August 2026 – Played Silvertip as part of our annual golf trip this year which brought us to Calgary and the Canadian Rockies. I give architect Les Furber a lot of credit. How anyone could have looked at this severe piece of property and built a golf course on it is amazing. I talk elsewhere how the theme so far for 2026 for me is mountain golf courses, well Silvertip is the most on-mountain experience of any of them and will deliver views that rival anything you will ever play.
To find the parcels of land that could even remotely resemble a playable golf hole, Furber strung this layout in and around the mountain so tee to green walks are impossible unless you want to walk about 100 miles (only slightly exaggerating). Also conditioning, while good, was not great as maintaining such a severe piece of property is virtually impossible. Regardless, it’s still a world better than the conditioning of other mountain courses like Sunday River and Sugarbush in Maine and Vermont respectively. But did I mention the views? Holy moose shit! Above is from behind the green on 18.
We stayed in Canmore at a Vrbo nearby Silvertip for the Canadian Rockies portion of the trip. The Vrbo was perfect as all eight of us were in adjoining condos so we could all chill together. If you’re looking for the name of the place, click on this link which will take you to the Vrbo listing.
We loaded up on breakfast stuff, snacks, booze and beer for the house and ordered pizza from Red Rock Pizza on the first night. OK you’re in Canmore not NY, New Haven, Chicago or Philly so the pizza wouldn’t rank a 7+ from Dave Portnoy (on his scale I’d say it’s a 6.5). One bite, everyone knows the rules. We had après golf cocktails and came back to eat at Silvertip after our Thursday round. Rustica was solid. Service was meh despite for the bulk of the evening we were one of two tables filled in the entire place. They had Bison steak as a special, I got it and it was pretty good. Had a nice peppercorn finish. The reason to book there is convenience by being in the resort, especially if you’re staying here, and the views (you actually look out on the tenth and the eighteenth that I posted above). Decent wine list too.
I talk in my Banff review that we ate up there one night (only about a 20-minute ride from our Vrbo). And the other night we ate at Gaucho, a Brazilian steakhouse that was a fun way to put yourself in a meat coma. It’s right in town.
I posted the above to show you a little flavor of the town of Canmore. Cute town.
If you want to do this as a family or couples trip, Canmore (and an excursion to Banff) offers a bunch of non-golf activities especially if you’re the outdoorsy types. We pretty much stuck to golf.
Golf-wise on this trip, we played here, Banff and Canmore Golf & Curling Club.
The above is from Canmore. Like Banff, it is much more in the valley, with the mountains serving as backdrops (though not as on top of you as at Banff). Conditioning was better than Silvertip by a little and there was debate from the guys as to which course they preferred, here or Silvertip. I give it to Silvertip solely for the drama. I don’t think golf course raters (like my buddy Dave on the trip) would necessarily agree using the Golf Digest scoring system. Price-wise with the exchange rate, it wasn’t bad at all and we bought preseason Black Friday Sale passes for Silvertip (which included $25 CDN gift cards for each person) for just $167 USD. Canmore was about $115 USD per round per guy.
Right in Canmore is also Stewart’s Creek which I played over 20 years ago.
If you can’t tell by the turtleneck, pleated pants and younger version of me, this was from Stewart Creek way back in the aughts. From my memory (and what I’ve read), most folks rank it above Silvertip and Canmore and behind only Banff in the area (not including Jasper which is like another four hours away). Kananaskas is another resort course(s) that’s in the mountains and about 50 minutes away. Never played.
If you are planning a trip though and want to keep it in the area, then those are two more courses I’d consider. What we all loved about this trip versus others we have taken, there was minimal time in the car – even the ride from Calgary to Canmore was less than an hour.
Now we stayed in Calgary on the front and back ends of the Rockies portion of the trip. We played two better than average publics.
The first was Springbank Links which was the worse of the two but adequate. Not much of a pro shop and the bar was closed when we teed off, but the GM jumped in and got us some drinks and by the time we made the turn, the little beer shack was open and slinging hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages and beers/drinks. The course was the first I played that offered golf bikes. From the Springbank site: Hop on, pop the kick-stand and try a new cutting-edge way to get to your ball and play fast-paced golf! The bikes are available on a ‘walk-up & ride’ basis – the same as a cart. Below is the first hole from Springbank.
