Quilchena Offers One of the Finest Golf Experiences in British Columbia With a course of exceptional quality and playability for any level of golfing skill, Quilchena Golf and Country Club offers 120 acres of golf with five sets of tees, allowing for up to 6665 yards of play. Thanks to Quilchena’s westerly location, the course boasts better weather than any other Lower Mainland golf course. Great weather combined with well-defined fairways and extensive cart paths make for the best playability around, all year round. Quilchena is located on the south arm of the Fraser River estuary, as close to the Strait of Georgia as possible in Richmond. This can create a links-style wind challenge on many rounds. At Quilchena, the tree-lined fairways suggest that you should avoid your driver. If your driver is your friend, you can use it on every hole to your advantage. A player seldom finds the same club in hand for a second shot on a par-4 or a tee shot on a par-3. The course layout is such that the holes cross the prevailing winds and so every hole plays differently on windy days. Each green is unique, ranging from very flat and tricky to read, to holes with lots of slope. The entrance to the club is in the middle of a spectacular town home development. Once you are on club property, you are greeted by a classic style clubhouse. Standing on the first tee, a player looks over the entire course with its large poplar trees and relishes a glimpse of the Gulf Islands. The first hole is a 517-yard par-5 (444 yards from the front tees) where your drive needs to land short of the fairway bunker on the left. A second shot takes you down to the 100-yard marker, leaving a full shot to carry the bunker that protects two-thirds of the front of the green. That approach shot requires a good control of distance as well. The long hitter likes to challenge the first hole by trying to play past the left-hand fairway trap. There is a large willow tree that narrows the fairway on the right that many long hitters play their second shots from. If they’re successful, they then have a fairway metal or long iron to play over the protecting front bunker on the right while steering clear of the bunker on the greenside left. There are four very challenging and different par-3s at Quilchena, but No. 2 (176 yards from the back and 124 from the front) is considered the best. Most players use a mid-to long-iron to shoot at a long, narrow green, protected front right by a deep bunker. So when the pin is placed on the front right, your tee shot must be very accurate. An undulating green also makes for many “impossible” pin placements. This hole plays differently every day because of the wind that is sometimes at your back, often into your face and again across from left to right. All this can be disguised because of a large hedge at the tee and tall trees on both sides of the hole. If players do not look up to see the direction of the wind in the tops of the trees, they are often fooled into selecting the wrong club. The 5th hole is considered the best par-5 on the course because it is a great risk-reward hole, playing at only 509 yards from the back tees (405 from the front). Off the tees your drive has to travel through a chute that doglegs to the left. A fairway bunker and a large oak tree guard the right side for those who do not “bend it like Beckham” around the corner. Once you do reach the “go zone,” however, you use a fairway metal or a long iron to get to a green guarded on the right by a large pond and on the left by a bunker that stretches half-way up the left side. You can lay-up, but then you are faced with a shot over the lake to a very sloped green making hitting your third to the correct side of the hole a challenge. Great hole! Most members consider the par-4 No. 12 (360 yards from the back and 302 from the forward tees) to be the most difficult hole on the course because of the tee shot to a narrow fairway with mounds and trees on both sides. The green is protected by ponds on the right and the left. Trees on both sides also make for a very tight approach shot. The difficulty does not stop there as this is the trickiest green on the course with severe slopes that can make for tricky pin placements. Many players consider this green to be one of the toughest on the course as well. Our 18th, a 506-yard par-5 (446 from the front) is a double dogleg that requires a perfect tee shot in order to reach the green in two shots. Most players find this hole to be a true three-shot par-5. Your drive needs to land left of the two fairway bunkers on the right side. Then play your second shot to the left side of the fairway, short of the water. The green is triple-tiered and well-bunkered. You need to place your approach shot correctly if you want a shot at a birdie. Click Here to request more information about becoming a member at Quilchena, or call our Membership Director, Kim Leclercq at 604-277-1101 ext 226 or 1-877-414-2582.