The Canadian Rockies is amongst the top natural wonders of the world. It is internationally renowned for the sparklingly clean air and its stunning scenery. Coupled with the quiet of unspoiled wilderness, the Canadian Rockies is perhaps the paradise on earth.

Snow-gilded mountain peaks, gem-like lakes, lush green river valleys and wide blue western skies are almost scenery clichés, but on your Canadian Rockies golf vacation this is reality. Golfers from around the world come to just stand and stare at one of nature’s crowning achievements. The fact that you’ll be playing golf in such a fabulous setting is just the icing on the cake. Of course, the numerous world-class golf courses in the area take full advantage of their gorgeous settings.

Verdant fairways weave themselves around glacier-fed streams and towering stands of evergreens, and often the greens themselves are back-dropped by achingly beautiful vistas. If there is a heaven, surely it must look like this! In such circumstances, it can be very difficult to concentrate on your golf game.

There are a wide variety of golf courses to choose from, all of them fabulous in their own unique way. Stanley Thompson, Canada’s master golf architect, designed the Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course in 1928. He sensitively incorporated the natural scenic splendour into his design. The course winds along beside the pristine wilderness of the Bow River overlooked by the snow-capped peaks of Sulphur Mountain and Mount Rundle. This amazing course will both challenge and delight you.

SCOREGolf Magazine rates the Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club as the #1 Best Golf Resort in Canada with good reason. Designed in the 1920’s by Stanley Thompson, few golf courses in the world can match the rugged majesty of this national treasure. The design features wide fairways carved through thick forest, dramatic bunkering and holes aligned with distant mountain vistas. It presents a cunning blend of beautiful landscapes and challenging terrain.

The Canadian Rockies golf vacation would be incomplete without the fine dining, luxurious accommodations, the one-of-a-kind shopping experiences and the self-indulging spas. Thank God, world-renowned resorts like Banff and Jasper in the Canadian Rockies have been offering these amenities for more than a century, with top class service.

This is truly hedonistic luxury in the heart of spectacular unspoiled wilderness. Come and experience the Canadian Rockies tradition!

K. Gordon Schultz
President
Golf Canada’s West
www.GolfCanadasWest.com

K. Gordon Schultz calls upon over 35 years of experience in Western Canada’s travel industry. As a Bachelor of Commerce graduate from the University of Calgary, Schultz established Tour Canada West Ltd. in 1978 to offer Destination Management services to the international Meetings & Incentive travel industry.

For more reviews and information on your Next Canadian Golf Holiday , follow the following links of Other Great Sources for Golf Vacations:

Golftherockies.com

Rockies.com

CanadianRockies.net

FlagstaffTravel.com

BanffNationalPark.com

BanffTravel.com

JasperNationalPark.com

Visit-Jasper.com

DiscoverLakeLouise.com

CanmoreKananaskis.com

The Okanagan Valley is indeed blessed with a mild, almost Mediterranean climate. It has temperate spring and fall seasons and a warm and sunny summer in between. The area is truly welcoming with the lake breeze, moderating even the warmest days of summer.

The happy climate of Okanagan nurtures its thriving vineyards and orchards. The verdant greenery, cascading down the hillsides to the sandy lakeside beaches, makes a wonderful man-made contribution to the incredible natural beauty of the area.

The stunning mountain, lake and desert terrain, coupled with fresh, clean air, warm sunshine and world-class golf courses encourages a leisurely, unhurried lifestyle… making the Okanagan a prime for golf vacation!

The growing number of high quality wineries in the area has led to a flourishing regional wine scene. This, together with the abundance of fresh locally grown organic produce, has led many award-winning chefs to settle in the area. The delicious result is innovative cuisine that pairs well with delectable regional wines. Why not follow a golf game in the morning with a relaxing, all-inclusive afternoon vineyard tour? Transportation, wine sampling, winery tours and an evening dinner at a winery restaurant are all provided for you- all you have to do is sit back and enjoy! What better way to cap a day on the golf course than to dine al fresco in a winery restaurant surrounded by sun-warmed vineyards?

The championship golf courses themselves are world-class; designed by renowned names such as Les Furber and Jack Nicklaus’ Golden Bear Design. Whatever type of golfing you choose, a challenging championship course or a couples-friendly resort-type game, the Okanagan is a golf vacation paradise! With a golf courses to suit every mood, the beautiful Okanagan Valley scenery and cheerful service is provided for free at every location!

Need some time away from the golf course? The picturesque lakeside town of Kelowna is the center of your Okanagan stay and offers many unique shopping, entertainment and dining experiences. As a popular retirement center, Kelowna has a friendly, unrushed feel to it, while still providing many of the desirable amenities of a bigger city. The town’s revitalized and compact Cultural District provides art galleries, concert halls, movie theaters and sporting facilities, all within a short stroll of the popular lakeside promenade.

About the Author:

K. Gordon Schultz is the President of Golf Canada’s West. He has over 35 years of experience in Western Canada’s travel industry.

Schultz established Tour Canada West Ltd. in 1978 as a Bachelor of Commerce graduate from the University of Calgary. His company offers Destination Management services to the international Meetings & Incentive travel industry.

