GreenTee Country Club Tobiano — Local services in Area J (Copper Desert Country)

Staff were wonderful and everything from beginning to end was phenomenal. Beautiful setting. On course Marshall was fantastic and very friendly and welcoming. The young lady in the member services was so friendly and kind and helpful as well.

The golf course is incredible. Simply put, if this course was in Ontario, it would probably be top 10 in Canada, unfortunately, British Columbia courses seem to get lower rank than some Ontario clubs.

It has been about 10 years since I’ve played it last. The amount of homes around the course has changed the aesthetics significantly since then, but not in a bad way. Cost to play is very fair and in other places, the green fee would probably be double.

The course is difficult. If you have never played here before, you will probably struggle, and I would suggest moving up a tee or playing combo tees. Don’t feel like you need to tip yourself out for the first time from your normal course yardage, it’s not super tight, it’s more so the design is very demanding on accuracy and placement of your shots. The course is trying to outsmart you. If it is windy, good luck. Anyone that can shoot around par from the Tour tees is a phenomenal player!

Hole 5 is perfection. Tight par 4 down a narrow canyon gulley. Just beautiful to play.

Hole 7 is a tremendous par 3 with a genius design of having a very shallow green front to back.

Hole 14 is the crown jewel of the course. I could not believe I hit a hybrid 342 yards as it hit the slope and ran down towards the green. It was supposed to be my lay-up, so next time I would consider that. The approach to the green is so serene with a table top green above Kamloops Lake. Just beautiful.

The par 5s of #8 & #13 are quite difficult. They rank high up on the handicap of holes. #8 I didn’t really understand because the sloping of the fairway is so severe. I didn’t feel like there was much of a fair lay up, but I think playing it a few times you would get to know where to hit it. Same thing with number 13 as it is very much a risk and reward hole, with the risk being a very tight shot approach. Both difficult but excellent design.

With many of the approach shots, it looks like you have no room for error, but then you get up to the green and in fact you have large landing areas. I think with many of the approaches being uphill is what makes this course extra difficult. I wish there were less uphill approaches into greens, but it is what it is.

Green speed was phenomenal, smooth and true, play more break than you think! I also noticed that the fescue around the course is significantly thinner than it was a long time ago, thank you for that! At least you can find your ball and hack it back out.

An amazing evening, thank you so much. Hope to play...

First, let me tell you readers that I golf frequently (over 150 rounds a year) so I think I am quite qualified to make a call on a golf course.

We were on our way back to Oregon from the Canadian Rockies. We drove 5 hours to get from Jasper to Kamloops...about the same amount of time it took to complete our round...4 hours 55 minutes to be exact. During the round, it was not unusual to have 3 foursomes on a tee box especially on the back 9 and we did not see a single marshal throughout our round to move groups along. On the back, we were waiting after every shot. The group in front of us quit after 14 holes because the play was so slow. The single in our group also quit after 14 holes. The single in our group was a member of Tobiano and said that 5 hour rounds were quite common.

We never got lost driving 2,000 miles throughout this road trip but got lost on Tobiano's back 9...poor signage and no map layout on the scorecard. Almost impossible to navigate...

The greens were true but were a graveyard of buried elephants.

If you are able to tolerate a 5 hour round and going through a maze on the back nine, the views are spectacular and the course is well manicured. It's easy to write a nice review because of scenery but I was there to play golf.

For me: What a way to spoil a beautiful and challenging layout...very disappointing.

July 15, 2018 Update The General Manager, Terry Smith, responded to my review. He wrote that they would be reviewing the signage program. He did not address the pace of play in his answer and invited me to call him for further feedback.

I did.

He stated he was sorry we experienced the slow pace of play and on that particular day (Wednesday, July 4) Tobiano was a "victim" of a large group of Asians (12) who combined their three foursomes and were playing 2 sixsomes! (The groups behind this larger group were the victims...not Tobiano.) He further stated that an effort was made to control this group but Tobiano's marshals departed at their scheduled time (without resolving the issue and left the course to pace itself)! He said that a 4 1/2 hour round was what they expected. If the group in front of us had not quit at the 14th hole, our round would have surely been in the 6 hour range....After writing my review and talking with the GM, I checked back on older reviews and found the same complaint about the pace of play.

July 27, 2018 update I am very impressed by Terry Smith, the General Manager, and his responses to my review and our phone conversation. With the implementation of his plan, Tobiano may arrive as a terrific golf venue. It already has beautiful golf holes and a wonderful golf ambience. Given a chance, I'd give it...

Overall, the course is fantastic. The fairways are mint, the rough is lush and challenging, and conditions throughout were excellent. I have very few complaints when it comes to course maintenance or the majority of the staff—most were top-notch and polite. That said, there were two key issues that ultimately led me to drop two stars from my review.

The Starter’s Attitude and Tee Box Pressure: My playing partner and I had researched the course beforehand and agreed the Spurs tee boxes would provide the most enjoyable round based on our skill level and what we were looking for—long carries, scenic views, and a good challenge. However, the starter was insistent, almost pushy, that we play the combo tees. Despite us explaining what we wanted out of the round, he kept repeating that the combos were “a better option” and that we’d “have a more enjoyable experience.” Not once did he ask our handicaps, how often we play, or anything else that might justify his recommendation. It felt like he simply decided for us. That interaction threw us off before we even teed off—4 minutes late, which becomes relevant later.

The Marshal’s Handling of Pace of Play: By the 5th hole, the marshal approached us and told us we needed to pick up the pace. I explained that we had teed off slightly late and were also being slowed by two randomly paired players with a much different skill level. Rather than listen, he was dismissive and borderline rude—basically giving off a “do what I say, I don’t want to hear it” attitude. Things got worse by the 9th, where he was again waiting and told us to skip the hole and jump to 11, threatening removal from the course if we didn’t comply. This was extremely off-putting.

Ironically, when we reached 11, we ended up waiting on a group driving around looking for a lost club. From our spot in the fairway, we could see the 10th hadn’t even teed off yet—so clearly, pace of play wasn’t just on us.

Final Thoughts: This is a beautiful course and one I’d absolutely consider playing again. But for the money I paid, the experience was soured by how we were handled. I’ve never been rushed like this on a course before, and it absolutely affected the round. If you do plan to play here, I strongly recommend booking with a full foursome of similar skill level, and I also think the starter staff should focus more on asking questions before insisting on tee recommendations.

The bones of a top-tier golf experience are there—but the tone and rigidity of a few staff members made it feel more stressful than it needed to be at times, especially when for some, this is a bucket list...