Editor’s Note: I have no connection to the course and have paid the full price to play. This is a fully transparent summary of my experience.
There is an argument that would be made that if you moved Pebble Beach a mile on the inside, it would suddenly disappear from the lists of high courses.
Pacific Ocean is a defining character in Pebble beach history – but what if it weren’t?
It is a kind of 19th discussion of the 19th hole to deal with such hypothetical. Pebble beach is near water, So what the hell are we talking about?
However, it brings a confusion that I have found myself by foil in recent years:
Is only one course defined by playing zones? Or is a course determined by its determination?
In other words, can the course and siege be shared in evaluating an appearance? Should they be?
I never felt such a push and attracts with this question as when I played Stewart Creek Golf and Country Club in Canmore, Alberta, Canada.
A real mountain course with sublime views, Stewart Creek is ready Instagram.
But if you have removed the mountains, what story does the course tell?
How to Play Golf in Paradise
Two months ago, my wife and I made a road trip from Vancouver to Calgary. Our 12-day adventure included viewing whales, walks, glaciers, gondola trips and much more.
If you have not been to Western Canada I recommend the trip a lot. The landscape is surprising at every step. Of the top 10 growths we have ever made, at least four of them were here.
We finished our vacation in Canmore, a small utopia of a city that is 20 minutes from Banff and just over an hour from Calgary. This is where Stewart Creek is placed against three sisters – a trio of mountain peaks that approach a lot during the course.
Canadian rockies are always present in almost all directions. An infinite sea of ​​trees, cascading down in a wave, makes every good road on an island. Missing the right path and, with few exceptions, you don’t have to worry about looking for your ball.
This is one of the only courses I played where you are FULLY outside in nature. While we have not seen a wild life during our round, a rapid scan of Stewart Creek’s social media shows many meetings of players with bears, elk and other animals. A few miles away from the course, within the same corridor of the nature of Bow Valley, where Stewart Creek, my wife and I saw a gold with two cubs.
It would be impossible to overestimate the presence of this background. Golf course The beauty of this size is rare. And to see your ball fly (a little farther than normal due to height) towards the Gargidal Mountains in the distance is such a shocking, exciting feeling.
No matter how beautiful the pictures are, being there personally is a completely different experience.
Stewart Creek opened on June 1, 2000 and just celebrated his 25th anniversary. With special note, the course was created by Gary Browning. Browning is a landscape architect with expertise in planning resorts, master planning and landscape design. Its scale is in the design of the environment.
This means that browning is not your traditional golf course architect because golf is just an element of his business. Talented guy.
A semi -private game with games only for members of the weekend, Stewart Creek is being accommodated for the public he visits. All three of my game partners were tourists.
In Stewart Creek, browning skillfully weave strips with perfectly manicured roads around the Majestic Mountains for a PAR-71 trail that advises at 7,009 yards. There are five par-3s, with two of them returning back to your nine.
This is a Top-30 border course across Canada, By the outcome.
The appearance of crucified and lush mowing lines in contrast to the broken gray mountains extending from the dark green trees … It’s enough to make a golf player joy.
The experience of playing Stewart Creek
With our journey being in the middle of the tourist season, I reserved my time a few months ago. This ended to be necessary given what the leaf looked like.
The last meeting was $ 246 Canadian, about $ 177.
Starting early in the morning, I checked at the club (beautiful) and hit some balls in the range. The object of the practice, which contains a concession of residence a few steps from the range, is quite beautiful.
There is no walk here. Only the carriages. Many changes in height and there are long distances between the holes. Add the possibility of wildlife match without the ability to go down to a wheelchair and makes sense why walking is strongly discouraged.
After a few practical shocks, I headed to the first peak, where a friendly beginner gave us instructions for the day. “Leave only wildlife” was the most important peak.
The first hole is a strong taste of what you will find throughout the day. The Tee box sits down a lot on the road for a short par-4 that was just a wedge of 3 wood and a gap for this 9-Handikapper. The view is one of the best you get all day.
A handful of other holes were distinguished.
Nr. 6-par-5, 553 yards
After a direct shot, you have a decision to make in your second. You can either stand to the right and take the high road or push the ball toward the green on the bottom of the lower road.
Nr. 7-par-4, 405 yard
This may have been the most delightful goal of the day. Is a right dogleg to the left begging for a draw. The whole mountain you are against is shouting at you to hit a draw. If you can, it is just a short roll of a wedge in a green that is partially obscured by a stone.
