Jasper Park Lodge - Alberta - Canada

The course at Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club is in a valley surrounded by four distinct tall mountain ranges in the distance. I could not get good photos because the unusually hot day produced a thick haze and then the mountains seemed too far away. Surrounding the course are miles and miles of pine forests. Large sections of these had a red tint color, the result of a pine beetle disease that killed the trees. British Columbia to the west has been dealing with this disease for the past two decades and it is now spreading to Alberta.

The course is 6,663 yards with a par of 71. It is in a valley at 3,478 feet of elevation. However, the terrain is fairly hilly in a lot of places. For instance, the uphill first hole produces an approach shot where only the top of the flag stick is visible. Throughout the round there are many uphill, downhill, and sidehill shots.

Although many of the fairways are tree-lined, the trees are fairly distant from the wide fairways. Also, the pine beetle disease seems to have caused some thinning of the tree lines. The property is part of a 700- acre tree-filled site that produces an expansive, peaceful, quiet feeling throughout the course.

There are seven dogleg holes. The most pronounced is #18 (463-yard par 4) with a sharp downhill right to left swing. There is a dramatic downhill approach shot to a large well-bunkered green. Water comes in play on only three holes. Big and beautiful glacial Lake Beauvert directly affects play on holes 14 and 16.

There are 101 bunkers with none on two holes and a staggering 19 on another (#6). The bunkers are sharply-edged, which emphasizes their beauty. Thompson designed and built very distinctive bunkers. At Jasper, they range in size from huge all the way to tiny. The picture below (courtesy of Ian Andrews) gives a feel of the size and number of bunkers on the 492-yard par-5 #10. I was fascinated by the name “octopus” for the huge bunker half way up the fairway. The opposite in size are the four tiny and mean pot bunkers behind the 5th green.

The greens were in really good condition considering the time of year. Their size is medium to large with the most depth at 38 yards and the least at 22 yards. The average is 32 yards. The greens feature a lot of slope and subtle ridges. There are a few with false fronts.

All five par 3s are outstanding. They vary in length from 240 yards (#4), 231 yards (#9), 181 yards (#12), 178 yards (#7), to 138 yards (#15). Most of the greens are raised. On #7 the medium sized putting surface cannot be seen, even from the elevated tee. Hitting and staying on these greens is a challenge. If not successful, there are long chip shots, sometimes off tight lies. In total, golf at Jasper is a huge treat and certainly merits a visit to this part of the world.

The Odyssey

A beautifully stunning scenic course with an average layout. Worth playing it you were in the area. It was worth playing and I enjoyed my round but was only awed by its location.

In 1925 Stanley Thompson opened his mountain masterpiece to add to the allure of the property as a holiday destination. The Fairmont Jasper Park offers all sorts of healthy activities such as horse riding, bikes, walking, golf, tennis etc- all in a truly beautiful location. The course and hotel are set in a large valley beside Lake Beauvert which is clear as a bell, and pretty as a picture!

Thompson has used the might peaks surrounding the property as a focus for the holes- some of which soar to 11000 feet!

His routing is impressive, making the most of the property to provide nice elevation changes, although still very playable. The knockers on Jasper Park will say that it is not a true championship course, that it perhaps isn’t a strong enough test of golf, but I don’t agree.

Good design allows different standards of golfers to play the course according to their own strengths and weaknesses, and although Jasper Park has a number of greens open the front to allow weaker golfers to bounce in their approaches, their are still many challenges for the stronger golfer as well.

Thompson has provided variety throughout the course, so it is a delight first time around, and remains that way on repeat plays. The big crescendo are the holes he built on a tiny peninsula on the lake.

Holes 14, 15, & 16 use the land nicely to produce two shortish par 4’s and a par 3 that are delightfully tricky.

One added bonus to playing Jasper is the wildlife. Play a late afternoon round and you are likely to meet the natives!

Whenever you play you will remember the tranquil, almost surreal setting- it is a very quiet, peaceful place to play golf, and you can get caught up just taking it all in.

