By LISA COSTANTINO

Elevate your golf game – and score – on western Canada’s challenging mountain courses.

AMID THE CANADIAN ROCKIES’ BOREAL FORESTS AND glacial lakes, a different kind of landscape has emerged: the mountain golf course. Here, balls travel farther in the rarefied air and snow-clad crags play havoc with depth perception. Some fairways can be downright bearish.

“It really leads you to understand that you’re in the midst of nature,” says Bill Logan, president of Wide World of Golf tours. “I was up in Banff last spring and at one point we watched a man from Germany come hightailing it back in his golf cart. He’d seen a bear on the course and was terrified, but it’s safe as long as you keep your distance.”

Golf season – from late May through September – is short at these premier courses, but the spectacular settings, uncrowded fairways, and twilight that allows play into the ten o’clock hour make them a must for serious golfers.

ALBERTA

The Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course

One of master architect Stanley Thompson’s best, Banff Springs is as challenging as its scenery is sublime. Meandering through the Bow Valley, the artfully sculpted course is known for swirling winds, sloping greens, and myriad bunkers (144 in total) that echo the surrounding mountains, and for herds of elk that claim the wide fairways as their own. The rushing waters of the Bow River add a sense of urgency to afternoons on the back nine, not to mention an irresistible draw for wayward balls.

The difficulty level doesn’t ease up at the 18th, where golfers might expect a well-earned easy drive and putt. Its narrow fairway and extreme slope demand continued concentration if you don’t want to see your score shot to bits at the very end. The extra effort is worth it, though, for the reward: a soak in the mineral-laden thermal waters at Upper Banff Hot Springs.

Banff Springs’ signature hole: The 4th, Devil’s Cauldron

This 171-yard par 3 merits its fiendish name for its optical illusions. From an elevated tee, golfers drive across a lake to a small green guarded by six bunkers. A sharply angled bank between lake and green sends short shots into the drink.

Tee-zer:
During the filming of River of No Return in 1953, Marilyn Monroe took private golf lessons on the Banff Springs course to impress future hubby Joe DiMaggio.

Jasper Park Lodge Golf Course

Stanley Thompson’s initial venture in the Canadian Rockies sits a three-hour drive up the Icefields Parkway from Banff. Jasper’s generally open layout drenches the fairways with sunshine, and while elk and bear no longer loiter on the fairways thanks to a recently built wildlife corridor, they’re frequently spotted ambling along the course perimeter. At an elevation of 3,300 feet, the gently rolling terrain offers a more forgiving experience than Banff (which tops 4,700 feet), but it also belies the course’s calculated challenges.

Many bunkers are built up into miniature peaks to replicate mountain backdrops, making it easy to misjudge distance. A three-hole peninsula on Lake Beauvert demands a water carry and features the 15th, aka Bad Baby, a short par 3 with a tiny, sloping green that disguises a treacherous trap behind it.

Jasper Park’s signature hole:

The 9th, Cleopatra Pyramid Mountain stands as scenic backdrop to this par-3, 231-yard downhill hole that drops 80 feet from tee box to narrow green. Drop the ball short of the green to avoid roll-offs into the deep bunkers hugging left, right, and back.

Tee-zer: Stanley Thompson originally built the 9th in the shape of a woman to shame his backers into paying him. Once satisfied, he tamed down the curves of Cleopatra.

Stewart Creek Golf Club

Given its immaculate condition and groves of conifers and aspen, it’s hard to imagine that the fairways at the base of the Rundle Range’s jagged Three Sisters lie above a labyrinth of coal mining shafts and abandoned railroad lines. Course architect Gary Browning’s background in environmental design served Stewart Creek and its wildlife well, making a minimal impact on the reclaimed land while providing safety corridors for its critters.

Autumn golfers often encounter herds of elk on the 6th, and the 10th abuts an area frequented by bighorn sheep. Spying a grizzly here isn’t unknown. Artificial distractions also abound in the form of restored mine shaft entrances, but the real focus is the huge drops, rocky obstacles, fairways that wrap around native vegetation, and 35 pot bunkers.

Stewart Creek’s signature hole:

The 9th, Bear’s Den

Stewart Creek doesn’t claim a signature hole, but the 9th, a serious par-4 dogleg, stands out. The fairway disappears at the crook of the turn, where golfers face a drop of 125 feet to a green protected by a pair of lakes.

