BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA — When you’re home to the country’s oldest licensed brewpub, chances are you know a thing or two about a frothy pint. And golf? Thanks to a host of championship courses in and around Victoria, you’re sure to earn your tall, cold reward at round’s end.
To start, tee up at Olympic View Golf Club, a scenic par 72 set on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, 20 minutes from the city’s downtown core. Here, you can swing the irons year-round on a forested 18-hole championship course that boasts 12 bluer-than-blue lakes, plenty of wildlife and a signature hole that is backed by a 12-metre (40-foot) waterfall and a lovely Japanese garden. Olympic Mountain views included. www.olympicviewgolf.com
Further north of the city, Bear Mountain Resort tempts with two challenges: the Jack & Steve Nicklaus co-designed Mountain Course and the Nicklaus Design Valley Course. Diversity is on the menu here at the Island’s only 36 holes of Nicklaus Design golf; challenge and playability are balanced along the Mountain Course while the Valley Course takes a friendlier approach with generous fairway widths, fewer bunkers and larger greens. www.bearmountain.ca
At Highland Pacific Golf, a short drive north of downtown, rolling fairways give way to stunning viewpoints — not to mention a few punishing drop-offs. With two nine-hole layouts, the Pacific Nine and the Highland Nine, you can test your skill year-round at this gem, and even take aim at the course’s award-winning practice facility that features heated, covered stalls and lights for evening swings. www.highlandpacificgolf.com
Efforts off the playing field will be rewarded in one of Victoria’s breweries or brewpubs, where the history of this frothy drink flows deep. Here, micro brews at their best are celebrated at favourite haunts that include Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub (the country’s oldest licensed brewpub), Canoe Brewpub & Restaurant and Buckerfield’s Brewery at Swans Suite Hotel. A bonus? You can follow the city’s self-guided, and walkable, Ale Trail, for sips that are authentic and oh-so tasty. Oatmeal stout, India Pale Ale or Red Canoe Lager, anyone? www.spinnakers.com; www.canoebrewpub.com; www.swanshotel.com