After a couple of waggles, I coil back, hoist the club high above my head, and make a violent swing-like lunge at the ball. Poetry in motion? I think not. Jerky gibberish might be a more apt descriptor. Nonetheless, I strike the sweet spot and my ball hangs in the thin mountain air for a long, long time. I admire this. That is, until my ball airmails the green and lands in Never Never Land way, way, way past the target. An overachievement, of sorts. In the true sense of the word, it’s something every golfer who tees it up in the Kimberley and Cranbrook region will experience. Read More
After a couple of waggles, I coil back, hoist the club high above my head, and make a violent swing-like lunge at the ball. Poetry in motion? I think not. Jerky gibberish might be a more apt descriptor. Nonetheless, I strike the sweet spot and my ball hangs in the thin mountain air for a
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After a couple of waggles, I coil back, hoist the club high above my head, and make a violent swing-like lunge at the ball. Poetry in motion? I think not. Jerky gibberish might be a more apt descriptor. Nonetheless, I strike the sweet spot and my ball hangs in the thin mountain air for a long, long time. I admire this. That is, until my ball airmails the green and lands in Never Never Land way, way, way past the target. An overachievement, of sorts. In the true sense of the word, it’s something every golfer who tees it up in the Kimberley and Cranbrook region will experience.
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It’s no secret. Just west of Calgary are numerous golf courses – destinations, actually – that showcase the mountain golf genre better than, well, basically anywhere else on a globe you can point to. And, certainly, each of these places – Canmore, Banff, and the Invermere area immediately come to mind – has plenty of merit. But from the lens I’m looking through, for value, variety, quality and quantity, there is another destination that is truly tough to top. Kimberley and Cranbrook.
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Thanks to seven outstanding mountain golf courses, the one-two punch of Kimberley (an old mining town gone mad for golf) and Cranbrook (the largest city in the Kootenay Rockies) make an ideal destination to hunker down and hoist a few balls into pine-scented air. Tip: The ball flies further in the mountains.
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My recent swing-fling to the area started at the polished St. Eugene Mission Golf Resort & Casino. With the historic stone mission building (now a luxurious boutique hotel) anchoring this stately property, St. Eugene is a tucked-away resort that has a peaceful, off-the-beaten-path vibe. And St. Eugene, with its stunning mountain course in a picture-perfect valley, is a course you don’t want to miss.
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Also, even non-golfers – thanks to the quality of the dining, the spacious outdoor pool area, the Casino of the Rockies, and the excellent Ktunaxa Interpretive Centre (it features historical photographs, cultural artifacts, and contemporary Indigenous art) – will love the experience at St. Eugene.
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Located just 10 minutes west of St. Eugene, and also along the picturesque banks of the St. Mary River, is Shadow Mountain. And, trust me, you don’t want to be misjudging your distances on this course! Shadow Mountain is one of the toughest golf courses I’ve ever seen. (And I’ve seen a few. Nearly a thousand, actually.) However, the stunning terrain – rolling sandy hills flecked with lodgepole pine – and the many spectacular holes here make it one of the best golf experiences in Western Canada. Put it this way, blasting it over greens will never be so much fun!