On the back portion of the trip back in Calgary, we played Lynx Ridge. We all liked this one a little better and got to spend some time at the bar afterwards and liked it. They had a PM tournament so we played it as part of a shotgun, starting on 10 at 9 AM. There were a few houses creeping in on the vistas but for the most part, we all ranked it above Springbank. Pretty close to the airport too. Below is a par three 8th that we played as the 17th.
As with Canmore, I had been to Calgary over 20 years ago, too. I played Calgary Golf & Country Club then and this is one of the top ranked courses in the country. All I remember is they called the first hole the “widow maker” as it climbed way up the hill to the green and as a walking only course with a lot of older members, you get the reference. I also remember that, like Canmore Golf & Curling Club, they had curling rinks and also like Canmore, these were closed for the season. I tried to get back on there for this trip, but failed to connect with my buddy from there. Also, there’s only one member on Thousand Greens so might be tough.
This time in the city we ate at The River Cafe which is right on Prince’s Island Park and was really great – probably in my top 100 if I ever make such a list. Had the haddock as I was pretty steaked out and the wine list was really good as well. Rob ordered Canadian wines as they specialize only in Canadian-sourced foods. We couldn’t even get lemons and limes for our drinks. Last time in the city I hit the Chicago Chop House (I think) and it was nothing I remember good or bad. It’s closed now.
American Airlines Sucks
Of course, getting to Canada from pretty much any Eastern Seaboard city (with the probable exception of NYC) means connecting and connecting while flying on American Airlines means somehow they will **** it up (especially connecting through O’Hare). No issues on the way up (through DFW) but of course through ORD on the way back there was the usual American/O’Hare nonsense. First, we stayed on the airport property and walked across to the airport early for our flight. That was smart as you will need to clear customs in Calgary and the security and customs lines were pretty long – right around an hour. Still, we had plenty of time and were happy that we wouldn’t have to contend with customs at O’Hare. Well, about an hour or so before our departure time, we get notifications that our flight was delayed over an hour due to “traffic management issues” at O’Hare. That quickly changed to “weather issues.” Yeah, right.
So, we finally board and take off and land at O’Hare with just under an hour to spare. Good news, we’ll make our connection, right? Not with O’Hare and American. The captain says we’re parking for about 15 minutes waiting for our gate to clear. I say, “Why the **** is there a plane at our gate when we were supposed to be at our gate an hour ago?” After 20 minutes he comes back on and says, “They’re pulling the jetway now and we’ll be going any minute.” OK, gonna be tight and bags won’t make it, but we should still be good, right? Nope. Sat there nearly an hour-and-a-half sitting on the tarmac waiting for a gate to clear and watching the app as our connecting plane to Philly said it was now departing and then did depart with us still on the tarmac.
So, of course, the app was swamped with people rebooking. Finally got on and booked the 8:30 AM flight for the next day. Had to book a hotel as well before they were all selling out. And when we finally got in and were able to talk to an AA rep (at the Admiral’s Club), of course they say nothing is reimbursable as it was weather related which you and I know to be BS as we received the traffic management notification before they changed it to weather in Chicago and we had no weather landing issues in Chicago at all and would’ve made the connection if they got us a gate. Then when I email about reimbursement, they have the stones to say that the flight falls under the Canadian Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR) and no reimbursement is due (again BS as noted above). The problems were based in Chicago not Canada. We also had crap seats on the rebooked flight (which was also delayed) and still have yet to see credit for the first-class tickets we had on the original flights. But I digress.
To the course.
From Esty. As you can see, even the map shows there’s some distance between tees and greens. And this doesn’t do justice to just how long some of these holes were from each other. One from the clubhouse was actually like a five minute cart ride, no joke. We started on ten but this would be a really weird start to have to travel so long to get to the first tee (and practice putting green). Anyway, we played the Blue Championship tees (6,166/69.9/140). As you see by the 140 slope, this is a tough course for the average bogey golfer though I did okay here and actually netted positive on golf balls (losing six but finding six others).
One. Just 295 yards. For me it was driver but for even a medium length driver of the golf ball, you want to step down. Then you have a little down hill approach once you turn the corner. The ball won’t roll up onto the green and that kind of affected all of us. For a resort course, this shouldn’t be number one as you need to play this hole a bunch to figure out.
