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Once a year it's fun to pack a suitcase, throw clubs into a travel cover and hop on an airplane for a little golf adventure. There's nothing quite like boarding a plane in the morning in Toronto and knowing later that day you'll be teeing it up on one of Canada's premier courses. Being able to fly directly into Kelowna's small airport in four hours and hopping on a shuttle for a scenic 20-minute drive to Predator Ridge Golf Resort Community doesn't get any easier than that.

Simply put, Predator Ridge has it all - like one-stop shopping at Sherway Gardens or the Eaton's Center. This world-class facility includes 27 holes of golf designed by Western golf course architect Les Furber, a comfortable clubhouse with terrace restaurant, the choice of lodge and cottage accommodations, a fitness center, three pools, family activity center, walking trails and spa.

When Predator Ridge first opened in 1991 it was the Okanagan's only destination golf resort and it has certainly been the benchmark for others to follow. It's about to get a major facelift as Toronto-based golf course architect Doug Carrick has been hired to renovate nine existing holes and add nine more making Predator Ridge a 36-hole facility.

We teed it up for 18 holes on Sunday afternoon, had a few drinks and dinner before spending the night at the lodge, which is a quick 30-second walk from the clubhouse. Then we were back on the course for 27 holes on Monday morning before heading off to the award-winning Grey Monk Estate Winery for wine tasting and dinner at the on-site Grapevine Restaurant.

Predator Ridge

Okanagan GC - Bear Course

Okanagan GC - Quail Course

The Rise

The Okanagan Valley is one of the warmest and sunniest regions of Canada, so playing golf or any outdoor activity is usually played under bright sunny skies! On the Tuesday, we enjoyed a marathon at the Okanagan GC playing the Quail Course first and then the Bear Course.

The Quail is another Furber design that's fun to play as it winds its way through a hill parkland layout that's defined by tall pines, rolling fairways and somewhat less severe greens than Predator Ridge. The Bear Course is the only Jack Nicklaus design in the area and well worth a stop. This routing climbs through forested hills on to a plateau overlooking the valley and airport. There are lots of elevated tees here and plenty of room to keep it in play on the wide fairways, so just find the right set of tees to play and you'll have a memorable round – we did!

The next day we packed up our bags and headed into downtown Kelowna to stay at Manteo Resort. About 10 minutes away from this family-oriented resort golfers will find another of the Okanagan's exquisite golf courses. Furber and Bill Robinson take credit for designing the semi-private Gallagher's Canyon G&CC, which opened back in 1980. Not surprisingly, it's named for a huge canyon that you'll find adjacent to a stretch of holes from No. 7-9.

On the day we were there several black bears were feasting on the salmon run in the distance well below us . . . now that's wild! The course starts somewhat curiously with the most difficult hole on the course, a nasty 416-yard par-4, but when you can tee it up from a grass tee deck on the roof of the clubhouse, I can forgive the architects. It's too bad we arrived too late for a warm-up, but when you have golfed three days in a row how many excuses do you really need.

The layout is also a little unusual in that you play a string of par-5s on No. 10, 11 and 13, with a par-4 stuck in the middle to break it up. Looking back if I had to choose one course to play again it would be Gallagher's, because it has a great variety of memorable golf holes that I can still play back in my mind from one to 18.

We finished the tour with a final round at Harvest GC designed by Canadian architect Graham Cooke. If you can't figure out why they call it Harvest GC, you're obviously missing out on the vineyards and pear, peach, cherry and apple orchards that surround the property. Rows of apple trees, nine varieties to be exact, come into play on several holes. It was a refreshing treat to find Harvest's very own grapes and an apple on my golf cart before the round. I picked up the fruit, through my golf bag over my shoulder, as we were good to go on the easiest of the courses to walk that we played.

It was easily the best-manicured course we played, but lacked a little bit in visual appeal from the other courses. There's also sensational fine dining to be enjoyed back at the clubhouse with an excellent selection of wine. I like to think that we have great vineyards in Ontario's Niagara Peninsula, but after visiting several in the Kelowna area I can tell you we're missing out.

On the last day of the holiday, I decided it was time to take a road trip to explore two courses that opened this spring. From what I saw, the Okanagan Valley is well on its way to becoming a world-class golf destination. After spending a couple of hours touring The Rise in nearby Vernon, it's easy to see why this Fred Couple signature golf course will quickly become No. 1 in the area. The views are breathtaking and the course is dramatic at every turn. The second course that just opened is The Club at Tower Ranch, a Tom McBroom design that is part of a new Intrawest golf community on the outskirts of Kelowna.

For more information check out...
www.predatorridge.com
www.gallagherscanyon.com
www.therise.ca
www.harvestgolf.com
www.spectaculargolf.com
www.golftowerranch.com

Brent Long is a contributing writer to The Traveling Golfer and owner of Longshot Communications. He can be reached at brentlong@cogeco.ca