In 1999 Schultz formed Golf Canada’s West Ltd. in response to the growing demand for quality, service oriented golf vacations to Alberta and British Columbia. The company has enjoyed consistent growth to become Western Canada’s leading golf vacation specialist.

Schultz has volunteered for local youth groups (1st Canmore Scouts, Canmore Coho Swim Club) and has served on the Board of Directors of Tourism Calgary, Meetings & Conventions Banff / Lake Louise, and most recently as President of the Canmore Golf & Curling Club.

For more information about Golf Canada’s West, visit www.GolfCanadasWest.com

Other Great Sources for Golf Vacations:

Golftherockies.com

Rockies.com

CanadianRockies.net

FlagstaffTravel.com

BanffNationalPark.com

BanffTravel.com

JasperNationalPark.com

Visit-Jasper.com

DiscoverLakeLouise.com

CanmoreKananaskis.com

Fortunately, Whistler golf vacations are as fabulous as the scenery. You have your choice of four top-rated, award-winning courses within minutes of Whistler Village. Designed by such luminaries as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Robert Cupp, and Robert Trent Jones Jr., each course has its own unique character, not to mention challenges.

Whistler will be the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics and is already a world-renowned ski resort with accordingly world-class amenities. Whistler Village itself has a compact, pedestrian-only town center, where luxurious hotels offering elegantly sumptuous accommodation are complimented by many fine restaurants. With a choice of over 90 dining places, all with-in easy strolling distance, you’re sure to find a dining experience to suit your tastes. After dinner, you will find a diversity of entertainment options such as nightclubs, piano bars, live theater, cinema, or art galleries. Whistler has something for everybody.

Other off-course essentials like shopping and pampering are also well looked after. There is a wide range of shops and boutiques- whether you desire high fashion apparel, jewelry, unique native art, or even golf equipment, you’ll find it somewhere in Whistler Village.

Spas are becoming increasingly popular with both sexes, and with over twenty spas, Whistler has one to suit every taste. Everything from aromatherapy to yoga is readily available. Some spas even offer a ‘couples packages’, so you can relax and unwind together after a hard day on the golf course.

The best part about a Whistler golf vacation is the overall friendly, laid-back ambience of the place. The service is still comprehensive and efficient, but delivered in an unobtrusively friendly manner by people who care. It must be that the spectacular scenery, the crisp mountain air and the pure water have a soothing effect on everyone.

by K. Gordon Schultz

K. G. Schultz is the President of Golf Canada’s West. He has over 35 years of experience in Western Canada’s travel industry. As a Bachelor of Commerce graduate from the University of Calgary, he established Tour Canada West Ltd. in 1978 to offer Destination Management services to the international Meetings & Incentive travel industry.

In 1999 Schultz formed Golf Canada’s West Ltd. in response to the growing demand for quality, service oriented golf vacations to Alberta and British Columbia. The company has enjoyed consistent growth to become Western Canada’s leading golf vacation specialist.

Schultz has volunteered for local youth groups (1st Canmore Scouts, Canmore Coho Swim Club) and has served on the Board of Directors of Tourism Calgary, Meetings & Conventions Banff / Lake Louise, and most recently as President of the Canmore Golf & Curling Club.

For more details, visit www.GolfCanadasWest.com

Canmore Golf & Curling Club

Kananaskis Country Golf Course

Silvertip Golf Resort

Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Golf Course

Golf Canada’s West 

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Trying to understand what a vacation or lifestyle destination is like from the outside looking in can be difficult. And informed decisions can mean the difference between wishing for a great getaway experience and ensuring one.

A consortium of six golf-and-resort lifestyle properties in Alberta, Canada understand this and have banded together to offer as fine a collection as perhaps exists in North America. And they’ve helped prospective visitors better understand what they offer through their brand tagline – “Canadian Rockies Golf: Historic. Dramatic. Untamed.”

Here are the precise reasons why each of these descriptive words were selected by this group, which includes Stewart Creek Golf and Country Club, The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, Kananaskis Country Golf Course, Canmore Golf & Curling Club, Silvertip Resort, and The Fairmont Banff Springs.

Historic.
With two revered, classical era golf course designs by Stanley Thompson – at Banff Springs and Jasper Park – two Robert Trent Jones Sr. masterpieces at Kananaskis Country Golf Course, and The Fairmont Banff Springs – which is styled after a Scottish baronial castle and built in the late 19th Century – the destination is a tribute to elegant, timeless designs from a bygone era. Yet it offers all the modern conveniences and amenities, but without overdevelopment thanks to being located in either federal parks (the two Fairmont resorts) or an idyllic, rural oasis (Kananaskis Country).

Dramatic.
All six of the courses in the area – with a combined 135 holes and an additional new 18 soon to arrive along side Stewart Creek – are decorated by towering, majestic mountain peaks which are so close they seem within arm’s reach. Distraction by natural wonder is a distinct reality when playing golf in the Canadian Rockies. Silvertip and Stewart Creek not only offer great drama in their course designs, which wind up and down and around the stunning terrain, but also are preferred sites for weddings and corporate retreats. They also are popular vacation- and/or second-home destinations, thanks to the aforementioned scintillating vistas and locations of the resorts, combined with their many upscale amenities.

