Talking Rock - Kamloops/Chase BC Green Fee Special

[bb123]

Just got an email from Talking Rock Golf course about this $55 green fee special (with cart) for use of all 2020 except July and August. This course is awesome, but is just kind of in the middle of nowhere. But a 30-40 min drive from Kamloops or Salmon Arm BC. Deal expires Dec 24.https://talkingrock.golfems2.com/event/talking-rock-green-fee-special

[tips09]

Solid deal. Went out that way last summer and that was a solid course on our itinerary

[Shushwap]

 They have it again this year for 60

[mikedejong33]

Along these lines: do any of the locals to this area know when courses typically open? I got an email from Tobiano that they are hoping for April 1, 2021. Is this a pretty reasonable time for courses in that area to open? If Tobiano, Talking Rock, Salmon Arm, etc. are open I may plan a little road trip to play before our courses open (typically around May 1 we open). Any insight from BC residents? Thanks

[noodle3872]

Most of the Okanagan area courses open mid to late April. It takes until mid-May for the courses to really dry out a good bit after the winter snow melts. 

[Shushwap]

Oliver has started opening already... salmon arm and talking rock tend to get a little more snow and usually open later then most in the valley

[mikedejong33]

I emailed Tobiano, Talking Rock, Salmon Arm, and Shushwap National. All say they are hoping for April 1 weekend. Here’s hoping!

[Shushwap]

On 2/27/2021 at 8:03 AM, mikedejong33 said:

I emailed Tobiano, Talking Rock, Salmon Arm, and Shushwap National. All say they are hoping for April 1 weekend. Here’s hoping!

If this weather keeps up they should all be open by the first.. I would guess kamloops area will start to open in the next week 

Tobiano should be open before the 1st if the weather keeps up 

[mikedejong33]

Again, thanks for those that have chimed in. What other courses in the area are worth playing? I have looked into Tobiano obviously, Talking Rock, The Dunes and Rivershore. Are those all worth a play? I think we may go for about a week to 10 days, so we will have time to do some travelling around and play some different places. Any advice? Thanks

[Shushwap]

Salmon arm is a great track... most dislike Hyde mountain.. I love the place 

The rise is ok.. 

Predator is nice..

If u venture into kelowna.. tower ranch is great.. bear and quail are nice in kelowna.. the bear is a little tighter then quail...

I have never made it out to rivershore.. going to try to get out there in the next couple weeks 

Sagebrush was supposed to open this year.. would love to get out there 

U may have to wait for sagebrush http://britishcolumbiagolf.org/uncategorized/4638-sagebrush-gets-a-new-lease-on-life

Edited March 5, 2021 by Shushwap

[The Mad Bomber]

Heading to Talking Rock for 3 rounds end of April into May. Just hoping it's dry!

[mikedejong33]

Well, booked a trip to Kamloops for the first week of April. All of the courses are either already open, or planning to open Easter weekend. So I am booked to play Tobiano (likely 3 or 4 times), Talking Rock once, Bighorn once, and I may try to get on Rivershore and The Dunes as well. I have played Tobiano a bunch and Talking Rock once, and I enjoy those. Tobiano might be my favorite course I have ever played. Hopefully the other courses are decent and hopefully the weather holds up as well...

[Shushwap]

7 hours ago, mikedejong33 said:

Well, booked a trip to Kamloops for the first week of April. All of the courses are either already open, or planning to open Easter weekend. So I am booked to play Tobiano (likely 3 or 4 times), Talking Rock once, Bighorn once, and I may try to get on Rivershore and The Dunes as well. I have played Tobiano a bunch and Talking Rock once, and I enjoy those. Tobiano might be my favorite course I have ever played. Hopefully the other courses are decent and hopefully the weather holds up as well...

We play big horn on Saturday.. I have never played there.. sounds like it's not a bad track 

Tobiano is nice.. I hope to get out there this year 

[mikedejong33]

Please let me know how it is... it looks good in photos but some of the reviews say there are tons of houses and it’s a bit bad in that sense. I would look forward to what you have to say.

[Shushwap]

2 hours ago, mikedejong33 said:

Please let me know how it is... it looks good in photos but some of the reviews say there are tons of houses and it’s a bit bad in that sense. I would look forward to what you have to say.

