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Photo Heavy Course Photo of the Day: Tobiano Golf Course Edition

Junkyard

Junkyard

Will Travel for Golf
Albatross 2024 Club
Joined
Jul 15, 2012
Messages
17,160
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Location
Ontario, Canada
Handicap
9.7
I will apologize in advance; this one is going to be very photo heavy, but somehow I don't think anyone is going to mind. I had the good fortune of choosing to play the Tobiano Golf course several years ago while in BC for some work related training. Whenever I travel, I tend to first look for the top rated courses in the area; Tobiano certainly fits that requirement. "In the area", however is a bit of a stretch - it was a 3h 45m drive each way from where I was staying, but in retrospect I would do it again in a heartbeat. Located a mere 15 minutes outside of Kamloops, Tobiano is considered to be in the "interior" of BC. Those of you who have had the good fortune of playing Wolf Creek in Nevada you may notice some similarities in the photos - depending on who you speak to this area of BC is considered to be desert.

Arriving at the golf course the main road is perched high above the course so you are able to see 80% of the course before you make the turn onto the driveway. Also perched at one of the high points on the property is the clubhouse, so you can enjoy a drink on the patio and still admire the beauty of the course.

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Awards & accolades? Yup, Tobiano has 'em: Canada's Best Course 2020 (WGA 2020), #1 Public in Canada (GD 2020/PGA 2019/Cdn Golf 2019), #15 Best in Canada (GD 2020), #30 Top 100 2020 (ScoreGolf 2020)
 
For this edition, I am simply going to use the course descriptions from the scorecard along with my photos to tell the story.

Hole 01: This Par 5 requires an accurate tee shot to start off your round. Your drive should favour the right side of the fairway and to avoid driving the fairway bunkers, be sure to choose the right club. Unless you can carry the ball uphill past the 100-yard marker, laying up to the 150-yard marker is ideal for your second shot. Due to the sloping of the fairway, anything short of the 100-yard marker has a tendency to roll backwards into the left rough.

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For those of you wanting to get a sense of scale, here is a photograph across the lake of a passing train.
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I realized that I should probably give the hole yardage(s) and par; all values shown are going to be from the "Spur" tees which are 6592 total, 71.9 rating 127 slope.

Hole No. 2 is a 327 yard par 4. "The ideal tee shot for this Par 4 is middle of the fairway just left of the fairway bunkers. Long hitters may want to challenge the green from the tee, but be sure not to hit the ball through the rough or over the green as it drops into a canyon."
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The par 3 third hole plays to 135 yards. "Club selection is important when approaching the shallow green of this Par 3. Your bail out area is pin high to the right, chips from short of the green are treacherous, and over the back is jail"
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No. 4 is a 424 yard par-4 "The ideal tee shot on this Par 4 is towards the large rock in the distance on the right side of the fairway. The fairway slopes right to left, and the left hand rough is some of the thickest on the course. The green is sloped back to front and right to left far more than players think, making putts and chips difficult"
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No. 5 is a 450 yard par 4. "Aiming your tee shot just down the left side of the fairway should put you in a great position for your second shot to the green of this Par 4. The multi-tiered green is heavily protected with a false front and deep bunkers on the left. Your miss should be either long or slightly right of the green"
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This view back at the fifth green from the sixth tee gives you an idea how low the green is set into the landscape. From tee to green the entire hole plays downhill.
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Played Tobiano in early October. It was in mint condition and we got nearly no wind. I’m excited to go back in the summer to see it at it’s peak conditio.00531B2A-255D-4305-B006-834BF0F3A635.jpegA2394AFF-32C6-44AC-9EFE-6E50FE5E3228.jpeg00531B2A-255D-4305-B006-834BF0F3A635.jpegA2394AFF-32C6-44AC-9EFE-6E50FE5E3228.jpeg
 
Don’t know how I missed this earlier in the week, really enjoy these posts with the great course architecture photos. Thanks @Junkyard
 
This course looks spectacular and it's setting is just beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
 
Great photos, thanks. This course has been on my list since originally built but haven’t been out west for many years.🤞
 
Jimmy3864 said:
Great photos, thanks. This course has been on my list since originally built but haven’t been out west for many years.🤞
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Going through these photos again is really making me question which course I liked better - Arcadia Bluffs or Tobiano. Tough call.
 
Awesome Junkyard! Is it as narrow as it looks? Would a senior lady have problems there? It looks like some forced carries off the tee. Another bucket list course for retirement with the wife.
 
Carolina Golfer said:
Awesome Junkyard! Is it as narrow as it looks? Would a senior lady have problems there? It looks like some forced carries off the tee. Another bucket list course for retirement with the wife.
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Width is pretty standard, but fairways slope so they play narrower. Quite a few forced carries so make sure you select an appropriate tee box.

If its windy...heaven help you.
 
Awesome pics Junk, thanks for sharing, the modern sign was cool too. Need to check it out sometime
 
Carolina Golfer said:
Awesome Junkyard! Is it as narrow as it looks? Would a senior lady have problems there? It looks like some forced carries off the tee. Another bucket list course for retirement with the wife.
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While it's not what I would consider "narrow" as @ArmyGolf pointed out a lot of the fairways slope to one side or the other, so if you normal flight starts the ball in the same direction then you're going to be in the second cut (or worse). In my opinion if you select the correct tees the course is quite playable for anyone. There is one forced carry that I recall, I believe it's today's hole actually.
If you are ever in the area (and when I say "area" I mean within 4 hours LOL) I would definitely recommend making the trip over to play. The best part is the pricing - for a course like this here at home in Ontario we would pay $150 or more. I see that prime rate has crept up to $140, but that's still a bargain in my eyes for a course like this.
 
"Your aim off the tee should be at the 150-yard marker in the middle of the fairway. A miss to the right shouldn't hurt you, but a miss to the left is trouble. This long green slopes from right to left, so you need to avoid the bunkers on the front right of the green, otherwise you will leave yourself with a slippery bunker shot. The green of this Par 4 offers a great view of Kamloops Lake."
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