The Best Golf Courses of the Canadian Rockies

Banff, Alberta.

There are few better feelings than grabbing your new clubs, a (big) handful of the best golf balls around and hitting the tee box surrounded by the beautiful scenery of the Canadian Rockies. Of course, there are better feelings than when you hit nothing but air with your first effort as the quiet echo of stifled laughs hang in the air! In and around Banff is home to some of North America’s finest courses and they are constantly improving themselves to stay the best.

Now, six of the best courses (as listed below) have combined their forces to offer visitors the best access to a world-class collection. “The recreation and lifestyle choices here are too many to count, and the protected mountains, forests and wildlife are second to none,” says Gordon Schultz, spokesman for this exciting new consortium.

As a keen but atrocious golfer, this set-up suits Mountain Man perfectly. 135 holes to choose from, surely there must be at least one that I can avoid a triple bogey! At the right time of year, you can play until almost 11pm…if only we could play through the night! Below is a list of some of the assets of the courses.

1. The Fairmont Banff Springs

• Historical course and castle-like hotel with regal ambiance, award-winning Willow Stream Spa and fantastic resort amenities.
• 27 holes of golf – 18 Stanley Thompson-designed holes including the 200-yard, par-3 Devil’s Cauldron, 147 irritating bunkers, and the 9-hole Tunnel Course for those less equipped such as yours truly.
• Panoramic beauty, picturesque-mountain setting nestled between Sulphur Mountain and Mount Rundle. Golfing is hardly necessary in such a setting.

2. Silvertip Golf Resort

• Home course of PGA Tour Member and 2006 Players Champion Stephen Ames
• Golf Digest rated 4 ½ stars and lauded for environmental sensitivity and maintenance practices.
• 600 feet of elevation change, including dramatic par-4 18^th with extreme altitude drop from tee to fairway, fairway to green.

3. Canmore Golf and Curling Club

• Valley-based property is the kind of place where you are going to have to use all of the clubs you have in your bag. There are narrow fairways challenge all levels of golfers
• Tree-lined course, friendly community atmosphere provides intimacy and camaraderie
• Located at base of Bow Valley, glacier-fed streams lace through course

4. Kananaskis Country Golf Course

• Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed courses are isolated, nestled in rural countryside.
• 36 holes played beneath breathtaking Mt. Lorette and Mt. Kidd, after which the courses are respectively named.
• Features immaculate lush fairways, famed island-like 4^th green on Mt. Kidd course, 140+ silica sand bunkers and the cascading Kananaskis River.

5. The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge

• Featuring the “wild side of the Rockies” – elk, caribou, coyote, bear and wolves inhabit the national park so a great chance to catch some wildlife.
• Widely regaled as one of the world’s best resort courses.
• Designed by Stanley Thompson, the 18 holes carve contours at the feet of overhanging mountains.

6. Stewart Creek Golf & Country Club

• Golf Digest rated 4 ½ stars
• Surrounded by the spellbinding Three Sisters Mountains, practically close enough to touch during play
• Audubon-certified course preserves habitat for plentiful wildlife.