Summary:  Value Rating = B+

Predator Ridge is a well known golf course located in the Kelowna / Vernon region in the interior of British Columbia – in the Okanagan Valley.  It has been the site of a couple of Skins games in Canada – most recently the Telus World Skins Game in 2008 with Weir, Couples, Norman, Villegas and Montgomery.  Obviously, a well known track.  A course that is always highly rated in Canadian golf magazines I have read.

This is a great and challenging course to play.  I have spoken with some fellow average recreational golfers who said it is over-rated but from a golf challenge point of view, it is a course that makes you think.  It is pricy as well.  We paid over $120 each to play in May of 2006.  We actually had time for another 9 holes – took in all 27 during our visit – which we paid a good rate for as well.  The higher green fees affects its value rating given my evaluation criteria.

It is made up of 3 diverse 9 hole courses – Osprey, Peregrine and Red Tail.  A new 9 is being added and should be available in 2010.

Despite the higher cost, it is worth playing in my estimation.  It will test all aspects of your game.  I would like to play it again because parts of the course did beat me the last time and I feel I would get some revenge if I played it again – a little older, a little wiser, more familiar with the layout, and I’m playing better now than in 2006.  Check out www.predatorridge.com for details about the course.

Play and Value Evaluation Rating Table

Refer to my evaluation criteria – www.lifepast50.ca/topic-list/golf/reviewcriteria

Some Details:

We played Predator Ridge on May 10, 2006.  A bit cool in the morning when we teed off but with clear blue sky overhead and the wide open space in front of us things warmed up quickly.  We played Osprey, Peregrine and Red Tail, in that order.

Predator Ridge is located about 30 minutes north of Kelowna and about 15 minutes south of Vernon, Predator Ridge is about an 8 minute drive off of the main highway between these two cities.  It is easy to get to.

As you drive into the facility from the highway you get a great look at most of the holes on the course from the top of a hill.  There is lots of fescue in the open areas and some of the holes are tucked into the forested areas around the property.

The scenery is beautiful with great vistas of the surrounding areas, especially from the more open links style parts of the course.  You get a great view of the undulating fairways, the various lakes and streams and a glimpse of the more rugged pine forest areas.

The Osprey 9 has elevated greens (mostly) and links style holes.  You start off with some room on the first 2 holes on this 9 and then it gets a bit narrow in the fairways for the rest of the 9.  There are lots of undulations.

The Peregrine 9 takes you back through a more rugged and forested area around a ridge.  As you approach the green on Peregrine 2 you will notice the difference as this nine moves around a ridge.  The fairways are much narrower from here on in.  It seem liked I was always hitting my drives into places where the fairway was quite narrow.  I had a few uphill and downhill shots from the edges of the course because of this.  This is the nine I would really like to play again.

The Red Tail 9 is similar to the Osprey 9 except the fairways are narrower.  You do have to hit to fairway landing areas more on this nine – so it is a bit more target golf.  Still a challenge to play.

We played the white tees which was well matched to our abilities on this course.  Playing the blues for us would have caused the blues – quite a longer distance playing the blues compared to the whites.  I shot 46 (Osprey), 50 (Peregrine), and 47 (Red Tail) – so depending on how you add it up, I was either 96, 97 or 93.  The putting was fast so I had a few 3 putts early and I did struggle with my tee shots on the Peregrine 9 with its narrow fairways in places.  This was the toughest course we played in the Kelowna area on this golf trip.

My Evaluation Details:

Scenery – beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and the Valley.  You can’t beat the beautiful vistas you will see from many areas on this course.

Mix of holes – offers a great mix of long and short holes with a challenging blend of holes.  There are doglegs and bends and landing areas you have to play to.  Osprey is the straighter layout of the 3 nines.  You do not really have any blind shots.

Consistency and condition – the course was in immaculate shape and offered the most consistent tee boxes, greens, fairways, rough and bunkers that I recall playing on.

Character – Predator Ridge has a lot of character both playability wise and scenery wise.  The greens were fast and provided a nice blend of straight and subtle bends.  The ball rolled very consistently on the greens.

Golf Challenge – the course offers a challenge in my books……

• tee shots – You have a good view of all the fairways from the tees and you do need to control your tee shots.  Wild shots will make for a long day.
• fairway shots – The fairways were just in fabulous condition.  There are undulations so you will encounter uphill and downhill lies.
• pin placements – The pin placements on the day we played were very fair.  A great mix of front, back, middle and side pin placements made you hit a variety of approach shots.
• putting – Putting was fast on all the greens – very consistent.  It was a real test to 2 putt most of the time.  The greens were quick and tested your speed control and your reading ability.
• greens – Like the fairways, the greens were in great shape.  The ball would land with a bit of a bounce on high approach shots.  Bump and run shots or lower flight approach shots from the fairway could run quite a distance so you had to pick your spots to do this.
• a chance to recover – If you landed on the edges of the course, just slightly into the wooded areas or grassy areas, you could recover.  If you landed deep within some of these areas, you really had no shot due to a terrible lie or there were just too many obstructions (deep grass, rocks, bushes, trees) in your way.  The rough was a very playable and didn’t cause any problems – deep in some places around the greens.

Other Observations:

Some lessons learned after my round – on all the 3 nines you need to pay attention to where you want to take your approach to the green from.  A little too far right or left and you have a much tougher shot, sometimes out of the rough. Keeping the ball in the middle of the fairway was the best play I found – tougher said than done though.  One of the reasons I would like to take this course on again…..a little course knowledge helps.  We did have course guide book (included in the price) but real course knowledge would have helped us out in a few places.

There are some uphill and downhill shots.  Keep in mind that you should use one more club uphill and one less club downhill.  It was fun to try and go for the green in regulation on the downhill approach shots – some of which we managed to make.

The facilities are first class and the service is excellent.  The staff we dealt with were really nice.

Some photos of the course:

View of Links Style Holes at Predator

View from the Peregrin Course

Another View of the Links Style Holes