Glimpses of the 2009 BC Hospitality Golf Classic

Submitted by Karen Hamilton on July 20, 2009 - 5:39am

Hello again from Karen Hamilton, your correspondent transplanted from her usual home at Tiny Bites Consulting. July 20th finds us on the links once more to support the British Columbia Hospitality Foundation. This time around, we're situated at the picturesque Swan-E-Set Bay Resort & Country Club in Pitt Meadows for a full day of wining, dining, golfing, and raising funds.

There'll be much ground to cover for today's event, which is spread over both of Swan-E-Set's courses. I'll be sending you dispatches and photos of the day's highlights so stay tuned here for updates.

11:30am - Reception and a patio lunch

My husband and I rolled into the expansive entrance of Swan-E-Set and were greeted warmly with Club Drop, complimentary valet parking, and a flute of [yellowtail] pink bubbly. As we got our game details sorted out, we strolled along the practice greens, with a little time to hit a few balls on the range before our stomachs started to rumble.

A pleasant outdoor lunch was had at the back of the Clubhouse, plied with White Spot burgers, chilled leek soup from the Peartree, scampi from Joe Fortes, Caesars care of Blazes Beans, Motts Clamato, and Skyy Vodka, and more. As we ate, we gazed at the crowds lining up at the two banquet tables of silent auction prizes. We had our eye on the Beautyrest Queen sleep set ourselves, but unfortunately it seemed a hot commodity -- the bidding was fierce and already way beyond our personal ceiling. The others were choice as well, including items such as a signed Luongo jersey, a 47" LG TV, and 4 rounds of golf at the Fairwinds in Nanoose Bay.

* I did take many pictures during our sunny lunch but let's just say that technical difficulties are making it difficult for me to share them with you while I'm at the course. I will definitely get them your way once I am at my proper computer this evening!

1:43pm - Shotgun start and tour of the courses

As the teams met at 12:30pm and journeyed to their hole for the 1pm shotgun start, I was whirled around the estate by Alex, a Swan-E-Set employee who graciously offered to give me the grand tour. We drove across the two courses on play today: the newer Links course and the classic and water-hazard heavy Resort course.

The teams all seemed to be enjoying themselves in the sun as we took photos on the fly. I'm in the middle of uploading the first round of shots for you to browse through; once they're done, I'll post the highlights here before heading out for a closer look at each hole.