With beautiful scenery, long sunny days, more than 230 courses, and a golfing season that extends April–October, Alberta is a golfer’s hole-in-one. Rates range from $5 payable on an honor system at Rochon Sands (central Alberta) to $230 on the famous resort courses in Banff and Jasper.

The best courses (in no particular order) are Kananaskis Country Golf Course, a 36-hole, Robert Trent Jones Sr.–designed course built in the 1980s at a cost of $1 million per hole; Silvertip and Stewart Creek, two challenging resort-style golf courses at Canmore; The Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course, one of the world’s most scenic; The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Golf Course, a challenging par-73 course surrounded by spectacular mountain scenery; Wolf Creek Golf Resort, a links-style oasis on the prairies between Calgary and Edmonton; and links-style Redtail Landing near Edmonton International Airport, which opened to much adulation in 2003.

Due to their popularity, the courses mentioned above require advance reservations. Getting a game on city courses can also be difficult at short notice, especially on weekends. Use the contact numbers in the destination chapters of this book to make your reservations. The website of the Alberta Golf Association (www.albertagolf.org) has lots of good information on the courses.