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Sagebrush Golf Club is a public golf course located on the southern bank of Nicola Lake 13.2 miles (21.3kms) from the town of Merritt in the interior of British Columbia, Canada.

The course and associated lands cover 400 acres.

Course Designers
Sagebrush Golf Club was designed by the Canadian team of Rod Whitman (designer of Cabot Links, Nova Scotia), Richard Zokol (2-time winner on the PGA Tour) and Armen Suny (Agronomist). The golf course was opened in 2009 to critical acclaim.

Awards
2009 - “Best New Course in Canada” awarded by Golf Digest/ SCOREGolf

2012 - Ranked 3rd in “Best Modern Golf Club in Canada” - Golfweek

2014 - Ranked 85th “Top 100 Best Courses Outside the U.S.” - Golf Digest

2022 - Number 1 ranked public golf course in British Columbia - SCOREGolf

Characteristics of the course
Sagebrush has been designed as a ‘minimalist’ course. Very little work has been done to the land with the holes being sculpted from the natural terrain. The course has a links feel to it being exposed to the elements with punishing rough and slopes designed to penalize a slightly errant shot.

The course can stretch out to 7399 yards from the back tees but there are a variety of tees to challenge every level of golfer who gets the opportunity to play Sagebrush.

Additional features of the course and in keeping with its minimalist feel are the lack of rakes in the bunkers and distance markers on the fairways.

At present, the golf course operates a policy of allowing 54 guests to play each day.

History
Initially, it was intended to be a high-end private club with memberships starting at $200,000. In addition to this, 31 plots of land were allocated for private development.

Sagebrush opened its gates to get more golfers in to play but the course was closed in October 2014.

Things looked more positive for Sagebrush when it was bought by the Newmark Group on 1st November 2015 under the leadership of Mark Chandler.

With the onset of winter and a rezoning issue that was sorted out on the classification of some of the buildings on the property, the plan was to reopen Sagebrush in 2016.

To help regenerate Sagebrush further Newmark Group announced that they were bringing in the expertise provided by Troon Golf into the management structure in 2016.

This marked Troon Golf’s first course in its 250-course portfolio in Canada. A new general manager was also announced in early 2016 - Scott Masse would be looking after day-to-day operations and help get the course re-opened.

A New Beginning
Sagebrush was given new hope when the long-term lease for the property was purchased in 2021 by a small consortium headed up by a Vancouver-based businessman - Andrew Knott.

New appointments were swiftly made to help bring the golf course back to life. Neil Pilon who was the former course superintendent was brought back in to oversee the work being carried out to restore the course.

Richard Zokol also came in to lend support to the project in an unofficial capacity.

Mark Strong was hired in March 2021 in the capacity of general manager and Randy Smith was appointed as head club professional.

The course had a ‘soft’ opening in August 2021 and its first full season will be in 2022.

The Future
With work ongoing to bring the course back to its former best, there are plans to add further amenities to the property.

Sagebrush Golf Club is today described as a ‘boutique golf club’ and it offers not only the opportunity to play golf but also to spend some time fishing giving a full-day experience.

This is best demonstrated by the ‘Hideout’ located close to the 13th hole where food and drink are served but also a small lake presents an opportunity to fish before continuing the round.

In addition to the golf course, golfers can test their skills on the ‘Badlands’ putting course which is floodlit allowing for night practice and the ‘Double 8’ chipping area.

Under Knott’s management, Sagebrush will be developed in the way it was intended in 2009 and once more the future looks bright.

Along with fishing, plans are in the offing to complete the clubhouse and pro shop. Currently, there is accommodation on sight housing up to 28 guests with more to follow.