Storey Creek Golf Club in Campbell River deserves its high rankings

By Keith and Heather Nicol

Michael teeing off on the first tee

    On Friday, October 13 we took fate into our hands and decided to play golf at the Storey Creek Golf Club hoping that no black cats would cross our path.  It was a sunny warm day (getting rarer this time of year) and we arrived with our son Michael at noon for our 12:30 tee time. We had heard great comments about Storey Creek from friends and relatives but this was our first visit to the course. It is located just south of Campbell River and it took us just 30 minutes from Courtenay to get there.  Its by line is “A Course in Nature” which aptly describes this course. It is at the end of McGimpsey Road and what makes the course unique of the courses we have played over the summer in Courtenay is that each hole is pretty much on its own. You don’t usually see other golfers since the tall trees block your view. 

Michael checking out the deer on the 10th fairway

 Although the course isn’t that long off the whites (5881 yds), it is very challenging due to the abundance of fairway sandtraps and water hazards on many holes.  As well the course seems to narrow down on many holes just around where your tee shot would end up.  Drives that aren’t straight are costly. As well most holes had several traps surrounding the green with a small opening in the front again challenging you to hit a straight approach. The course was nice and green and is mostly flat with a few slightly uphill and downhill holes on the back nine.  We liked the large greens and the overall course was in very good shape.  We used a cart but there were many groups walking but be aware that since each hole is separated from the others there is abit of a distance to walk to get to the next hole. 

Tall trees line the course

      Since the course has been carved out of the tall douglas fir forest it does have more than its share of wildlife. In fact there was a note on the pro shop door about a black bear that had been seen throughout the summer and we saw several deer on the 10^th hole.  Storey Creek has won many awards including the #1 B.C. public course for best value and #5 public course in Canada for the best value in 2017!!  See their web site for a more extensive listing of the awards this course has received.  The course is a full service course with pro shop, lessons, 2 putting greens, a chipping green, driving range and club house.  The course is open all year and gets most of its clients from the Campbell River area as well as the Comox Valley.  But the head professional Steven MacPherson told us that through the summer they get many people from Alberta and the rest of B.C. as well as Washington and Oregon state.  There is still some good golfing left this fall so check out this award winning course.See: http://storeycreek.bc.ca/ for more information. We definitely want to try this course again.

Many water hazards like this one on the 18th hole force you hit to straight shots