The West's Best: "J" is for Jasper Park

Since before the First World War, men and women have walked the ethereal valleys and mountain passes of the Banff-Jasper region of the Canadian Rockies, gazed up at the cathedral-like peaks that tower a mile above sea level while … playing golf.

Indeed, in the midst of some of the most dramatic natural formations in North America, generations of visitors from every corner of the globe have come to wonder at the natural spires, to wander with the local citizenry (including elk, big horn sheep, rocky mountain goats, moose, coyote, eagles, egrets, herons, deer and bear) and to play some of the best and most dramatic courses the game has to offer. When most people think of western Canada golf, their mind’s eye focuses right here, on the Alberta-British Columbia border.

First there’s the history of the region, whose golf product pre-dates Pebble Beach. The first nine-hole course at the now world-famous Fairmont Banff Springs Resort opened for play in 1911 in the heart of Banff National Park, an hour’s drive west of Calgary. During the Roaring ’20s, the citizens of what was then a small coal mining town, Canmore, just south of the Park, built themselves a nine-holer. Legendary Canadian golf architect Stanley Thompson unveiled his 18-hole masterpiece at Jasper Park Lodge an hour and a half north of Banff. Four years later his second jewel in the Rockies, an 18-hole course, opened on the site of the original course at Banff Springs.

The Canmore Club moved to the shores of the Bow River in 1961 and about 20 years later the man who had studied the art of course design under Thompson, Robert Trent Jones, was enticed to the area. Since their openings in 1983 and 1984, Jones’ Mount Kidd and Mount Lorette courses, midway between Canmore and Calgary at Kananaskis, have ranked among Canada’s — and Jones’ — finest.

This picture-perfect setting for golf vacations was completed with the addition of The Golf Course at SilverTip (1999) and the Stewart Creek Golf Course (2002) on either side of the Bow River Valley above Canmore. All of these courses meet the criteria of the master Stanley Thompson himself: “The most successful course is one that will test the skill of the most advanced player, without discouraging the duffer, while adding to the enjoyment of both.”

Thompson applied that standard at the Jasper Park Lodge Golf Course. It is truly a measure of Thompson’s genius that after all the quantum-leap developments not only in golf equipment but in the equipment used to build courses, 80 years after it opened Jasper still ranks as one of the finest golf courses anywhere.

And Thompson applied his genius to Banff Springs, officially opened by the Prince of Wales in 1929. The first course in the world to cost more than $1 million to build, Banff Springs is an enduring, priceless classic.

The No. 4 hole is Banff’s international symbol, the much photographed, always astonishing Devil’s Cauldron. Emerging onto elevated tees from hillsides of spruce and fir, the player is faced with a boulder-filled glacial lake 65 feet below. Beyond the green 190 yards away, sheer cliffs rise 3,000 feet to seemingly touch the clouds. The Cauldron is a par 3 to remember forever. In 1989, Canadian Bill Robinson added the Tunnel Nine.

Finally there’s the Kananaskis Valley, halfway between Banff and Calgary, where Robert Trent Jones Jr. was moved to say: “It’s the best natural setting I’ve ever been given to work with.”

Jones took full advantage of the site. In July of 1983, the stunning Mount Lorette course opened followed by Mount Kidd the next spring. The two courses, named almost reverentially for the peaks that define them, have received rave reviews since.

The two Fairmont properties — the Banff Springs Hotel and Jasper Park Lodge — are deservedly world-renowned. The Kananaskis Resort has a fine hotel on the property. Throughout Canmore and Banff there are hotels, motels and excellent restaurants.

The Banff Springs Hotel itself has 12 restaurants, including fine dining (and a great collection of wines) at the Five-Diamond Banffshire Club, California fare at the Bow Valley Grill and Italian cuisine at the Castello Ristorante. But at least once during your stay you will want to leave campus for the town of Banff, a bustling locale with countless fun restaurants and bars as well as plenty of shopping options. Steak-lovers will revere the popular Saltlik, an upscale and trendy spot with a wealth of melt-in-your-mouth beef and fish options. Before and after the meal, the bar-lounge on the first floor is an appealing spot for locals and visitors.

After a tour that includes the timeless masterpieces by Thompson, the pair of Jones classics, the comfortable hometown club and the photo-op new millennium courses in the mountains above Canmore, for every golfer, play in the Canadian Rockies is simply unforgettable. FG

 

Banff Springs | 403.762.6801 | www.banffsprings.com

Jasper | 780.852.6090 | www.jasperparklodge.com

SilverTip | 877.877.5444 | www.silvertipresort.com