By Gord Montgomery, Senior Writer, Inside Golf
Created by former PGA TOUR player Dave Barr, the Shuswap National golf course, located just
outside Salmon Arm, offers up a touch of golf not normally seen in B.C. let alone Canada.
Barr, who fell in love with the European style of links golf, sculpted this course that’s set among
tall fir trees in a manner reminiscent of those layouts across the ocean. His use of pot bunkers
and runways up to many of the greens exemplify this type of design and make for an interest-
ing non-wedge approach shots to the putting surfaces.
“The back nine, especially 14 through 18,” define that philosophy, Head Professional Brody St-
Martin said. “They’re kind of wide open, you can see everything, all the adjacent holes. You
have the long, fescue grasses off the rough and then you have some really deep, Sottish-style
pot bunkers.”
There are touches of North American golf here too thanks to the characteristics of the land-
scape here. “Some areas may seem like smaller landing areas but if you look at the hole in
general there are lots of places where you can land it but not always where you might play it
right away,” said the pro.
This is a big course, framed in many spots by forest and mountains, that demands one stay
focused from start to end. From the tips, Shuswap National stretches out to over 7,000 de-
manding yards but at the same time, there is a starting point for everyone on this beautiful lay-
out. From the most distant point, tee boxes wander down to yardages of 6,500; 5,600; and just
under 4,900 yards. As well there are combo tees to add some yardage to those blocks.
The course itself offers several elevated tee boxes, with the most outstanding by far being the
par 3 third hole. It runs anywhere from 170 yards down to 120, but given the steep descend
down to the green, which is protected by a huge water hazard in front, means you don’t need
to swing hard to cover any of those distances.”Number three is a very popular one,” St. Martin
agreed. “That’s one you see lots of images of and stuff. And then number 10 is probably the
second most popular.”
That par 4 test offers up a variety of hazards as you wind your way toward the green. With a
pond on the right off the tee if one chooses to lay back at 150 yards or so, you face a green
that’s an uphill shot requiring an extra club or two. By the way, the green is surrounded by wa-
ter so extra care and caution are called for if you go bird hunting here.
Like many European links courses the greens here are large with some unexpected nuances.
“I’d say our greens tend ro run, overall, straighter than a lot of other courses but there are sub-
tle breaks that take a lot of time to pick up,” St. Martin said. “We have good players not just
missing putts but missing a lot of putts.”
Shuswap National offers great warm-up areas including a full distance driving range, a putting
green and also a chipping area to get you ready to take on this taste of golf from across the
pond with the addition of some North American style play to top things off.