Among the excuses I have accumulated for missing 4-foot putts, a bull elk shrieking during my backswing was not on the list until September.
My ball slid past the left edge of the cup on the sixth green of the Stanley Thompson Course at Fairmont Banff Springs, and somewhere beyond the trees and across the Bow River, the elk called again.
A local golfer in our group explained that the rut was underway, which meant male elk were searching for females and letting everyone in the area know about it. As we continued around the course, the calls grew louder and closer. By the 12th fairway, we could see a large bull elk nearby, calling and strutting like Ric Flair. A few holes later, more than a dozen females and at least one more bull were crowding the fairway.
These were not theme-park animals or part of an elaborate Canadian tourism production. They were wild elk, some weighing up to 800 pounds, treating one of Canada’s finest golf courses like their backyard because, well … it is.
That moment captured what makes golf at Banff Springs different. The golf course does not merely offer views of the Canadian Rockies. It weaves among them.
The same idea is at the center of Fairmont’s Wellness Without Walls program, which attempts to expand the traditional definition of a golf vacation. There are spas, saunas and massages, but Fairmont also considers golf, hiking, cycling, paddling, meditation and time spent outdoors to be part of the experience.
If your idea of the perfect golf trip is playing 36 holes a day for four consecutive days, this may not be the destination for you. Banff Springs has the 18-hole Stanley Thompson course, which ranks No. 2 on Golfweek’s Best Courses in Canada, as well as the nine-hole Tunnel Mountain Course, but this is not Bandon Dunes or Pinehurst, with courses lined up next to each other. This is different.
This is a trip for golfers who want to play at an elite venue, in a remarkable setting, as well as explore, recover and hopefully feel better when they leave than when they arrived.
Monday: The Castle in the Rockies
The 80-mile drive from Calgary to Banff takes about an hour and a half, with the landscape transforming from prairie to hilly to mountainous. Then, after a few turns through the town of Banff, the hotel appears like Hogwarts in a Harry Potter movie.
Inside, the hotel has the feel of a grand dame resort. There are sweeping entryways, chandeliers, large gathering spaces and mounted bison, elk and deer on many of the walls. It is not subtle, but neither are the mountains outside. Styles and fades come and go, and the Fairmont Banff Springs has adapted, but it is far from trendy.
This is a luxury resort, but the surrounding landscape is always going to be the main attraction.
Tuesday: Recovery Before the Round
My first full day began at the hotel spa, which may seem like an unusual place to prepare for golf until you remember how many recreational golfers arrive at a destination golf venue after spending several hours folded into an airline seat and then riding in a car.
The spa includes a sauna, steam rooms, a whirlpool and a large indoor mineral pool beneath a white dome. The water contains minerals from the surrounding area, and guests are encouraged to soak for 15 or 20 minutes to absorb them and get the benefits. A series of smaller pools fed by waterfalls offers water temperatures of around 75, 90 and 105 degrees.
The atmosphere is quiet, and phones are not allowed.
Some guests read. Most simply sit, soak and relax. Some golfers I traveled with chose to go for a short bike ride into the village (mountain bikes and electric bikes are available for guests). Others went for a brief nature hike. The point that Fairmont wants to make is that everyone can pursue wellness in different ways and at their own pace. Movement and recovery can be part of your vacation, just like golf.
That afternoon, I played the Stanley Thompson Course in chilly, overcast conditions. Clouds and fog covered many of the surrounding peaks, but the weather could not hide the quality of the golf course.
Despite a playing season that generally runs only from May into early October, the fairways were in excellent shape, the bunker sand was playable and the greens were surprisingly quick. Massive pines framed and separated the fairways, with golden-leaved aspen trees sprinkled in for color. The course follows the land between the peaks, moving along the Bow River.
The scenery will get people to take out their phones, but the course design eventually makes everyone put them away and pay attention. The first few holes are a warm-up, but the downhill par-4 fourth hole is a stunner that requires a hybrid or long-iron shot over a native area. My 5-iron shot seemed to hang in the air for hours, but finally landed 25 feet behind the hole and stopped dead in its tracks. I missed the downhill putt, but par on a hole named The Devil’s Cauldron is rewarding.
