Canada

Heard an interesting fact this morning on The Golf Channel - Canada has the highest golf participation rate per-capita of any country in the world. Something for those Canadians on the board to be proud of I think!

Anyway, that got me thinking about a trip to Canada for a golf break next summer. Is a round of golf on a decent course good value there (what's the average for a round)? In general, are the public courses in good shape? Since Canada is a huge country, is there a particular city / region that would be the best place to concentrate on? I read in Golf Magazine there are some spectacular mountain courses around Banff and Calgary.

Any input from the Canadians on the board much appreciated!

Hi Carter,

There are MANY golf destinations in Canada. An interesting site has the toughest 18 holes in Canada: http://www2.sportsnet.ca/golf_18holes.html

The biggest destination that tourism is trying to puch right now is Prince Edward Island. There are many newly developed coursese that are supposedly in amazing condition, the gem being the Links at Crowbush. Apparently the prices are quite resonable, but I couldn't tell you what they are charging for sure. Ontario offers many great courses, but I am not familiar with the area. I live in Edmonton and there are quite a few amazing courses here. (Following price incluse a power cart) Northern Bear (Nicklaus designed) is about $100-125/round, Red Tail Landing (they played the Telus Open there) is about $75-90, Black Hawk is about $90 (just held a skins game with Fred Couples), Wolf Creek (about an hour away) is close to the same price (both Rod Whitman designs) there is also Cougar Creek, Goose Hummock and many others.

Calgary has many great courses as well but I'm not as familiar and the prices are higher for similar courses.

In BC, the East Kootenay valley is AMAZING for golf. I used to work at the Radium Golf resort, where there are 2 courses (and they are working on a 3rd). Fairmont has 2 courses, plus courses like Grey Wolf, Eagle Ranch, Copper Point, Golden, Trickle Creek and many others. Definitely a world class golf destination. It's amazing where people came from to play those courses.

__________________
Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall

Wow - thanks for the reply Gord - this is great. A career with the Canadian Tourist Board is definitely on the cards if you ever decide to hang up your clubs!

The East Kootenay Valley sounds great - just the name alone makes me want to go there, so I'm going to start looking into that. Sounds like a good concentration of top courses in that area from what you've described.

I've visited Toronto and some of Ontario before for a couple of weeks and loved it (didn't play any golf though) but it would be nice to see a different part of Canada - so BC it is!

When does the season start and end in that part of the world? (April to early October?).

Thanks again!

The season in the Kootenay valley is typically April to October, but I suggest not going in April or October. This is when most of the course maintenance is and you never know what can happen with the weather. Especially if you are planning to golf Grey Wolf. I believe they don't open until about mid May, usually right around May long weekend. It can also snow quite early up there as well, so that can eat October up. Best time is June and September - courses are in great condition and the tourists haven't started flooding the valley because kids are still in school.

Depending on how long you are going for, I would suggest only playing about 4 of the courses in the valley (Trickle Creek, Grey Wolf, Eagle Ranch and the Springs at Radium), then taking a trip to Banff and playing the Banff Springs course (only an 1 1/2 hour drive), then Silver Tip at Canmore (another 1/2 hour), Wolf Creek at Ponoka (around 2 hour drive), then Black Hawk and either Red Tail Landing or Northern Bear in Edmonton (another hour).

If you take a look through my photo gallery on this site, there are a few pics of the courses I have mentioned in there.

__________________
Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall

Once again, thanks Gord - took a quick look at your photo gallery and there was a pretty striking photo of Eagle Ranch in there - looked beautiful.

If I have any more questions I'll be sure to let you know - gonna do a bit more research on the list of courses you've given me.

Already working on getting some mates together for the trip. We normally do a 5 day Myrtle Beach trip each year, which is great, but the Kootenay valley would be such a change of scenery.