Best Golf Courses in the Penticton Area: A Local's Guide

July 4, 2026

The Penticton area is home to some of the most underrated golf in British Columbia. Four courses, each with its own distinct character, all within a short drive of the city. A local's guide to all of them.

Penticton sits at the heart of the South Okanagan, sandwiched between two lakes and surrounded by desert hills and mountains that make every round feel like a reminder of how good this part of Canada is. The golf here is genuinely exceptional, not in a resort-destination-marketing way but in the way that locals know from playing these courses regularly, season after season, and still looking forward to the next round.

This guide covers four courses within easy reach of Penticton that represent the full range of what golf in this region has to offer. Written by a Penticton resident who plays here regularly and knows each of these courses the way you can only know a course when you live down the road from it.

Skaha Meadows Golf Course

Skaha Meadows is my home course, and it earns that status for good reason. Set in a natural meadow next to the Penticton Airport, with tree-lined fairways and views toward Skaha Lake, it is one of the most consistently enjoyable golf experiences in the south Okanagan regardless of what you shoot.

The 9-hole, 2,435-yard layout features six par 4s and one par 5, making it accessible for beginners and genuinely challenging for experienced players who want to work on specific parts of their game. The natural meadow setting with native grasses gives the course a character that purpose-built tracks cannot replicate, and the friendly atmosphere is something that gets mentioned by virtually everyone who plays here regularly.

Pace of play is one of Skaha Meadows' genuine strengths. You can get a round in without committing a full day, which makes it the kind of course local golfers return to again and again through the season rather than saving it for special occasions. For anyone new to golf in the Penticton area, this is the place to start.

The course sits in open meadow terrain with minimal shade, which in a Penticton summer means meaningful UV exposure from the first tee. A UPF 50+ long sleeve polo and a wide brim hat are the right call here any morning between June and September.

Penticton Golf and Country Club

The Penticton Golf and Country Club was established in 1922, making it one of the oldest golf clubs in British Columbia's interior. Over a century of golf has taken place on these fairways, and the course carries that history in the best possible way, with a mature and well-established layout that rewards strategic play over raw power.

The 18-hole championship course features narrow fairways, water in play on twelve holes, and well-placed bunkers protecting the greens. Positional play from tee to green matters more here than almost anywhere else in the region, and that strategic dimension is exactly what keeps experienced golfers coming back to it year after year. A strong wedge game and a solid putting stroke are the two things the course asks of you most consistently.

The club offers a fully stocked PGA of Canada golf shop, locker rooms, an air-conditioned lounge and restaurant with a large outdoor patio, and short game practice facilities. Public golfers are always welcome, making it accessible to anyone visiting the city who wants to experience a proper championship layout. Book ahead during peak season as weekend tee times fill quickly.

For anyone based in or visiting Penticton who wants to test their game on a course with genuine pedigree, the Penticton Golf and Country Club is the answer.

Summerland Golf and Country Club

Twenty minutes north of Penticton on Highway 97, Summerland Golf and Country Club occupies one of the most distinctive settings of any course in the South Okanagan. Situated on Paradise Flats southwest of the town of Summerland, it offers views of the Okanagan Valley and Trout Creek Canyon that make even a difficult round feel worthwhile.

The opening hole sets the tone immediately. The tee is perched 75 feet above the fairway, offering a stunning view of the Okanagan Valley before you hit your first shot of the day. It is one of the more memorable opening holes in the region and it signals what the course has in store.

The front and back nines offer two genuinely different experiences. The front nine is characterized by generous fairways, relatively flat terrain, and a combination of links-style and tree-lined holes, with four par 4s measuring over 400 yards. The back nine moves into a grove of Ponderosa Pines, with rolling fairways, elevation changes, and undulating greens. No fewer than five holes on the back nine skirt the edge of the massive Trout Creek Canyon, creating risk-reward decisions that make the back nine one of the more memorable stretches of golf in the entire Okanagan.

The course finishes with a risk-reward par 5 that rewards a good drive with a genuine chance to reach the green in two, provided you navigate the canyon correctly. It is the kind of finishing hole that sends you back to the clubhouse talking about your round regardless of your score.

Summerland is a semi-private club owned by its members that welcomes public play. A 300-yard-plus practice facility with grass tees, practice bunkers, chipping green, and putting greens rounds out one of the most complete golf experiences in the Penticton area. It is also the host of the 2021 BCGA Women's Amateur Championship, which gives you a sense of the calibre of course this is.

Twin Lakes Golf Course and RV Resort

Twin Lakes is one of those courses that locals know well and visitors consistently describe as a hidden gem. Located about 20 minutes south of Penticton in Kaleden, it sits in a valley between two mountain sides on 285 acres of genuinely spectacular South Okanagan terrain. The drive there is worth the trip on its own.

The 18-hole, par 72 course measures 6,867 yards from the back tees with a slope rating of 123, making it a genuine test for stronger players while multiple tee blocks on every hole ensure that golfers of all levels find the course playable and enjoyable. The course was deliberately designed to take advantage of the surrounding mountain scenery, with elevated tees, strategically bunkered greens and fairways, and water hazards on four holes.

Pine, fir, and deciduous trees line the fairways throughout, and the combination of mountain backdrop, varied terrain, and consistent course conditions makes Twin Lakes one of the most visually rewarding rounds of golf in the region. The valley setting is peaceful in a way that courses closer to the highway simply cannot match.

The clubhouse features a concession and snack shack with local wines and craft beers, and the outdoor patio overlooking the 1st, 9th, and 10th holes is one of the better places to spend the post-round hour in the South Okanagan. Twin Lakes is also an RV resort, with full-hookup sites situated so close to the first tee that the resort describes the distance as a nine-iron. For golfers looking to spend multiple days in the area, it is genuinely one of the most convenient and enjoyable setups in British Columbia.

Twin Lakes consistently earns its reputation as the best value in the South Okanagan. The combination of course quality, setting, and green fees makes it a course that rewards every golfer who makes the short drive from Penticton to find it.

Planning a Round in the Penticton Area

The golf season in this part of the Okanagan runs from late March through October, with June through August offering the longest days and warmest conditions. Early morning tee times are the local preference during peak summer months, both for the cooler temperatures and because the UV index in the Penticton area regularly reaches 8 to 10 by early afternoon.

At UV index 8, unprotected skin can begin to burn in as little as 15 minutes. A four to five hour round during peak UV hours in the South Okanagan represents sustained exposure that adds up significantly over a season of regular play. Sun protection is not optional here. A UPF 50+ long sleeve polo, a wide brim hat, and SPF 50 sunscreen reapplied at the turn is the right approach for any summer round on any of these four courses.

A Note from a Local

I started Enjoy the Vu in Penticton after a melanoma diagnosis in 2018. I was golfing in this region regularly, applying sunscreen and thinking that was enough, when I found out otherwise. The brand was built for exactly this kind of golf, long summer rounds in one of Canada's most UV-intense regions, on courses beautiful enough to keep you outside far longer than is probably wise without the right protection.