Notable holes include:

- hole 2, named Old Man, is a pretty par 5 where players will need to plot their way past the bunkers
- hole 3, called Signal Dip- a strong par over a rise and down before approaching a raised green set into a ridge
- hole 9- Cleopatra- a long downhill par 3 with a big bunker directly in front of the green
- hole 13- Grand Allee- a strong par 5 which dips down to a sheltered green
- hole 14- Lac Beauvert- a short par 4 requiring an accurate tee shot over the lake from a peninsula tee through a gap in the trees to hit the fairway, and then an accurate short iron approach
- hole 15- The Bad Baby- a ticklish short par 3
- hole 16- a mid length par 4 with water protruding out infant of the green

Jasper Park is the sort of course you could play with family, and everyone would enjoy the course. It is the sort of course you want to play again.

It is no accident that two of the greatest golf architects- Alister McKenzie, and George Thomas rated Jasper Park among their favourites..

An excellent resort course with an outstanding setting. While the bunkering does not compare with Banff GC, holes #9 (Cleopatra) and #10 are good examples of Stanley Thompson bunkering. The bunkering is seldom penal and the greens are accessible. The greens are large with easy undulations. Best to keep an eye on the weather for the condition of the course. This year was a very late Spring with recent heavy rains so the course is in marginal condition.

Number 6 in Canada! you've got to kidding. Beautiful scenery yes, a good course but nothing remarkable except the mountains in the distance. I would have trouble putting this course in the top 50. There are at least 5 mountain course that are better.

I loved this golf course. Among the greatest in Canada with its amazing integration of mountain and water and goose. Part of the caché is that it's close to nowhere. And even nowhere is far away.

Having played Banff Springs on my recent June 2010 visit to Canada I was intrigued as to how Fairmont’s other ‘famed’ course Jasper Park Lodge would play. Firstly I want to comment on the service at the club, it was second to none and everyone from the pro shop staff to the starter couldn’t do enough for me and made me feel very welcome. I actually played 36 holes that day, I hadn’t planned to but they kindly offered me a 2nd round later that day for a mere $70 so would have been rude not to take it! I played the first 18 with a scratch golfer who worked at the club and he was a pleasure to play with and gave me all the good lines to take on each hole, my 2nd round was with another JPL staff member so was very fortunate. Overall I would say that Banff Springs is a better course, Jasper is pretty open and you can afford to spray your driver about off the tee (as I did…) and get away with it, so from that perspective it wasn’t overly difficult and my score suggests I played much better than I actually did. However, the conditioning of the course was excellent and the greens were in far better condition than those at Banff so for that they should be commended. The Par 5’s on this course, with maybe one exception, are easily reached in two off the tips, and the Par 4’s are not excessively long providing you keep it in play. As mentioned in my Banff review, a feature of Stanley Thompson designs are the long Par 3’s and this was true with the 4th which was well over 220yds. The standout hole on this course is the Par 4 14th over water which is a beautiful hole to play, again it is easily reached with driver and wedge but you must clear a huge expanse of water and trees to get on the fairway which is pretty undulated the closer you get to the green. As with Banff the practice facilities are excellent with complimentary range balls upon arrival, and again the setting of this place is stunning and there is always a good chance of seeing bears, or in my case seeing coyotes and elk. The green fee for me was $179 which isn’t cheap but I feel the price is justified by the quality of the setting and the fact that certain holes are a pleasure to play, Jasper is certainly a course I would recommend to any serious golfer and I look forward to going back there one day soon.

given its ranking in Canada's top 100 (11 I believe)..I felt a little bit disapointed by this. The setting is beautiful. However for me it didnt quite have the wow factor of some of the other courses I played whilst in Canada. I found some of the fairways just a little too wide, although the par 3's were excellent and the holes down by the water were beautiful...

Jasper Park Lodge is set in the spectacular Rocky Mountains about 5 hours west of Edmonton, Alberta. This amazing location offers a high end resort mixed with abundant nature and wildlife. The beautiful scenery provides a calming factor to those games that don't go as planned. The course has a variety of elevation changes but still allows an individual the pleasure to enjoy the walk. The holes provide wide landing areas and focus more on the accuracy on the approach shots. This is a course that can be scored on as it not that intimidating off the tee. The course is well designed but it lacks the "wow factor". All that being said, Jasper is one of my favorite places to play.