Untamed.
Thanks to the thousands upon thousands of protected acres which fall under the national parks and which are the core of the Canadian Rockies golf and resort lifestyle experience, wildlife proliferates. It is common to see 800-pound elk with massive racks atop their head meandering throughout the area, including occasionally asking to play through. Jasper Park is particularly graced with an abundance of animals throughout the park. There’s a reason they call it “the wild side of the Rockies”, and bear, coyote, cougars, and a wide variety of birds including eagles are regularly sighted. Furthermore, virtually all of the Canadian Rockies consortium golf courses are honored members of the Audubon Sanctuary program which promotes and recognizes properties which employ best environmental practices.

Nature and golf are only a couple of the many acclaimed attractions offered in the Canadian Rockies (the golf courses are routinely bestowed with best-of accolades). Other amenities include Banff Springs’ Willow Stream Spa, which is 38,000 square feet of award-winning opulence and myriad soul-soothing services. Or Jasper Park is the perfect resort choice for families or corporate retreats thanks to a plethora of standalone accommodation choices including luxury cabins with casually elegant common areas and full kitchens combined with individual, hotel-style rooms for privacy.

Canmore Golf & Curling Club is a delightful club with a vibe like that of the TV sitcom “Cheers,” where everybody knows your name and you’re welcomed like an old friend. Golf course architect Les Furber, who also designed Silvertip Resort, is a member. How many courses can you play where the course is constantly being tweaked by a talented, well-regarded design expert?

Combine the spectacular scenery and summer daylight as late as 11:00 p.m. and golfers can play to their heart’s delight and still have time for family and the region’s many other activities. These include helicopter tours, hiking, fishing, rafting, gourmet restaurants, indoor and outdoor pools, horseback riding, and many children’s programs.

This area – host to the 1988 Olympic Games in Alberta – has long been known to avid travelers and winter-sport aficionados for its awe-inspiring terrain and jaw-dropping scenery. Winter activities run the gamut from skiing, ice climbing, dog-sledding, snowshoeing, ice fishing, horse-drawn carriage rides, hockey, ice-skating and much more.

For icing on the cake all of the properties are close to one another – from 5 to 45 minutes – except Jasper Park. It’s a three-hour drive from Banff Springs, but such a description would be decried by many. Traversed along the Icefields Parkway, many consider this mind-blowing drive among the world’s most scintillating, thanks to the panoramic, otherworldly natural environs, which include glaciers, pine forests blanketing craggy slopes, and everpresent snow-capped peaks which can rise as high as 12,000 feet from the roughly mile-high base on which most of the area sits.

To view the stunning topography, vacation options and learn more about the area visit www.canadianrockiesgolf.ca. Website visitors can view stay-and-play packages or request custom quotes for trips and packages. Or they may call Golf Canada’s West at 877.323.3633 for more information.

The critical acclaim and unique attributes of the six golf properties which comprise “Canadian Rockies Golf: Historic, Dramatic Untamed” include:

Stewart Creek Golf & Country Club – 877.993.GOLF

• Golf Digest rated 4 ½ stars
• Surrounded by the spellbinding Three Sisters Mountains, practically close enough to touch during play
• Audubon-certified course preserves habitat for plentiful wildlife

The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge – 866.540.4454

• Featuring the “wild side of the Rockies” – elk, caribou, coyote, bear,and wolves inhabit the national park
• Widely regaled as one of the world’s best resort courses
• Designed by Stanley Thompson, the 18 holes carve contours at the feet of mountains

Kananaskis Country Golf Course – 877.591.2525

• Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed courses are islolated, nestled in rural countryside
• 36 holes played beneath breathtaking Mt. Lorette and Mt. Kidd, after which the courses are respectively named
• Features immaculate lush fairways, famed island-like 4th green on Mt. Kidd course, 140+ silica sand bunkers and the cascading Kananaskis River

Canmore Golf and Curling Club – 888.678.4785

• Valley-based property requires players use all clubs in their bag, narrow fairways challenge all levels of golfers
• Tree-lined course, friendly community atmosphere provides intimacy and camaraderie
• Located at base of Bow Valley, glacier-fed streams lace through course

Silvertip Golf Resort – 877.877.5444

• Home course of PGA Tour Member and 2006 Players Champion Stephen Ames
• Golf Digest rated 4 ½ stars and lauded for environmental sensitivity and maintenance practices
• 600 feet of elevation change, including dramatic par-4 18th with extreme altitude drop from tee to fairway, fairway to green

The Fairmont Banff Springs – 866.840.8402

• Historical course and castle-like hotel with regal ambiance, award-winning Willow Stream Spa and exquisite resort amenities
• 27 holes of golf – 18 Stanley Thompson-designed holes including the 200-yard, par-3 Devil’s Cauldron, 147 bunkers, and the 9-hole Tunnel Course
• Panoramic beauty, picturesque-mountain setting nestled between Sulphur Mountain and Mount Rundle

K. Gordon Schultz
President
Golf Canada’s West
www.GolfCanadasWest.com