Waterton Lakes Golf Club, located in southern Alberta, is marking its centennial season. Wes Gilbertson details a day\u002Dtrip to the course
One of the highlight holes at Waterton Lakes Golf Club is the Par-3 13th, where it’s a wise play to bank your shot off the slope behind the green. Legendary course designer Stanley Thompson would have loved it, too — a brilliant use of the backboard must have been exactly what he envisioned when he left his fingerprints on this national-park property.Roughly a two-and-a-half-hour drive south from Calgary’s city limits, almost to the Canada-U.S.
While not in the same class as Thompson’s mountain masterpieces in Banff and Jasper, this place has a rustic charm and a bargain green-fee. As Pidlaski put it: “Our theme is maybe a little closer to nature.” “When I first got here, the amount of bears I’d seen, I could count on one hand and it was all out the car window on a highway,” said Nick Plantje, now in his second season as superintendent at Waterton Lakes. “But within a couple weeks here, I’d see one and I’d be able to carry on my conversation with somebody, like it was nothing. It’s like seeing a deer, I’ve become so used to them now.
While the staff at Waterton Lakes are proud of the history, including their connection to Canada’s most celebrated course designer, the focus is very much on the future.Article content