5-6 break, tap in par. Lol

 

On the par 5 4th my third shot went in the corner, I played a provisional and knocked 5 over the back and would have been chipping 6. Fortunately you stumbled upon my original and I chipped up & made par.

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

first off that chip ended up a foot and a half short from 60 feet with 5-6 break, tap in par. Lol

 

On the par 5 4th my third shot went in the corner, I played a provisional and knocked 5 over the back and would have been chipping 6. Fortunately you stumbled upon my original and I chipped up & made par.

 

As I recall you didn't declare your intent to hit a provisional

 

11 was a nightmare of a hole -- it was how to turn a great drive into a triple bogey in two easy lessons. I think my second putt was longer than my first!

 

12 and 13 were my favorite holes, I think -- mostly because I went par-birdie.

[RoverRick]

As I recall you didn't declare your intent to hit a provisional

 

I recall pointing this fact out to him, and he became belligerent about it and made some suggestions that were not only physically impossible, but hurtful to my shy and sensitive personality.

[The Dansome]

Bunch of comedians in here

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

I recall pointing this fact out to him, and he became belligerent about it and made some suggestions that were not only physically impossible, but hurtful to my shy and sensitive personality.

 

Vulnerable. You forgot to mention vulnerable...