Vancouver Open/ Pagoda Ridge

[RoverRick]

Pagoda Ridge Golf Club

 

 

This was the second stop on the MyGolfSpy Tour, Vancouver Open 2013. I was excited to be going here. MBP could not have chosen a more different course on the second day than we had on the first. I studied all of the courses before going on this trip and was most excited about Furry Creek and thought this would be my second favorite.

 

Where Furry Creek was short, mountainous, huge elevation changes, very little rough and a missed fairway was often a lost ball in the hazard or unplayable at best, with first class facilities. Pagoda Ridge turned out to be the opposite. It was fairly flat, wide generous fairways and greens, plenty of rough to find your ball in, and it still be playable. This course had been open for two years. Wide open design and the course itself was in excellent shape. I was certain that I was going to play one of the best rounds of my life here.

 

Upon arrival, we drove through the gates guarded by Budda and Gandalf. Gandalf? WTH? Why did they have Gandalf? This baffled me and I even asked about it and the MBP's had no clue either. As I was driving at the time I just glanced at it, but our photographer, Mrs. MBP did go back and take pictures at my request. It was not until I down loaded them to write this up that a closer review of the picture shows it not to be Gandalf but a old Chinese man. I have tried to find out what this symbol means and at first I thought it was Xin Gong offering up a peach, the symbol for longevity but not quite. Maybe it is just an old Chinese man offering up a golf ball. But, at any rate it was a nice touch at the gate.

 

There are actually a couple of pagodas at Pagoda Ridge, as well as a Chinese Junk, and then a section of the Great Wall of China. I had no idea that it reached all the way to Canada, however, the Great Wall was to protect the civilized people in the south from the barbarians in the north, and this really is within 20 miles of the modern US / Canadian border so, ya never know.

 

The back of the junk actually is the pit stop when making the turn. It is pretty neat. And, I must say that they had good quality hot dogs. They should since they charge $5 for it but it was a Nathan's Hot Dog and at least tasted good. A beer and a hot dog will set you back a bit over $10 but that is no surprise.

 

As I said the course itself, had all the makings of great course and was in excellent shape.

 

The scenery, while not as stunning as the day before at Furry was still really nice.

 

However, there were some problems. First, like Furry, and the Cove Links, it had no driving range to practice on. So the first contact you make with the ball starts the count. I have discovered that I do not like this at all. So if it takes 3 holes for me to get into the flow of things and by then I am way behind in terms of scoring. This is not a big deal at my home course, but at a new course it is devastating to the score. Also, this course is two years old. While talking with the starter I noticed that my GPS Watch did not register my location. He explained that the course was just two years old and that to his knowledge, no GPS mapping of the course had been done. I found this to be a lame excuse in that I contacted Bushnell, and iGolf, the day I got my Bushnell Neo X watch and told them the course needed updating, and with in 17 days they had the problem fixed. Come on, there are still bulldozers and dump trucks and the grass is not even replanted at my course and it has current GPS of the greens and these people cannot get it done in two years.

 

(Edit: I have just been informed that they starter was wrong. The course has only been opened 10 months not 2 years. He was probably talking about when they started working on it, not actually open for play. This does not give me a warm and fuzzy though. The course was in great shape, but not any better than any other course we went to. BestGrips and I went to a course not listed, and it was where we were supposed to play but could not because of a tournament and it was also great. So with many many great course to chose from, it does not take much to move to the back of the pack in my opinion.)

 

Even more unforgiving is that they are aware of the no GPS problem, and do they have yardage markers in the fairway? No. They have a 150 pole, and that is it. There are no other markers that I could find, and I looked. So I was having to guess all day about the yardages, and honestly did a pretty poor job of it. At Furry, the day before, I did not have my best swing, and the elevation changes on top of that were something that I am not accustomed to, but on this day, I had my best swing of the week. I hit a number of great shots that were 5 to 10 yards off because of having to guess my yardage which translated into more strokes than I thought I should have had. I felt had I made the same swings with the proper club, knowing the proper distance, I could have easily been 7 or 8 strokes less.

 

Also, as good as the pagodas and junks and Great Wall look in the photos, they were cheap imitations up close. The pro shop and restaurant were not in the Pagoda but in temporary looking buildings. The Great Wall turned into the "So-So Wall" or the "Just Alright Wall" when up close. Of course by then I was already so pissed off about the lack of yardage markers I was probably hard to please anyway. All the others carry laser range finders so they may not have the same complaint as I did, but since I am not used to that even when given the yardage I am a bit out of my comfort zone.

 

Conclusions and Recommendations.

 

What looked like it would be a very interesting golf course with a different twist on paper, turned out to be a decent golf course but was substandard in terms of facilities in my opinion. With the exception of the yardage markers, the course was very nice. But would I go back? No. Unlike Furry where I will go back every chance I get, I have now been to this course and do not need to go back. Furry Creek left me with the desire to return and kick its ass, the desire to extract my vengeance on the course, it took advantage of my naivety. Pagoda Ridge left me with the desire to go some place closer to the apartment and have a beer. Vancouver has a lot of really nice golf courses and I do not want to waste my money on somewhere that they can not even coordinate with the Golf GPS companies.