I google earthed it today and it does look as though it is built around a subdivision on the side of a hill... I will let you know how it was

[Shushwap]

On 3/10/2021 at 4:18 PM, mikedejong33 said:

Please let me know how it is... it looks good in photos but some of the reviews say there are tons of houses and it’s a bit bad in that sense. I would look forward to what you have to say.

We made it out there on saturday and it was COLD !!!!!!!!

The course is surrounded by houses... The lay out is not bad.. my friend enjoyed the place more then I did... The downsides for me were the big horn sheep crap that   was everywhere.. along with the goose droppings all over the tee boxes.. The hooves or paws or whatever you call them on the sheep made a mess of the greens.. They have massive hooves and the imprints were everywhere on the greens and they just punched and sanded them...The bunker sand was soft as I spent plenty of time in there lol... There were  a few rocks and what not mixed in... They need to do a little better job sifting through the sand...  This was the first day open so I should cut them a little slack... we played with a couple of members and they said its not normally like this as the sheep and geese have had the run of the place as no one has been there all winter and early spring... I would like to go back in the summer or late spring to see what its really like... All in all The price was right as we only paid 47

I drove past Salmon Arm and Shuswap National today... They have about 4 to 6 inches of snow... They are going to need some warm weather if they plan to open in a couple weeks... Either that or they had better get the snow blowers out there clearing the fairways

[mikedejong33]

Awesome thanks for the review. We are coming out in three weeks so it should be better by then. I was most worried about the houses.... I don’t love houses on golf courses, especially early in the season. I think we will keep it in the rotation and see how it goes. We are playing Tobiano 4 maybe 5 times, so this will be a nice change I hope.

[Shushwap]

Tobiano is beautiful.. enjoy !!!

[Mcgeeno]

Looks like I'm doing the same trip as you guys end of April.

 

Booked for 3 at Tobiano a couple at Talking Rock and 1 at Big Horn.

 

My wife did not like Big Horn when we played it, the houses intimidated her. I remember a couple blind tee shots too but it was a solid track. Its a notch below the others in my opinion for sure.

 

I've played all the Bandon courses, Chambers, Gamble Sands and others...And Tobiano is still my favorite track. 

[mikedejong33]

I agree, Tobiano is my favourite course too. I have played in Phoenix, Palm Springs, etc. And it is till my #1 also. Here’s hoping for some decent weather.

[Shushwap]

6 hours ago, Mcgeeno said:

Looks like I'm doing the same trip as you guys end of April.

 

Booked for 3 at Tobiano a couple at Talking Rock and 1 at Big Horn.

 

My wife did not like Big Horn when we played it, the houses intimidated her. I remember a couple blind tee shots too but it was a solid track. Its a notch below the others in my opinion for sure.

 

I've played all the Bandon courses, Chambers, Gamble Sands and others...And Tobiano is still my favorite track. 

That must be a hot trip.. I played in Oliver today with a friend and he has a few buddies coming up from the coast this summer and that is the route they are playing 

[Mcgeeno]

14 hours ago, Shushwap said:

That must be a hot trip.. I played in Oliver today with a friend and he has a few buddies coming up from the coast this summer and that is the route they are playing 

 

I can't speak to your friends but it is a nice set up for a 3-5 day trip for sure. We have rented a baller Airbnb at Tobiano sometimes or we will just get a room right at the top of the hill near the casino (when that was still a thing) for the evening. Easy to get around and a lot cheaper golf/accommodations then Kelowna in my opinion.

 

Talking Rock is just so great that we have added it into our early trip for 4-5 years now. The 3rd course usually changes though. This year Big Horn. Last year The Dunes. Havent played Kamloops golf club in years I should look into that.

[Shushwap]

28 minutes ago, Mcgeeno said:

 

I can't speak to your friends but it is a nice set up for a 3-5 day trip for sure. We have rented a baller Airbnb at Tobiano sometimes or we will just get a room right at the top of the hill near the casino (when that was still a thing) for the evening. Easy to get around and a lot cheaper golf/accommodations then Kelowna in my opinion.

