Predator Ridge (Predator)

Predator Ridge Golf Resort is situated in Vernon, British Columbia, between Vancouver and Calgary in the Okanagan Valley which lies between the Cascade and Rocky Mountains.

Everything about Predator Ridge Golf Resort – from the valet parking, magnificent clubhouse and fitness centre (with gymnasium, pool, hot tub and steam baths) to the spa – reminds you that you're at a top-class venue. Accommodation takes the form of seventy-five studio, 1 and 2-bedroom suites in the lodge and more than fifty 1, 2 and 3-bedroom cottages around the property. Sergio Garcia liked these dwellings so much that he purchased two.

Predator Ridge golf course was designed by Les Furber and opened as an 18-hole facility in 1991. It was extended nine years later to form a 27-hole complex comprising three 9-hole circuits named Osprey, Red Tail and Peregrine. Following an extensive makeover by Doug Carrick a decade later, a new Ridge course was fashioned by adding nine holes to the Peregrine loop, leaving the original Osprey and Peregrine nines as the Predator course.

Wesbilt, the Predator Ridge Resort owners, are giving the Ridge a higher profile than its more established stablemate so it will be interesting to see whether the Predator layout can maintain its rankings dominance in the years to come.

Perhaps the pick of the holes is the par five 8th on the Predator course, it measures 510 yards from the back tee and it’s known by the club as their “inland Pebble Beach 18th hole.” It is a gentle dogleg left with water running from tee to green down the left hand side of the fairway. An offline drive may end up wet on the left or find sand in one of the massive fairway bunkers on the right. Once the fairway has been found, a decision must then be made to play a heroic shot and go for the green in two or play the percentage shot and lay-up to a comfortable yardage for a third shot to the elevated putting surface.

Predator Ridge used to have “stringent rules of play”, which were something of a mission statement and well worth repeating: “1. Bring your camera. 2. Remember golf is your recreation and not your occupation. So enjoy yourself. 3. Make sure others enjoy themselves.” What a fantastic corporate attitude to have and if that sort of statement doesn’t make a golfer want to play here, what will?

Carrick Design remodelled the 1st hole on the Ridge course and the 3rd, 4th and 9th holes of the Predator course at the end of 2017 to accommodate the introduction of new homes that will overlook the golf courses, with the redesign work also intended to improve the playability and character of these four holes.