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Golf in Alberta Province, Canada

When most people think of Alberta province, Canada, they think of Calgary or Edmonton (with its West Edmonton Mall,) or Banff and Jasper National Parks. Some may also have warm memories of the Calgary Stampede, the world’s largest rodeo. Perhaps Edmonton’s Folk Music Festival, Symphony Under the Sky, Yardbird Jazz Festival or Labatt Blues Festival comes to mind or Maybe Calgary’s International Film Festival or Canmore’s Mozart on the Mountain or Drumheller’s Beethoven in the Badlands concerts appeal to some. They are all very worthy activities within this west-Canadian province, and only represent a small portion of the festivals, fetes and celebrations held there every year.

Golfers, though, are more likely to think of places like Blackhawk Golf Club, and Wolf Creek, both Rod Whitman designs. Where Wolf Creek involved major terraforming to produce that links environment, Whitman worked largely within the existing terrain in developing Blackhawk, and intended it to be a thinking person’s golf course. And you’d best be on your toes at that, because dandies like the 11th hole will be lying in wait.

Don’t think that’s a monopoly on good golf, though. The picturesque terrain has lent itself well to several courses. (Golf is still a Heritage Game in Canada, after all.) In Medicine Hat alone, there are the Medicine Hat Golf and Country Club (right on the north bank of the South Saskatchewan River,) the Connaught Golf Course, Cottonwood Golf Course (on Seven Persons Creek,) Paradises Valley and Ross Creek, both Par 3 courses, the Riverview Golf Course in Redcliff, and The Links at Desert Blume, which is opening in Spring, 2007.

Another wonderful aspect of golfing in Canada is that, like Alaska, summer days grow very long indeed. You can finish off the 18th hole at 10 pm and still have plenty of daylight to see by. With some 275 golf courses in Alberta province alone, you’re going to need those extra hours to take them all in! With masterpieces by the celebrated and foundational Scottish-born Stanley Thompson, such as the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and Fairmont Banff Springs Resort, you can count on yet another picture-perfect Canadian challenge to your skills and strategy. The great Robert Trent Jones may have said it best when he quipped “... Thompson was a charming, persuasive non-conformist and artist, who could steal your heart as well as your par.”

The value of the US dollar is still strong, provides an extra discount for US citizens vacationing in Canada. Their prices are already low relative to US prices. The exchange rate is just an added bonus heaped alongside it. Treat yourself to an extra day, or perhaps more luxurious accommodations. The Fairmont Banff Springs Resort remains one of the grandest hotels in the world, and would most certainly welcome the opportunity to pamper you.

If you’re planning golf vacation, plan to visit Alberta province in Canada. The scenery will take your breath away, the people will warm your heart, and the golf will steal it away – all on a budget most anyone can afford. Once you’ve been, you’re sure to keep coming back to explore!