| Valley Course Is Vancouver Island's New Star |
Page 1 of 3  The Elevated Tee On The Valley Course's Par-Four 3rd- All Images Courtesy Bear Mountain Golfers may have gotten a taste of Bear Mountain's new Valley Course with the opening of a hybrid nine last year but only now can they play the complete 6800 yard, par 71 eighteen. The stunning Valley layout is the solo work of Jack Nicklaus' son, Steve. The challenge given to him from a design perspective was to give the golfer a totally different experience from the sister Mountain course, a co-design with father Jack that opened in 2003. And there is no question that Steve Nicklaus has achieved his goal. The differences in the design approach are immediately apparent on the first tee box. A reachable 500 yard par five where your downhill drive is followed by an uphill approach, the fairway here rolls and undulates in a manner that echos the fescue grass that fronts the tee boxes. Then there are the huge, ragged edge bunkers that would not look out of place on the Scottish seaside... cunningly placed to penalize errant aggression from the tee box and at the same time save off-line approaches to a green perched on the hill-side.  The View From The 1st Tee These dramatic elements are repeated throughout all eighteen holes... Elevated tees leading to rolling fairways edged by rugged bunkering that then lead to interesting and challengeing green complexes. In short this course seems to be a fusion of Nicklaus Sr.'s design philosophy with the minimalist / traditional aesthetic that is becoming more and more popular. Think of the existing Mountain Eighteen meeting Tom Doaks' work at Bandon Dunes... all set amid the rocky outcroppings and Arbutus trees that uniquely define southern Vancouver Island. This course also has great rhythm. From the outset, the holes swoop and dive around the topography like a salmon seeking eagle. The third hole has a jaw-dropping elevation change from tee box to green that may redefine the term hang-time. The views here toward the coastal mountains are superb. The same could be said about the 490 yard par 17th except there you also will get the sound of rushing water from the creek that runs down one side and then across the hole. With the Mountain eighteen, the Pappa Bear may have been very much involved but in the case of this course, make no mistake it has been all the cub's work. And it's in the slopes, swales and mounding where Steve Nicklaus has shown the subtleties that he should be taken seriously as a solo designer. |
|||||