No. 9-PAR-3, 212 yards
Undoubtedly one of the most wonderful images I have ever had in a golf course. Would be in quarrel for the first five no doubt. You’re hitting a short iron iron in the discount while the mountains look.
No. 14-par-4, 294 yards
This removable par-4 is an easy setting if you want it. The gap to raise the ball near the green is narrow, but, hey, you are (for sure) on vacation. Like calories are not counted, the lost golf balls are not counted.
No. 18-PAR-5, 530 yard
Your round ends with a par-5 ultra accessible that is likely to require no more than a 6-Herkuri down the hill for your second shot. It is a staggering shot with a small lake sitting only left by green.
The positive parts of my experience
Playing golf on the side of a mountain is a great vibe. The images, including the way the course was placed near the mountains, lived up to the hype.
We were lucky to have pleasant weather, which adds all the beauty it surrounds.
The course was in very good shape, but not perfect. Tee boxes, straight roads and bunkers were pretty strong, if not excellent. The greens (the picture above) were slightly beaten in areas, but generally calm – they were not fast, but I would not say they were slow.
There are so many points in this course where you want to take a picture because of how much a beautiful hole looks.
Customer service receives an A+. All we encountered were smiling and useful.
Accommodation and convenience also get a strong grade. The course is about 10 minutes from the heart of Canmore where our Airbnb was. For those flying to Calgary – who has direct flights to my hometown in Nashville and many other American cities – the car is simple.
The negative parts of my experience
I alluded to this at my entrance, but Stewart Creek’s best attribute is its geography.
Get it away and you are watching a well-mranked, but very loved course that feels aggressively utilitarian in the spots.
Without dramatic changes in height – which really get into the game in some holes – there is not much character character for the course. Placing IS character.
The greens are dead flat with nothing interesting that is happening around them. Most holes are interchangeable.
Moreover, it becomes exhausting when you hit a strong blow and you know your ball is toast. Basically it is as if each hole had ob on both sides of a 40 yard window. I like interconnected courses, but I prefer when you can at least go back to the road.
Of course, the architect did not really have an opportunity here. This course had to be carved from dense forests. Open roads of wide roads and using entertainment angles to create strategic strategic golf holes was not the project point.
Regardless, this is not a design masterpiece according to the Purist standard. Not by a mile.
There is nothing deeper to discover here. No tantalizing shots that you have desperate to compete again in the first tee so that you can try again.
We have all played those kinds of courses. That’s not that. You pay your $ 180, you have a good time, you take your pictures and you probably never play them again.
The mountains make the course memorable – but also keep the course due to space constraints.
Now is the time when you can scream on your screen: “But it’s a mountain course! You can’t remove the mountains!”
There lies the dilemma I tried with as I sat down to write this summary.
The tourist in me loves Stewart Creek and thinks it’s a great place. Golf to me knows it is once, like cooking a whole turkey is great for the thanksgiving dinner … but it doesn’t hit the same when you do it on Tuesday in May.
Final judgment
If you are a golf player on holiday at Canadian rockies, Stewart Creek is a beautiful place to play.
I have been told that there are other good opportunities, perhaps better, in the area. This includes some Stanley Thompson designs as Banff Springs and Jasper Park.
Despite, I regret zero to play here. On the contrary, I am satisfied with my experience.
Mountain Golf is great only based on the images you have and the unique opportunity to hit the golf shots with crazy changes in height.
For $ 177 USD, Stewart Creek is definitely worth playing once as a visitor.
You are here to play golf near a mountain and take some wonderful pictures. This is a reasonable value. I spent a great time.
However, I would not play here for the second time.
For this reason, my general rate is two-way: Stewart Creek gets an a- for the first/single game and a C+ for daily, daily game.
There are very few courses that fit so much in this category, but I think Stewart Creek does.
Some of you reading this will play here and give it a much higher grade. I understand it. It is a beautiful course in a beautiful place.
I haven’t played a lot of Golf in Canada but I will assume there are 30 better courses. Canadians, are I right? I will go to some of them soon (someone for a trip to Cabot? Drinks are over me).
As for the final question if you can separate a course from its sieges, maybe the answer is like my degree – a little complicated.
Superficially, you can’t separate them. The mountains make Stewart Creek as the ocean makes pebbles.
But the deeper you want to dig, the more the true bones of a course are exposed. If you are like me, you want to be stimulated by the shooting you are hitting more than just intoxicating footage.
Have you played Stewart Creek? Want based on these photos and my review? Is Mountain Golf overestimated?
Tell me below in comments.
office MGS experiences: Stewart Creek first appeared in MygolfSSS.
