Banff Springs

Located in the heart of UNESCO World Heritage Site Banff Springs National Park, the iconic Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel has been welcoming guests, celebrities and even royalty since the late 1880s.

The signature hole, “The Devil’s Cauldron,” is a daunting par 3 as much for the distracting scenery as the challenge. It plays 200-yards from an elevated tee over a glacial pond to a firm green with Mount Rundle as the background.

The luxurious Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel features 739 elegantly appointed rooms, heated indoor and outdoor pools, the Fairmont Spa, dining from burgers to gourmet cuisine and a variety of seasonally appropriate activities on property and in Canada’s first National Park.

The classic mountain town of Banff is just a few minutes away for great shopping and more restaurant choices.

There aren’t many Donald Ross designs that have been developed to achieve greater acclaim, but the Stanley Thompson Course is one such layout. The original 9-hole course was opened in 1911 with Ross then expanding and opening his 18-hole design in 1923. But in 1924 Thompson’s gem – the course at Jasper Park located just up the Icefields Parkway – debuted and stole all the thunder. 

The owners, the Canadian Pacific Railway, then sought out Thompson to better Jasper and create “the final word in golf.” Which in 1929 on the Bow River Valley Floor he achieved with its majestic surrounding mountain backdrop. Costing $1 million to construct, pocket change by today’s standards, it was the most expensive course ever built at the time.

Known as “The Castle in the Rockies,” the Resort has played host to Royalty both of the English and golf variety. Edward Prince of Wales played the nine-hole course in 1919 and came back for the completed Ross version in 1923. King George VI with the Queen Mother, Kate & William and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor have all spent time here. An interesting note the Railway kept the course open during WWI to help booster the morale of the local residents.

Gene Sarazen played an exhibition here in 1936 and Norman, Nicklaus, Daly, Garcia and Ames played a Skins Match in 2006. Other celebs of note include Marilyn Monroe who was shooting a movie and her husband at the time, Joe DiMaggio, who was enjoying shooting scores on the course.