Northern BC Golf

Tom Cattermole Page 2

dawson city golf The Dawson Creek G&CC is a very traditional golf club with long beautifully rich fairways, smooth but not overly fast greens, white railings over white rocks with little creeks and streams everywhere. The beautiful clubhouse has all the facilities of home. To me the thing that makes Dawson a little odd also makes it fun. There are two very drivable par 4s. The 4th is 303 yards long, it plays down wind normally, and the 15th is only 298 yards long. Both have sand some water and enough troubles to make hitting 5 woods a smart play, but if you are a gambler just hit and enjoy. Just a 9 iron north of the Dawson Creek club is Farmington Fairways - a pleasant 9-hole course that makes for a better leg stretcher than game stretcher.

farmington fairways golf It plays to a comfortable 3229 yards long and because of the flat nature of the course it is a walker's delight. Sometimes it is nice to step to the first tee and see a wide fairway waiting your first stiff and rusty swing. Farmington's first hole is just that kind of a hole. At 357 yards long and very wide you can hit just about any club in your bag and be safe. Number 5 was my favorite hole here. It is a 510-yard long par 5 with a bit of a blind tee shot. The hole runs a little up then down hill, sways to the left and the fairway is narrow and dotted with trees and a few small ponds. There is a pond short right of the green and slightly in from of green.

It is a hole where long hitters can get home, or at least close, to the green in two but it is a nervy golfer who can pull the trigger on a fairway wood while looking at all the danger on this hole.

I hope anyone playing golf in the Peace made a ton of birdies at Moberly or on Natural Springs because 20 minutes north of Farmington a wolf waits. The Lone Wolf Club in tiny Taylor BC is a 7100 yards beast and it is called the pride of the Peace.

farmington fairways golf It boasts one of the top five longest holes that being the par five 9th measuring out to a staggering 675 yards long. As well the IC5 Sphere (not even going to try and remember how to spell what that stands for) donated by the old natural gas plant and now used as a course logo is the world's largest golf ball. Yes the wolf looks wide and dull but the rough that covers almost the entire course is tall and sticky. There is enough sand out there to make one feel like Lawrence of Arabia and it seems they saved what little water they had to make a tough finishing four holes even tougher.

I could talk about their number 1 handicap hole (the 599 yard par 5 5th) or the 479 yard par four 7th, but let's get right to what you all want to know "How do you play a 675 yard heavily bunkered par 5?" The hole is wide open from the tee box, and dead straight. It plays a little downhill but it is smothered with heavy rough, fairway bunkers and to add insult to injury there is a water hazard on the left side of the green. The wind is always a factor ion this course and many times this brute plays into a stiff breeze. Need anything more to explain why it is a tough as nails hole?

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