Kananaskis

The Kananaskis golf complex is actually made up of two resident and visitor favorites – The Mount Lorette Course and The Mount Kidd Course. The courses are named after two neighboring mountains that tower over 10,000 feet – the course itself sits at an elevation of 5,000 feet.

The Mount Kidd Course opened in 1983 by the government as Alberta’s affordable place for all to play and enjoy. With an initial green fee of only $20 it was an immediate hit. The Mount Lorette course followed in 1984.

Accolades poured in for the Robert Trent Jones Sr. scenic design with holes routed through pine forests and following along the Kananaskis River that featured 150 bunkers to navigate.

Upon the second course opening in 1984 The Edmonton Sun commented, “If God is a golfer, his bag tag must read Kananaskis.”

In 1996 Golf Digest named Kananaskis County the best 36-hole facility in North America. Brian McCallen, the Travel Editor for Golf Magazine stated in 1998 after his visit, “Until the Dalai Lama builds a golf resort in the Himalayas, Kananaskis reigns as the world’s preeminent 36-hole mountain complex.”

The resort even hosted the 2002 G20 Summit when it required over 5,000 military to protect the perimeter of the 600-acre property.

Then in June 2013 disaster stuck when flooding severely damaged 32 holes of the 36-hole complex that had to be completely rebuilt from scratch. Local golf course architect, Gary Browning was enlisted to oversee the reconstruction of the classic designs to a tune of over $23 million. Much to the province’s residents and visitors’ relief the complex reopened in 2018, a full 5 years after closing to its original design (minus 30 bunkers) and luster.