The Golf Report July 25, 2006

Dearest Readers'
As requested, Lee has produced "The Golf Report." For those of you who could care less about the details of great golf outings, feel free to proceed to the next entry!
Bobbi has been doing a great job with updating the blog with her pictures and commentary. But she has generally left out any information on the topic near and dear to many of our hearts…golf!!! I thought I should communicate to the golf lovers back home that golf is alive and well in the western US and in the Canadian Rockies.

Although I haven’t had the opportunity during the trip to play too often (playing by myself or with strangers isn’t nearly as much fun as playing with friends back home), I make a point of checking out the courses as our journey proceeds.

Over the last week I did play at 2 fantastic courses in Canada. The first was in Radium Springs, British Columbia. It sits on top of a bluff overlooking the Columbia River and the largest wetland area in North America. You can check out the course at radiumresort.com. If you click on the interactive section, you can double click on each hole and get pictures and a layout. The tee boxes on the 17th and 18th holes were approximately 500 feet above the river. Awesome!

A few days later, while Bobbi and her sister Judy were off exploring Banff’s 200 best museums, I went to explore the city’s most beautiful golf course. The Banff Springs Golf Course has been part of the Banff Springs Hotel complex since 1911. A complete reconstruction of the course 5 years ago has made it a truly incredible golf experience (see banffspringsgolfclub.com for info and pictures).

I was enticed to play the course both by its setting within the rivers and mountains of Banff and by the fact that the 2006 Telus Skins game is being held there on August 6-8. The 5 contestants are Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, John Daly, Stephen Ames, and Sergio Garcia. I couldn’t pass up the chance to experience the same course that these great golfers will be playing.

I played with 2 ladies who were long-time members of the club and was able to get a real feel for the history of the course from them. On the 5th tee, we were joined by a group of approximately ten elk that were having lunch on the grasses surrounding the tee box. I had seen elk from a distance, but didn’t realize that they are as big as horses. They didn’t bother us and fortunately we didn’t bother them as we played through.

The 2 highlights of the round were playing the 4th and15th holes. The 4th is the par 3, 165 yard, signature hole of the course. The tee box is elevated several hundred feet, and you hit over a large pond. It is one of Golf Magazine’s top 18 holes to play in the world.

The 15th hole tee box is next to the hotel, approximately 300 feet above the rest of the course. As you stand on the tee, you see the entire hole before you with one of the many gigantic mountains surrounding the course framed behind the green. That’s the good news. The bad news is you have to hit your drive over the river and a large waste area to the fairway about 200 yards away. It was very intimidating, but beautiful, and has been described as ”Canada’s greatest tee shot”.

As usual, I made a lot of good shots and lot of bad ones during the day. The course had lots of water, lots of sand and a few very difficult, very long par 3’s, but I didn’t think it would be incredibly difficult for the pro’s. What I found out was that wind was the great equalizer. On the last 2 holes, the wind came up and it was like playing a different course. Apparently, the day I played was an exception and normally the wind is almost always a factor. It will be interesting to see if it’s windy during the Skins Game. Although it is a Canadian event, I’m hoping I can catch at least the highlights on ESPN or the golf channel when I get back home.

Well, that’s the golf report. I look forward to getting back home to see all of you and playing some Maryland golf!