Tee-zer: Built atop a maze of old coal mine shafts, Stewart Creek’s fairways are reinforced with synthetic webbing beneath the Kentucky bluegrass.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Greywolf Golf Course

Greywolf is widely considered one of the toughest courses in all of Canada. Set amid peaks and ponderosa pines roughly 4,000 feet up in the Purcell Mountains of southeastern British Columbia, the course follows the lay of the land over more than 300 feet of dramatic elevation change.

Designer Doug Carrick chose to cover Greywolf ’s entire surface with bentgrass, a finely knit grass typically reserved for greens, and the smooth expanses mimic the mountainside meadows in the ever-present panoramas. Elevation, fast grass, and wide-open fairways help shots soar into the distance, and golfers need it on holes like the 10th, which runs 580 yards from the back tee. Several of Greywolf’s holes climb along the mountains’ undulating edges, requiring careful club choice, but most stay within the valley’s contours, giving players plenty of opportunity to get their drive on.

Greywolf’s signature hole:

The 6th, Cliffhanger There’s not a lot of complexity to this par-3, 200-yard hole: Simply clear a gaping canyon swirling with winds and land the ball atop a small outcropping. There’s no fairway, just a tee shot onto an island green; aim for the right or lose a ball to the tree-filled abyss.

Tee-zer: Greywolf-bound golfers can prepare for the fairways by virtually playing the course on Xbox’s Links 2004.Greywolf joins Scotland’s St Andrews as one of the elite handful of featured courses.

The Fairmont Chateau Whistler Golf Club

Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed this course to climb 400 feet into the foothills of Black-comb Mountain, setting golfers amid the lair of bear and the hunting grounds of bobcat. One of Jones’ guiding principles is to tread lightly on the land, and here he let nature dictate design with smooth fairway avenues through Douglas fir and cedar forest studded with ponds and purple lupine.

But don’t think it’s a walk in the park. The elevation from tee to green changes dramatically, with deceptive downhill approaches mingled with challenging uphill lies. Well-protected greens sit across tumbling creeks, forcing 13 water carries. With such obstacles and a plethora of narrow doglegs, golfers are advised to lay off the driver and focus on accurate ball placement. Those challenged by the course’s difficulty can up their game at the onsite David Leadbetter Golf Academy.

DOING IT

 >> Golfers on Wide World of Golf’s private 11-day trip through Western Canada tackle six of the region’s championship courses. Parties tee off at the Kananaskis Valley’s Mount Kidd and Mount Lorette, two gems on the slopes of the 10,000-foot Rockies, then hit up Banff Springs and Jasper Park Lodge before hopping the Rocky Mountaineer for a two-day train ride into Vancouver. Rental cars are provided for the run north, where the Chateau Whistler Golf Club and the Arnold Palmer-designed Whistler Golf Club round out the rounds. Departure: Any day May 15 through September 30, 2007; from $4,915, including accommodations, greens fees, and carts.

>> The sweeping landscapes of Yoho and Banff national parks and the Columbia River Valley provide the backdrop for Royal Canadian Pacific’s six-day rail journey. The trip pairs the pleasures of classic-carriage travel with golf at Stewart Creek Golf Club, Greywolf Golf Course, Trickle Creek Golf Resort, and Banff Springs. Departure: July 15, 2007; from approximate $5,101, including accommodations, greens fees and carts, transfers, and most meals.

STAY

>> Fairmont Hotels & Resorts’ 770-room Banff Springs property, 446-room Jasper Park Lodge, and 550-room Chateau Whistler strike a pleasing balance between nature and nurture. After a round, players return to the alpine castles and chalets for soothing après-golf spa treatments and regional fare such as Alberta beef, rainbow trout, and ice wines at the properties’ fireplace-warmed restaurants. Doubles from approximate $378, $348, and $143 respectively, including breakfast, with golf packages available. – JUSTIN PAUL

Driving East

Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player lead teams of the world’s best in match play for the 2007 Presidents Cup at the Royal Montréal Golf Club (September 24 through 30). Roadtrips’ seven-day package places fans into the gallery to watch the greats take on the Blue Course’s enormous greens from the practice rounds to the final singles match. Departure: September 24, 2007; from $2,265, including six nights’ accommodations, daily grounds pass, and transfers. – J. P.