The Okanagan Golf Club (Bear)

Overview: The Bear at The Okanagan Golf Club is an 18-hole, par-72 course in Kelowna’s dry, sunlit interior landscape. Nicklaus Designs planned the course around sculpted fairways, sagebrush hills and the broad natural textures of the Okanagan Valley, producing a resort layout that feels more open and rolling than a conventional tree-lined parkland course. GolfBC lists a championship reference of about 6,900 yards.

History: GolfBC’s course materials place The Bear’s construction in the late 1990s, with the course guide using 1998 and another company history referring to 1999. That small source difference is preserved in the notes rather than hidden. What is consistent is the course’s role in establishing the Okanagan Golf Club as a two-course destination, with The Bear paired alongside The Quail near Kelowna and UBC Okanagan.

Did You Know? The Bear’s identity is tied to the contrast between its carefully sculpted playing corridors and the sun-baked sagebrush hills around them. The layout has also hosted university and provincial championship golf, so the course is not only a scenic resort round: its strategic design has been used for competitive play as well as everyday golf.