Revelstoke Golf Club

Revelstoke Golf Club brings a new attitude this season, encouraging more casual golfers and social events.

Revelstoke Golf Club has been working hard over the seasonal break to give the course a fresh start and to make all new visitors feel that the club is a place they can come to relax.

“Everything is new this year,” said Taylor Pearcey, an associate at Revelstoke. “We’re trying to go with a different feel, trying to attract younger golfers, you know—the snowboarding, skiing type of crowd. All in all it’s just a new feel, we’re going for a more casual vibe.”

One of the newest weekly events that the club has started this year is something a program called Grip It and Sip It, which takes place every Friday night. For just $30 golfers get a bucket of balls, drinks, snacks and three holes of golf—not to mention the Big Break-style glass-smashing event.

“What we do on Friday nights is we have a post up and we put a two by two pane of glass up on top of it,” said Pearcey. “Then people try and break it with their ball. It’s just off the restaurant patio, about a 20-yard shot and about 10 feet in the air. So people try to smash the glass, and they get entered into a draw to win irons, to win beer, just little things like that to try and get the golf course going again.”

The event is sponsored by a local glass company that supplies panes of glass for the course to use every week.

Community connections

It’s not just Revelstoke’s small businesses that are contributing to the change at the course this season, either—it’s the schools, too. The club this year has been working in conjunction with the three public schools in the town, bringing in all of the grade seven students from the area to participate in a junior golf program.

“We’re going over everything with them,” said Pearcey. “How to hold the club, stand beside the club, chipping, putting, the whole thing. And then we’re taking them out on the course next Thursday to try to actually play.”

The club will also be celebrating its 90th year of operation this year, along with its 84th annual Labour Day Open from August 30 to September 1—an event that Pearcey said is one of the longest running golf tournaments in British Columbia.

Scenery and playability

According to Pearcey, the scenery at Revelstoke is one of the first things that entices golfers to the course, while the playability is what keeps them coming back.

“Every hole is different and is a challenge,” he said. “It’s so nice to hit your ball off the fairway and be able to find it and play it out of the woods instead of having to take a drop. The mountain views are spectacular and playing along the Columbia River is just gorgeous.”

The relaxing feel of the course is one element that remains consistent throughout Revelstoke’s day to day business, but Pearcey said that the club’s overall dynamic is completely flexible.

“Sometimes when you’re out there and it’s really calm, it feels like a private golf club,” he said. “Then the next day a bunch of guys are out there with their stereo playing and everyone’s just having a good time. It’s an amazing town that way, and it’s my favourite course in B.C.”