Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club

Considered by many as one of the finest golf courses in North America, the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club offers a masterpiece by one of golf's most revered architects. Arguably Stanley Thompson's greatest work, the golf course at Jasper Park has one of the world's best natural settings and hole-by-hole designs. The resort itself is set on a Unesco World Heritage Site, and is home to a variety of impressive wildlife, including elk, caribou, bears, wolves and dozens of species of birds. This classic course, which opened in 1925, mirrors the natural contours of the surrounding mountain peaks with doglegs and greens that bump against them, setting the stage for one dramatic hole after another. The course isn't long from the back tees -- a par-71 that plays 6,663 yards from the tips -- but it is certainly challenging with its elevation changes, bunkering, tall trees, and water features. There is plenty of dramatic holes, such as the 14th, a par-4 that wraps around a glacier-formed lake. Or the 6-3-yard par-5 13th, which plays much shorter than its yardage because it goes downhill. The finishing stretch includes the 463-yard, par-4 18th that ends in front of the clubhouse. Besides the golf course, the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge also offers luxury accommodations, of course. And there are excellent practice facilities that include a driving range, short game area with practice bunker, and practice putting green. Golf lessons, including playing lessons, are available. And inside Jasper Park's magnificent clubhouse is a well-stocked golf shop as well as Thompson's Terrace, which serves coffee, sandwiches, wraps, and tasty beverages.