Jasper Park Lodge - Alberta - Canada

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.