 

Talking Rock is just so great that we have added it into our early trip for 4-5 years now. The 3rd course usually changes though. This year Big Horn. Last year The Dunes. Havent played Kamloops golf club in years I should look into that.

Talking rock is nice I have 3 prepaid rounds there this year.. salmon arm is another decent track..

Kelowna pricing is getting up there.. bear and quail rates are 150 a round this year.. they are no tobiano!!!

The boys and I plan to get out to tobiano again this year 

I would like to try kamloops golf club.. I think they are in the red book 

[mikedejong33]

 Just wondering out loud... I am booked to come to Kamloops next week for a few days. Play Tobiano and a couple others. It’s just my dad and I, staying in a hotel. With the new measures coming on, is this a bad idea now? I know tons of people that are traveling to ski right now, and don’t really seem to give a crap. I know restaurants will be closed, no big deal. I want to still come out and play, but wondering it it’s not a good idea right now? In Alberta everything would be fine, but is it a bad idea to go into B.C. right now?

[Shushwap]

The interior has never been that bad covid wise.. I know our bc health doc did say we don't want Albertans to visit right now lol 

There is no one stopping u from coming out.. Golf is outdoors.. I would still go.. Golf all day and grab some take out.. hang out in the hotel and enjoy the trip 

[mikedejong33]

Got back yesterday from a week in Kamloops. We played Tobiano (several times), Talking Rock, Dunes, Kamloops G&CC, and Eaglepoint. Courses were all in really good spring condition, greens were good everywhere. We had a few chilly days later in the week.... but we still played at least 18 per day. Got paired with a few locals that joked about Covid with us, no big deal for us to be there it seemed. The only issue was the food. Eating lunch on the patios of golf courses when it was a little cold outside, and otherwise just ordering up to the room got a little dull. But the golf itself was awesome. And the drive was unbelievable. We didn't see another car on the highway in either direction, just flew on through. I think that spring Tobiano trip will become an annual. The golf is unreal and its really cheap in the spring.

[Mcgeeno]

Awesome stuff buddy!

 

Give us a course breakdown/ranking!

 

Tobiano/Talking Rock are must plays for me. The other places rotate each year.

[mikedejong33]

If I had to rank them: obviously Tobiano is the best. I have played golf all across western Canada, Phoenix area, California, etc. and I would rank Tobiano right at the top of anything I have played anywhere. It is that good. Next would be Talking Rock. It is less dramatic than Tobiano, but still a really good course. The others were just ok. I think I would like that Eaglepoint, but we played it in such bad windy conditions it was hard to enjoy somewhat. The course was kind of neat, lots of ups and downs, lefts and rights. It was fun. The Dunes I would likely not play again. To me it was a little on the boring side, and it was just packed. Lots of families, and beginner type golfers. So it was pretty slow. Kamloops Golf and Country Club.. I actually really liked it. Its an old school course, nice big trees. Pretty short and straight forward, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Probably helps that I played really well there... so that always helps. But those would be my opinions on the courses. We played 9 rounds, and Tobiano was 6 of them if that says anything!

[Golfnuck]

On 3/20/2021 at 2:26 PM, Mcgeeno said:

I've played all the Bandon courses, Chambers, Gamble Sands and others...And Tobiano is still my favorite track. 

 

I have played Tobiano a bunch going back to when they first opened and the real estate dream was alive and well.  Of course V2 real estate dream is now doing quite well.

 

I have also played Bandon courses, Chambers and Gamble Sands a bunch but I would not rank Tobiano near Bandon courses nor Chambers.

 

Of course I respect that everyone's opinion is different.

 

Just wondering why you rank Tobiano above the Bandon group of courses.  I mean they are ocean front, golf just golf, great accommodations, no train tracks, and again ocean front.

Edited April 26, 2021 by Golfnuck

[KBong]

I'm in the minority.

I love a challenge, but hated the wind at Tobiano....supposedly it's always windy there...especially in the afternoon.

I doubt I'll play there again.

I also HATE cart golf.

 

I'm hoping to soon play Talking Rock and other Shuswap, Salmon Arms course when this pandemic is over....hear lots of good things about TR.