From Claude:
The Alberta trip — Banff Springs and Jasper Park Lodge are really the crown jewels of his career. They're quite different from each other despite both being mountain courses. Banff is more dramatic and rugged, while Jasper has an almost pastoral elegance to it despite its mountain setting. If you're going to make the trip, staying at the Fairmont properties at both would make it a proper experience — the lodges are as much a part of the Thompson legacy as the courses themselves. Timing matters too — the season is relatively short, so July or August would give you the best conditions.
BANFF
Fairmont Banff Springs, 405 Spray Ave, Banff, AB T1L 1J4
- During the first half of the 20th century, Toronto-born Stanley Thompson did for Canadian golf what Donald Ross did in the United States. Should you venture upon a beautiful, Golden Age golf course in Canada, chances are it has Thompson’s fingerprints all over it. According to the Stanley Thompson Society, the architect completed more than 120 courses in nine of the country’s 10 provinces. One of the most dramatic and picturesque, the Banff Springs Hotel Golf Course, circa 1927, was crafted along the Bow River, seemingly in the shadows of Sulphur Mountain’s and Mount Rundle’s snow-capped peaks.
- Today, the 18-hole course is complemented by an additional 9-hole layout, Tunnel Mountain 9, designed by Geoffrey Cornish and William Robinson, which opened for play in 1989. Together, those two courses comprise the golf offerings at the Fairmont Banff Springs, a resort set deep within a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Banff National Park) where a sprawling castle-like hotel is outfitted with 739 guestrooms and suites. Many of those accommodations are equipped with fireplaces and original architectural features, all of which reflect the historic nature of the resort—a property that garnered the nickname “Castle in the Rockies” when it first opened in 1888. (https://linksmagazine.com/canada-top-golf-resorts)
CANMORE
Silvertip Golf Course, 2000 Silvertip Trail, Canmore, AB T1W 3J4
- Located in the heart of the Canadian Rockies, Silvertip Resort offers one of the finest mountain golf and event settings anywhere in the world.
- A half hour from Banff
JASPER
Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Golf Course, 1 Old Lodge Rd, Jasper, AB T0E 1E0
- Highly recommended by Vaughn
- But stay in Hinton
- 3 1/2 hours from Fairmont Banff Springs
- 4 hours from Edmonton International Airport
- Walter Boyko recommended it
- One hour from Fairmont Banff Springs
- Where Canada Meets Scotland
- an example of an inland links
- 50 minutes south of the Edmonton International Airport
- Designed by Rod Whitman
- Top 2025 Green Fee: $76