Two. Nearly 500 yard par five that is a goofy hole. Landing area is super tight. So as a golfer who cuts his drives, I took it over the left hill and hit my perfect fade, probably 200 yards or so. Not enough as the fescue on the left goes all the way down the hill and a lost ball. Then the flag was all the way to the left and back of the green with a tough pin position – left and deep were death. I took a generous 7. The three sisters mountains make a beautiful backdrop to help you forget the goofy hole.
Three. A super long par three measuring 173 on the card but we played it at over 200. Hit driver. On and long but sunk it in two to win the six hole match carried over from the back which we played as the first nine.
Four. Just a great mid-length par four of 347 yards that gets pinched with trees to your left and a pond to your right. Got a five here. Here’s where Erik found about five or six golf balls and shared so I was able to end up net zero lost balls on the day.
Five and another five. 375 yard par four bending to the left. Another bogey net four but this one at least pushed the hole.
Six. 175 yards. Only time I remember any houses really being on the course and these didn’t bug me. A bogey but partner would push it with a par.
Seven. Missed taking a photo of this off the tee. We were able to run to the back side of the beer shack and grab a drink. And hit this from where my drive landed on this short par four (290 yards). A double here as I got and stayed in the sand for a couple shots. And now down two.
Eight. A 510 yard par five with another beautiful back drop. Would play this hole really well and par the #4 handicap hole with a stroke and got us back to -1. This could easily be another picture that could head the review.
Nine was our closing hole and a tight and uphill 357-yard par four. Another really pretty golf hole. Our opponent Jeff got a net birdie and took the match by two.
Ten. Where we started. A brutally hard par five. Up hill and thought we were going to lose Jeff as he tried to climb up the hill by the trees to get his ball as this was cart path only. Took a breakfast ball after dunking my first drive of the day into the pond but would go on to get a bogey net five. My partner Erik would net birdie for the first hole of the match win.
Looking back at the clubhouse on ten from my drive.
Eleven. Great golf hole. Can you tell I erased Jeff on the left of the lower tee box. Looks like a ghost is standing there. Par four. 360 yards. Would bogey net par which would’ve halved the hole but my partner Erik birdied for real this time.
Twelve. 325 yards. Just another really pretty golf hole with that spectacular mountain backdrop. Like at Banff with my buddy Don, I was like parsley for this match as my partner was en fuego! Another birdie which chopped Jeff’s net birdie. My five was unnecessary but again wasn’t playing horribly.
Thirteen. Long par four from an elevated tee. 400 yards. Well protected green as you can see. My net par would again halve the hole.
Same hole but vertical so I could make sure I captured the Three Sisters mountains.
Fourteen. The approach on the #1 handicap 14th hole – 530 yards. I put my third shot just short of the green on the bottom of the hill. Got under my third shot for a 210 yard chip (100 yards up in the air, 100 down and 10 yards forward). At least my second chip was within gimme range for a six net five but Jeff sank a miracle putt for a six net four and down to one up we went.
Fifteen. Really pretty 125-yard par three that I would bogey – partner and opponents all parred so ended the six-hole match up one.
Sixteen. Over hill and over dale you go to get to 16. You see the hard cant of the fairway from right to left. Short par four at 325 yards. New match and this time it was me and Jeff and his four net three won us the hole.
Seventeen was a 165-yard par three. Avoid the sand. Not sure what I did here but bogey and remember getting a couple of missed putt gifts from our opponents for the push. Which takes us to…
Eighteen. What a golf hole – I would maybe put this on my favorite 18 hole ranking which maybe I’ll do someday. Look at the mountains. Look at the cant of the fairway to the left. Where to hit it? Well you see that little white splotch on the trees in the distance…
That tells you right where to go. Now I duckhooked one to the left but was okay and found like three more balls around where I was. The big hitters all took aim at the target and as you see our buddies were all still there and Erik ran it right through the fairway beyond where their cart is now but to the left down the hill a bit.
Was able to put my second shot down the hill and had a nice little nine iron in but would hit it fat and take another to get on with a two putt but my boy would get a five for four and another push. This is just a beautiful golf hole on a beautiful golf course and well worth it to play if up here.
