Sunnydale Golf Course in Courtenay will appeal to a wide range of golfers

By Keith and Heather Nicol

The course features long straight fairways

       We recently played Sunnydale Golf and Country Club in 2 stages-the front nine on Saturday, August 19 and the back nine on Wednesday, August 23. This had to do with other commitments plus the fact that we wanted to check out the course at different times of the day. On Saturday we were joined by our son, Michael who was visiting from Vancouver. The weather was stellar for golf for our 9:00 start and we were pleased that even though it was a weekend the course was relatively easy to get on and play moved along smoothly and we completed our round in 1 hour and 45 minutes. 

You get scenic mountain views on several holes

     The Sunnydale Golf Course is the oldest course in the Comox Valley and evidently it opened in 1923! The course features glimpses of the Beaufort Mountains through the tall trees. The flat course has mostly straight holes with moderately wide fairways so will suit a wide variety of golfers. There is little water that comes into play but there are a number of sand traps so you need to be careful with shot placement, especially depending on where the pin is located. But what we really noticed was the smallish “upside down bowl” shaped greens which made approach shots and putting challenging at times.   On Saturday we noticed that the greens were especially demanding since they were very fast. For some reason on Wednesday they mercifully had slowed down (not sure why) and approach shots seemed to stick much better. Given the very dry conditions this summer we were very pleased with the condition of the course. Everything was quite green including the fairways.

Michael putting for par on the ninth hole with the clubhouse behind

   Sunnydale will appeal to a wide range of golfers especially since they now have a shorter tee option which can makethe course significantly shorter.  This might appeal to juniors, ladies, seniors or anyone just getting into the game. The front nine is much longer than the back (3206 yds vs 2796 yds off the white tees) so needless to say we enjoyed the back nine much more since we scored so much better.  On Wednesday afternoon we teed off at 5:00 pm and basically had the back nine to ourselves which was a nice bonus. Add to that the late afternoon light streaming through the trees and it made for a fine round of golf. Sunnydale is a full service golf course with driving range, putting green, proshop, restaurant and bar and you can store your own power cart on site! Sunnydale Golf and Country Club is located just north of Courtenay just off the North Island Highway. For more information see: http://www.sunnydalegolf.ca/ or ph 250-334-3232. 

We loved the late afternoon light streaming through the trees