By the back nine, the elk calls had moved from somewhere in the distance to directly across the river and eventually onto the golf course. The animals create challenges for the maintenance staff, especially when a bull decides to use his antlers to dig in the turf, but these animals also reinforce the sense that the course belongs to the landscape.
Late in the round, the clouds lifted enough to reveal more of the surrounding mountains. From the 14th and 15th holes, the hotel came back into view, sitting above the course like the castle it pretends not to be.
We finished around 7:45 p.m., just as the remaining late-autumn daylight disappeared.
Wednesday: A Walk Without a Scorecard
The next morning began with forest bathing, which does not involve towels and soap. It is a slow, deliberate walk intended to help you become more observant and present in nature. This was not a hike, and no one in my group was looking to break a sweat or win a Strava segment.
Our guide led us into the woods, and after a 20-minute stroll we sat on a hillside overlooking the Bow River. She asked us to close our eyes, breathe deeply and notice the smell of the forest. Concentrate on the sounds around us. Listen for things deep in the distance and feel the different textures of the land.
The experience was more spiritual than my normal neighborhood walks in suburban Connecticut, and something unexpected happened: I got extremely calm and relaxed. We were only a few hundred yards from one of the fairways, yet the trees and river made the hotel and course feel distant. The exercise also highlighted something golfers frequently overlook. Golf can be competitive, social and maddening, but it is also how you enjoy spending time outside.
That connection is central to the Wellness Without Walls theme. Golf is not positioned as an activity separate from wellness. Walking, concentrating, breathing fresh air and moving through a natural setting can be a part of all of our wellness experiences.
A few hours later, we played nine holes on the Tunnel Mountain Course.
The temperature was in the low 50s when we teed off around 10:45 a.m., but the clouds lifted, the sun appeared, and the temperatures rose into the 60s. Snow-covered peaks that had been hidden the previous afternoon came into view.
Tunnel Mountain is a fun resort course, not an examination intended to expose every weakness in your game. The fairways and greens were in excellent condition, and the holes offered enough interest to keep things fun, but the course’s most effective defense may be distraction. The mountains, forests and shifting clouds make concentrating on a target surprisingly difficult. At one point, after admiring the view, I stood over the ball and forgot whether I was holding the right club or not.
My reaction to poor shots, interestingly, was also slightly more reasonable than usual. I cannot prove the forest bathing was responsible, but it probably deserves partial credit.
Wednesday Afternoon: The Screensaver Is Real
We left Banff Springs that afternoon and drove to Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. The sun was out, revealing mountains, forests and rivers that had been partially hidden the day before.
Then Lake Louise appeared.
The hotel faces a turquoise lake surrounded by pine-covered slopes and mountains, with Victoria Glacier visible beyond the far end. The scene resembles a computer screensaver created by someone who decided reality needed to have its vibrancy setting elevated.
When I sent a photograph from my room to my family back home, their immediate response was that it did not look real.
It was.
The lake is fed by melted glacial snow, so it remains exceptionally cold year round. In fact, it is covered by ice seven months each year. As the glaciers move across the rocks, they grind it into a fine powder referred to as glacial flour. That material is carried into the lake and remains suspended in the water, helping create its distinctive blue-green color.
There is no golf course at Chateau Lake Louise, and that is important to understanding the trip. Banff Springs supplies the championship golf. Lake Louise encourages golfers to put the clubs away, temporarily, and concentrate on recovery, movement and the landscape.
My first stop was Basin Glacial Waters, the hotel’s indoor-outdoor spa.
I began with 15 minutes in a Finnish sauna, followed by two minutes in a 46-degree cold plunge. From there, I moved among warm and hot pools equipped with jets aimed at the lower back, hips, thighs and shoulders.
Several pools are outside, while others allow guests to move between indoor and outdoor spaces. The design keeps the lake, mountains and glacier within view.