[The Dansome]

I Pagoda's defense they do have the warm up cages.

 

Nice write up

[RoverRick]

Judging by the personal chats I have received, there is a significant number of people who think I am being too harsh on Pagoda. One person even asked what I did before there was GPS. Well, I spent almost $100 to play this course because I did not want to walk it. When I spend that type of change for a round of golf the little things like no GPS are a big deal to me. The course itself is a nice course but did I enjoy it more than the others? No.

[Neova2]

i'm originally from the Vancouver area and go back once or twice each year to visit family and friends.

 

I usually play furry creek or mayfair lakes and came across pagoda Ridge while looking for somewhere new to play.

 

My initial thought when looking at their website was that it was kinda cool (where the "great wall of china" acted as cart path that you could drive down to the fairway from), but then looking at other photos (and now your review) it's a bit gimmicky to downright tacky...

 

When i looked at their green fees and i could play better courses around Surrey for less, so looks like I won't be playing this course anytime soon...

[RoverRick]

i'm originally from the Vancouver area and go back once or twice each year to visit family and friends.

 

I usually play furry creek or mayfair lakes and came across pagoda Ridge while looking for somewhere new to play.

 

My initial thought when looking at their website was that it was kinda cool (where the "great wall of china" acted as cart path that you could drive down to the fairway from), but then looking at other photos (and now your review) it's a bit gimmicky to downright tacky...

 

When i looked at their green fees and i could play better courses around Surrey for less, so looks like I won't be playing this course anytime soon...

 

I received a lot of grief for having that opinion. I have also been told that there were yardage markers on the sprinkler heads at least some of them. However, everyone is entitled to post their opinion, and like you did on Furry, hopefully will.

[limoric]

Can't believe I didn't come across this thread earlier. I live in the Vancouver Lower Mainland, actually, Furry Creek is my home course, I live only 20 minutes from it.

 

I agree that Pagoda is a little gimmicky with all the Chinese architecture, but the course is no joke and to many, they find the Chinese theme pretty cool. Too bad you played it in the first year it was open. Many people don't know they opened a little early, without practice green or pitching green or any outbuildings in order to recoup some costs (at least that's my understanding). This course has 1 foot of sand under the fairways. I've played it all winter and the ball rolls out almost as far as summer. Since you've played it, the greens have matured and they're able to get them rock hard for mini tour tournaments. I played it last week in a tourney and noticed lots of yardage markers on sprinkler heads all through the course, I carry a laser so not need. A very detailed yardage book has been available from day one that shows several yardages and green undulation for every hole (I've never seen anything that detailed at other course). It plays 7,000 yards from the tips at sea level in the PNW, so it's not short by any stretch of the imagination, actually it's quite long considering the boys averaged 270 off the tee when the RBC Can Open was last played in Vancouver. Yes the fairways are big, but there are bunkers and water hazards strategically placed. The 11th par 5 is a good example, because I knew the risks, I played 4 wood off the tee about 240 yards. My 3 playing partners hit driver for which 2 of them hit the not so obvious water hazard that lines the left fairway about 250 through 275 yards out. If you don't hit a fade off 7 tee box, you run through the fairway into the woods; 3 wood is no bargain off this tree in the wind which could have you still 200 plus yards out (again into the wind). This course will host many major amateur and pro events down the road and is a regular stop on the Vancouver Golf Tour. I bet Nick Taylor (local boy and recent PGA Tour winner) would share my views.

 

Never say never...you should play the course again if you get a chance. The yardage book and sprinkler heads is all you need (if you don't have laser). I'm surprised you didn't see the future potential of this course. When I played it a few months after it opened, I wasn't impressed with the condition, but the future potential of the course was obvious...

[RoverRick]

Can't believe I didn't come across this thread earlier. I live in the Vancouver Lower Mainland, actually, Furry Creek is my home course, I live only 20 minutes from it.

 

I agree that Pagoda is a little gimmicky with all the Chinese architecture, but the course is no joke and to many, they find the Chinese theme pretty cool. Too bad you played it in the first year it was open.

 

Limoric,

 

Thanks for adding to this. Furry Creek was by far my favorite course. And of all the courses we played in the area, this one, which should have been one of the more memorable, sadly is the most forgettable. As you pointed out, this was a brand new course when I played it and it may have improved greatly since then.

 

The worst part about this course was the $135 toll charge my rental car company charged me about 3 months after I got back to the US.  Apparently, it is not a good idea to drive a rental from the US to Canada and cross some toll bridge somewhere along the way. I had no idea at the time, but after 6 months of negotiations I was able to get $100 back from the rental agency.