Longlands Golf Course offers beginners and experts a relaxing round of golf

By Keith and Heather Nicol

The greens were "green" and in good shape

    Since we moved to the Comox Valley from Newfoundland 3.5 years ago we have enjoyed playing many of the golf courses in this area. But one that we hadn’t tried until Thursday, August 16 was Longlands Golf Course which offers a par 3 layout over 18 holes. This is a true par 3 since the longest hole is 160 yards and shortest is 83 yards. We were interested to see what the course was like given the hot dry summer we have had and we were impressed with the state of the greens and areas near the green. Some fairways were quite brown given the hot dry summer but overall the course was greener than we thought it might be. This is part due to the tall trees which line most fairways giving reasonable amounts of shade. But if you are playing well you shouldn’t be on the fairway too much since it is easy to reach all greens from the tee if your shots are straight.

Tall trees line the course

 We thought this course would appeal to a wide range of people from beginners and kids to better players wanting to work on their approach game. We saw several groups that included kids and in speaking to the staff they say they get quite a few groups of retired people since the 1049 yard length of the front nine and 1173 yard length of the back nine make for a manageable distance to walk for most people. It is also a forgiving course in that it has no sand traps and water is not much of a hazard. There are some ditches in places but they were mostly dry when we played. But many fairways are quite narrow and the large branches from the tall trees reach out into some fairways forcing you to hit very straight shots.  

Areas near the green were in good shape as well

 The greens are also small which means if you are on the green getting down in 2 putts is quite easy. The challenge though is hitting the green on your first shot. The other upside when we played was that the course was not that busy so we were never pressured from behind and never had to wait for anyone so we were finished 18 holes in less than 3 hours which included taking many pictures.  So if you haven’t played Longlands Golf Course in Comox give it a try. They have a restaurant with a nice outdoor seating area, a putting green and pull and power carts for rent. For more information see: www.longlandsgolf.com. 

Putting on the 18th green with the clubhouse and patio behind