Located just to the south of Vernon, in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, the Predator Ridge resort now offers visitors 36 holes of championship-standard golf. Established as an 18-hole facility in 1991, the layout was expanded by the end of the millennium to form a 27-hole complex. Demand was such that another nine holes were added by respected architect Doug Carrick in 2010 and this new circuit, along with the old reworked Peregrine nine, which was completely rebuilt, now comprise the 18 holes of the Ridge course. The former Osprey and Redtail nines have been combined to form the Predator course, a solid golfing layout that was originally designed by Les Furber. The newer Ridge course is now marketed by Wesbild, the owners, as the principal layout at the resort so it will be interesting to see if this will be reflected in the relative position of the two Predator Ridge courses in future national rankings. The routing of the Ridge course takes advantage of the site’s elevation changes to locate some lofty tee positions, at the same time minimising the number of tough, uphill holes that all golfers hate. AJ Eathorne, Academy Manager/Instructor at Predator Ridge Resort, was kind enough to describe a few of his favourite holes for us: “After walking off the green at the spectacular downhill par three 5th, you will think that life can’t get much better… until you walk onto the tee at the next hole. There you will see a beautiful spread before you of the Okanagan Valley, including the great Okanagan Lake that defines the region. A natural rock face runs along the right side of a hole that drops down dramatically down from the tee. Aim for the left centre of the fairway and let the bowled landing area take your ball to the bottom of the hill. A short iron is all you will need from there to reach the green. The path to the tee at the long par four 17th passes the Hockey Canada Log Cabin, the official summer home of the Hockey Canada team. A visually intimidating tee shot then awaits because golfers can see water stretching all the way down the left hand side of the hole.At the 18th, the fairway leads towards the clubhouse with many bunkers on either side to test your accuracy off the tee one last time. Take one or two extra clubs to reach the elevated green because, with people in the clubhouse watching, you’ll want to make sure your final shot to the green gets onto the putting surface.”

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