Every two years, Score Golf Canada – one of the go-to sources of golf information in the country – names its Top 59 Public Courses, and Campbell River’s own Storey Creek Golf Club has once again been placed prominently on the list.
Storey Creek came in at No. 50 on this year’s prestigious list. While that may not sound too impressive to some, Canada has over 2,300 golf courses, 90 per cent of which are considered “public,” so that places Storey Creek in the top two per cent or so of courses nation-wide based on this ranking.
Storey Creek was also one of only three courses on Vancouver Island to make the list. The other two were Bear Mountain’s Jack and Steve Nicklaus-designed courses in Victoria.
Head Professional at Storey Creek, Stephen MacPherson, says while it’s a point of pride for the course to make these types of lists, they’re not in it for the recognition.
“A golf course is much like a work of art in that it’s very subjective,” MacPherson says. “Everyone has their own opinion on a golf course, but what’s great is that we’re there on that list coming from a much smaller community. When I see a golf course on a list like that in Calgary or Toronto or Vancouver, I know that they have a much, much larger budget for maintenance, and that’s testament to both Les Furber, the architect who laid it out through the forest and to Rob Watson, our superintendent, and his crew, who manage to maintain it at a level where it can land on a list like that on a much smaller budget than many others have.”
Score Golf Canada also classifies their list into Top 59 Public Courses by Value, which sees Storey Creek rocket up the list all the way to No. 5. At only $70 per round, Campbell River’s Les Furber-designed track comes in at No. 1 in B.C. on the Value list and is behind only Ambassador in Windsor, Ont., Tarandowah in Avon, Ont., Dundarave in Roseneath, P.E.I, and Dakota Dunes in Saskatoon, Sask. nationally.
“When there’s a big maintenance budget, something has to pay for that,” MacPherson says. “In the Vancouver markets or Toronto markets, for example, they can charge sometimes $200, where we can charge as little as $33 for 18 holes here – and be able to do that and still make that list is really unheard of.”
This is by no means the first prestigious golf list Storey Creek has landed on. The course had similar placings the last time this list came out two years ago, but it has also been named the #1 Public Course in B.C. by the PGA of BC (2014), has been awarded Platinum status by the PGA of BC numerous times, was selected “BC’s 2nd Favourite Course” during 2012’s BC Golf Survey and was given 4.5 (out of 5) stars by Golf Digest in their 2008-09 edition of “Best Places to Play.”
That consistency is one of the things MacPherson is most proud of.
“It’s a fairly large acreage, and it has an enormous amount of hazards, trees, creeks, wildlife running across it and two very different seasons – with sometimes a third and fourth. Anyone who works with the land knows how challenging it is, so to consistently be on that list is very cool.”