From sea to green in B.C.

Courtesy of Brian Kendall
The Globe and Mail

VICTORIA -- Rarely in the history of Canadian golf have so many people reaped the benefits of the opening of a single course.

Unveiled in August, 2003, Bear Mountain Golf and Country Club, a spectacular mountain design by Jack Nicklaus and his son Steve on the northwest outskirts of Victoria, has almost single-handedly turned Vancouver Island into a contender among Canadian golf destinations. So dramatic has Bear Mountain's impact been on local tourism that courses as far away as Courtenay, midway up the island's east coast, are reporting improved business as a result of the hype.

"The ripple effect has been unbelievable," says Jason Lowe, the president of Golf Vancouver Island, a marketing association of courses and tourism operators. "Rounds this spring are up as much as 30 per cent at some properties. Golfers who are drawn to the island by Bear Mountain naturally start looking around for other top courses to play during their visit."

Carved through the ridges, woods and valleys of former timberland, Bear Mountain's 405-hectare site is owned by an investment group that includes former and current NHL players Len Barrie, Mike Vernon, Joe Nieuwendyk, Rob Blake, Scott Mellanby, Rob Niedermayer and Gary Roberts. The Nicklaus course is the centrepiece of a planned community that will grow, in several phases, to include luxury homes, townhouses, condominiums, and a village complete with specialty shops and restaurants. Already open for business is the 65-room Bear Mountain Resort Hotel. Scheduled for completion next August is a mammoth 14,864-square-metre clubhouse to service not only the existing course, but an additional 18-hole layout designed by Nicklaus's firm that will open in late 2007.

Anywhere golf is played, the opening of a Nicklaus-designed course is a major event. Golf's legendary Golden Bear ranks alongside Tom Fazio and Pete Dye in the front rank of modern architects. But the launch of Bear Mountain had particular resonance in Victoria, a leading tourist destination Conde Nast Traveler magazine named the top city in the Americas in 2003. Victoria attracts approximately 3.6 million overnight visitors annually yet hadn't seen the opening of a new course in 12 years.

"A high-end golf course, especially one designed by Jack Nicklaus, helps us sell both the city and Vancouver Island's golf product," says Heather McGillivray of Tourism Victoria. "Vancouver Island has never been considered a golf destination even though this is just about the only place in Canada where you can play year-round. Bear Mountain is changing that perception."

Several of Victoria's leading hotels, including the Fairmont Empress, an ivy-covered local landmark since 1908, have jumped on the golf bandwagon by offering a variety of stay-and-play packages that include guaranteed tee times and transportation to Bear Mountain or other popular local courses such as Olympic View Golf Club and Cordova Bay Golf Course.

Another initiative was Golf Vancouver Island's 2002 launch of the Vancouver Island Golf Trail, which offers travel itineraries throughout the island. Popular stops on the trail include Fairwinds Golf Club in Nanoose Bay, Arbutus Ridge Golf and Country Club in Cobble Hill, Morningstar International Golf Course near Parksville, Crown Isle Golf Resort in Courtenay, and the recently revamped Pheasant Glen Golf Resort in Qualicum Beach.

Like Whistler, Muskoka, Prince Edward Island and other leaders of the Canadian golf industry, Golf Vancouver Island buys group advertising in golf magazines and other publications, produces brochures, and takes booths at golf shows. Naturally, Bear Mountain, the island's marquee attraction, features prominently in the campaigns of an association whose marketing budget has jumped from $40,000 to $145,000 in the past two years.

Stretching a fiendishly difficult 7,212 yards from the back tees, Bear Mountain became one of Canada's must-play courses the moment it opened. The rough-and-tumble terrain offers a thrill ride of sudden elevation changes. Gusting winds might change in direction from one shot to the next. And though invitingly wide, the wildly slanting fairways are booby-trapped with dozens of cunningly placed bunkers.

Jack and Steve Nicklaus have designed a track that can destroy the confidence of average golfers. Even low-handicappers might easily shoot in the 90s.

But also on display is the more playful side of the Golden Bear's personality. At the last moment, he decided to add a "Gambling Hole" to the routing. Not officially in play, this 19th hole is a 141-yard par three set on a rocky precipice offering an unforgettable view of Juan de Fuca Strait, with Victoria in the foreground and the snow-capped Olympic Mountains as a backdrop.

Visually stunning and endlessly challenging, Bear Mountain has sparked a golf boom throughout Vancouver Island. Scheduled to open in August of 2006 is the Cliffs Over Maple Bay, a Greg Norman-designed public course in the Cowichan Valley, about an hour's drive north of Victoria. "Together with the two Nicklaus courses at Bear Mountain, the Cliffs Over Maple Bay will give us three courses by internationally famous architects," says Jason Lowe of Golf Vancouver Island. "Almost overnight, we'll have gone from Canada's forgotten golf destination to one of its hottest."