Crown Isle Resort & Golf Community

By Gord Montgomery

Senior Writer, Inside Golf

Given the facilities teed up for you at the Crown Isle Golf Resort in Courtney, B.C., this place could well be considered the crown jewel on the northern end of Vancouver Island. After all, it offers a great 18-hole layout. A wonderful little par-3 track. And to top off your day, a disc golf course. What more could a visitor ask?

Of course most of us are there to take on the 18-hole layout that has, over the years, hosted important events like the Q School for the PGA Tour Americas, numerous PGA of B.C. events, and amateur championships. Stretching out to over 7,000 yards for the big boys and going down to just under 5,200 yards for the rest of us, this track features five different tee boxes plus a pair of combo tees. What this means is anyone, and yes everyone, can tee it up here and have a great time.

What makes the big Crown Isle layout so special is the fact each hole is inviting off the tee box, at least of the most part. The reason ? Well, the close the teee box to the green the fewer issues one faces …. at least in reality.

“With all the little subtleties that makes a great course for every level of player,” Jason Andrew, the Director of Resort Operations at Crown Isle stated. “With no forced carries, if you’re just getting started, don’t hit the ball very far, it’s not like you’ve got to hit it over water hazards or 100 yards of rough to get to the fairway. In most cases it’s very friendly. The fairways are just a little bit wider. The greens just a bit bigger. The other interesting thing, what Graham Cooke did a phenomenal job at, is if you go back on tee boxes the golf course completely changes. When you get to the back Gold tee, all the bunkering comes into play. For shorter tees, you can shorten some holes, hit it over the doglegs. Go to the back tee and it becomes very challenging even for the best players.”

Given those wide fairways and large greens, getting to the point you pull out the shortest club in your bag isn’t necessarily a grit-your-teeth challenge on every swing. After all, the greens here welcome approach shots as they tend to slope toward the centre. But, be aware as they are undulating and large, so a one-putt isn’t a given on any hole.

“There are big rolling greens, where if you hit the fringe they generally roll into the green,” Andrew said of that helping hand from the landscape. “It doesn’t go off the green and into some deep hollow you have to play out of.”

In closing about this layout, Andrew noted, “We’ve stood the test of time,” given the fact that for so long it challenged those up-and-coming players with PGA TOUR dreams and yet is a comfortable play for everyone else.

To warm up, Crown Isle GR offers a full scale practice area including a driving range, short game areas for chipping and sand play, and more than one putting green to get everything up to speed for your rounds.

The Park

If you and your buddies are putting up bucks, or beers, for who has the best short game, then head over to the 18 hole par-3 test track, The Park. Here you’ll find a challenging little layout among the  huge trees on the property. The challenges here range anywhere from just over 80-yards up to twice that length.

“It’s a tranquil setting. All short holes again built for every skill level,” said Andrew. “It features open fairways with smaller greens and big, big trees over 100 feet tall. However, the underbrush is cleared out so you don’t run into the lost ball problem. Again, everything is right in front of you.”

Disc Golf

If you’re not into throwing clubs, but still have desire to toss something around, then there is a disc course available here as well. This is a family friendly aspect at Crown Isle GR, where anyone can take their best shot at besting one another.

So, no matter what type of golf you like — a full-blown 18 holes, 18 of the shorter variety or even a chance to see how deadly your aim is at the disc game, Crown Isle Golf Resort has everything for you. To top all that off, you can stay course-side in their fantastic lodging areas, meaning you can play more than one round per day on your chosen course or mix-and-match to your heart’s content.