Fairmont Banff Springs: Thompson's Mountain Masterpiece

The verdict

Golf came to Banff in 1911 with a nine holer by Bill Thomson, a Scot who apprenticed under Old Tom Morris, and Donald Ross stretched it to eighteen in 1924. But the course that matters is Stanley Thompson's, unveiled in 1928 after the Canadian Pacific Railway told its architect that money was no object. Thompson kept a few Ross holes, rebuilt the rest, and routed the whole thing through the valley where the Spray River meets the Bow, with Mount Rundle and Sulphur Mountain standing over every shot. Many still call it the best mountain course in the world, and it sits inside the top ten in Canada in the national rankings.

Our verdict is that Banff Springs is the most complete resort golf experience in the Canadian Rockies. The valley floor is surprisingly flat and genuinely walkable, the Thompson bunkering is bold and beautifully kept, and the greens hold subtle borrows rather than tricks. Pair it with its sibling at Jasper Park Lodge, three hours up the Icefields Parkway, for the great Thompson double of western Canada. Elk on the fairways are part of the deal.

The holes worth the trip

Every hole at Banff Springs carries a name, and the one the world knows is the 4th, the Devil's Cauldron. It is a par 3 of 192 yards from the back tee, falling some 70 feet to a small green ringed almost entirely by sand, with a glacial tarn in front and the near vertical wall of Mount Rundle filling the sky behind. Golf Magazine has named it among the best 18 holes in the world, and there is no bailout: pick a club, trust the drop, and swing.

The 7th, Hoodoo, is the hardest hole on the card, a par 5 of 517 yards where the second shot must thread past what may be the largest bunker Thompson ever built into a landing area barely a dozen paces wide. The back nine then turns for home along the Bow River, and at the 12th, Big Bow, you walk up to the green and get your first full view of the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel rising castle like across the water. It is one of the great reveals in golf.

The 15th, Spray, joins the Cauldron in the book of 1,001 holes to play before you die: a par 4 launched from a high tee across the Spray River, playing shorter than its yardage and straight at the hotel. The closer, Windy, is a reachable par 5 with sand staged all the way to a slightly raised green, a birdie chance to send you in happy. Thompson kept his greens subtle, so good approaches earn makeable putts rather than three putt punishment.

Where to stay nearby

The only answer that does the trip justice is the Fairmont Banff Springs itself, the castle in the Rockies that the railway built in 1888 and the reason the golf course exists. The first tee is a short shuttle ride below the hotel, golf inclusive packages run through the season, and the hot springs, the spa and a dozen restaurants fill the hours after the round.

Banff townsite, ten minutes away, offers plenty of alternatives at gentler rates, and Canmore, twenty minutes outside the park gate, is the value base for a longer Rockies swing taking in Kananaskis and Silvertip. Book early for July and August; the mountain summer is short and the town fills fast.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts in Banff, led by the Fairmont Banff Springs.