I also spent about 15 minutes in a quiet room with pink salt covering the walls. It is designed to improve your breathing and respiratory system. The most difficult station for me was the Kneipp Walk, which requires walking through two long, shallow pools, one warm and one very cold. Alternating temperatures are intended to invigorate the legs and encourage circulation.
Thursday: Earning the Recovery
The next morning began with sunrise spreading across the mountains above Lake Louise. Later, we set out on a hike of approximately 4.5 miles.
The route climbed through the forest and provided changing views of the lake, surrounding peaks and glaciers. It was physically demanding without being extreme. Most reasonably fit people should be able to complete it, and I was fine wearing sneakers, although the uphill sections require effort and the descent can be harder on your legs than the climb.
The hike also demonstrated something travelers sometimes forget. To appreciate a beautiful place, it often helps to step away from it.
From higher in the mountains and near the base of the glacier, we could look back toward the chateau and understand the scale of the lake and the landscape around it. From the hotel, the view was beautiful. From the trail, it became comprehensible.
We eventually reached the glacial delta at the far end of the lake, where we climbed into canoes for the return trip. Paddling across the turquoise water toward the hotel, with mountains rising on both sides, felt like entering the photograph my family had accused of being fake.
After lunch, I returned to Basin Glacial Waters.
This time, the sauna, cold plunge and temperature pools felt less like indulgences and more like necessity. I also used NormaTec compression leggings, which rhythmically squeeze different portions of your legs and are designed to promote circulation and aid recovery.
A Different Kind of Golf Vacation
“Wellness Without Walls” is a polished marketing phrase, and any phrase like that deserves a little skepticism, but after several days at Banff Springs and Lake Louise, the idea makes sense to me.
Having a chance to play golf on one of Canada’s finest courses was the primary reason for my trip, but it was not the only thing I enjoyed or benefited from. Golf was a connected part of my experience in the Canadian Rockies. Forest bathing brought awareness and inner calm. Hiking added a physical challenge. Saunas, pools, cold plunges and compression equipment helped prepare me to do it again.
This trip is not designed for golfers who judge a vacation by the number of holes they play. At Banff Springs, they can play an outstanding Stanley Thompson design and a scenic nine-hole course, stay in one of Canada’s most recognizable hotels and encounter a setting that makes even a lousy round feel like time well spent. At Lake Louise, golfers can hike, paddle, recover and spend time in a landscape that does not require clubs. Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, about three hours north of Lake Louise, ranks T-43 on Golfweek’s Top 100 International list and could extend the golf portion of a Canadian Rockies itinerary. The author did not visit Jasper on this trip, but its inclusion gives golfers another way to adjust the balance between golf and wellness.
The larger point is that golfers do not have to choose between a serious golf trip and an active wellness vacation. Done properly, the golf can be part of the wellness.
Yes, I missed that 4-footer at Banff Springs. No amount of forest bathing is going to fix a push like that. But as the elk continued calling from beyond the trees and the Canadian Rockies rose above the course, I found it was easier to forgive myself.
Getting There
Calgary International Airport is the closest major airport to Banff and Lake Louise. The flight from Denver takes approximately 2 1/2 hours, and the drive from Calgary to Banff takes about 90 minutes.
U.S. citizens flying to Calgary should carry a valid U.S. passport. A driver’s license or REAL ID alone is not sufficient for international air travel. My arrival process was easy. Canadian customs involved a facial recognition system, completing an electronic declaration at a kiosk and presenting the printed receipt from the kiosk. The whole process took less than five minutes.
Rental cars and shuttle services are available at the airport. My shuttle cost approximately $88 Canadian, or $65 U.S. at the exchange rate during the trip. Major U.S. cellular carriers may include Canadian service in some plans, and my phone connected immediately without an additional charge, but travelers should check their individual plans before leaving. Canadian electrical outlets are the same as those in the United States.
David Dusek is a senior writer at Golfweek covering equipment and technology.
Reporting by David Dusek, Golfweek / Golfweek. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.
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