Vancouver Island Golf Trail offers excellent courses in a great location

VICTORIA, B.C. — My friends are probably tired of hearing me say it, but what's special to me about British Columbia is that it feels like you are about 10 times farther from home than you are.

The money is different, the speech is slightly different, the No. 1 sport is different (hockey), the flavor is more international, and when you pick up a newspaper, a lot of the news is from Ottawa and London instead of Washington, D.C.

I feel comfortable in British Columbia and my spiel when I get home is something like this:

"The land is gorgeous, and Victoria and Vancouver are special cities in the world. The folks in B.C. speak English. They tend to be smart, polite and have a sense of humor. They regard us as neighbors and if you ever got in a jam, the odds are good that you'd be dealing with honest people endowed with common sense."

Last fall, I discovered a new reason to like British Columbia — the Vancouver Island Golf Trail.

This is not a Lewis and Clark type of wilderness trail but a collection of golf courses stretching from Victoria to 155 miles up the eastern side of this island that readers of Condé Nast Traveler repeatedly have voted "the best North American island."

Golf Magazine has called Vancouver Island "one of the continent's best values" and the golf trail has to be one of the reasons.

The trail is a consortium of 12 courses and more than 15 hotels or motels working together to present attractive and affordable golf packages to lure golfers from the U.S., Canada and abroad.

The name Vancouver Island Golf Trail has been around since 1998 but it didn't have much traction until 2004 when the Bear Mountain Resort opened outside Victoria, with the Mountain Course designed by Jack Nicklaus and his son Steve. The year 2004 also marked the debut of reduced greens fees if an island resident purchased a multi-course, multi-round card with proceeds going to marketing the Trail.

The Valley Course, a second Nicklaus-designed course at the resort, opened in 2009. Bear Mountain Resort includes a Westin hotel.

The Nicklaus courses are the best-known tracks on the golf-trail roster that includes Olympic View, Highland Pacific , Arbutus Ridge, Cowichan, Duncan Meadows, Fairwinds, Morningstar, Pheasant Glen, Crown Isle and Storey Creek.

I played Olympic View, Bear Mountain Valley and Highland Pacific and toured the Mountain Course on a trip with golf writers last fall. All four Victoria-area courses were memorable, challenging without being discouraging, scenic and well-maintained.

At Bear Mountain, the Mountain Course has the best views and the biggest reputation. It was host to the 2010 Telus World Skins Game, won by Canadian Mike Weir over four opponents, including Seattle native Fred Couples.

The Valley Course has more isolation and is considered a bit easier.

The Mountain course actually has 19 holes. There is a par-3 near the 15th hole and the story goes that Nicklaus was standing on the future site of the hole and said, "This is spectacular ... Why don't you make this a little par 3. It would make a good gambling hole."

Highland Pacific is the newest addition to the golf trail. The course has panoramic views and a strong variety of holes. This is a family-owned course that is making a splash in Northwest golf circles. The Pacific Nine opened in 2008 and the Highland Nine opened last year.

Highland Pacific has appealing greens fees, with peak-season weekend rates under $60.

Golf Trail packages are advertised on the website www.golfvancouverisland.ca. The packages are based on three separate golf seasons — offseason (the dreary months), the shoulder months (early spring and fall) and summer.

For example, one six-night package with two nights in Victoria, two in the Parksville-Qualicum Beach area and two nights farther north is $749 per person (Canadian money and based on double occupancy) through April 30, then escalating to $975. The price includes golf carts at each course.

Tourists also can substitute activities such as salmon fishing, visits to Butchart Gardens, dinners or a spa visit for golf. These offers aimed at couples can be directly accessed at www.golfvancouverisland.ca/couples.

Travel by car to Vancouver Island doesn't take a full day. The private Black Ball ferry runs across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Port Angeles and arrives in Victoria's Inner Harbor. The Washington State ferry from Anacortes arrives in Sydney, about 20 miles from downtown Victoria. B.C. Ferries has a route from south of Vancouver (Tsawwassen) to Swartz Bay, also about 20 miles away from downtown. Rates vary but a couple in a car should budget about $75 for one-way trips.

When you leave the island, you'll be home in hours but it won't feel that way. If you're like me, you'll feel like you've been far away and are coming back from someplace special.