I wrote this essay for the BTC top 100 book but we had to edit it to fit more with the nature of the celebration that the book was intended to be but I think during this long cold winter is the time for people to read and think about the game.
.(For reference this essay uses the routing that Thompson established during his renovation of Banff. Rather than the current routing which was adopted in the late ’80s for infrastructure and non-golfing reasons. As it is impossible to talk about Banff without talking about its original routing. I chose to use Thompson's hole numbers with the current holes being put into brackets. This hopefully helps the reader understand the novelesque nature of Banff.)
To talk about Banff is to engage with folk legends. People and places containing spirits that echo through time. This starts at the beginning even before man was there. To put it in simple terms, the land of Banff is defined but awe. The beauty and spirit of the place first drew local first peoples'. Eho would camp around the confluence of the Bow and the Spray Rivers, to fish and bathe in the cool glacial waters.
This same power was recognized by Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) as well who chose to site their crown jewel in the Rockies at the same place. The Banff Springs soon was widely known as a place of luxury and adventure. It's this spirit that drew, the Scottish pro Bill Tompson to accept the job here in to lay out a golf course.
It took 4 years to carve the first course out of the land at Banff. Opening in 1914, the accounts of the course report that it was a good but basic golf course with 9 holes playing to a par of 35. 5 years later after many key improvements such as the addition of 9 more holes, grass greens and a basic irrigation system.
Donald Ross was brought in 1919 to bring golf in Banff up to the global championship standard. Work was slow in Banff due to the short season and the fact that course renovations were not a major priority to CPR. These setbacks led the Ross course to not open until 1923. Some 4 years after work began on the project.
This only gave it two years to exist untouched before Stanley Thompson would open Jasper almost 300 km north for rival railway Canadian National (CNR). Upon opening and especially after its bunker renovation in preparation for the hosting of the 1929 Canadian Am. Jasper would gain the international acclaim that CP wanted desperately for Banff. All of this meant that the writing was on the wall for The Ross course at Banff.
As Stanley Thompson (no relation to Bill although they are both deeply connected to the three mountain parks courses. With Bill being the original architect and pro at Jasper, Banff and Waterton.). Would be brought in to top his work at Jasper.
At Banff, Thompson took the best of Ross and Tompson’s routing then added his flavour by finding the 8th (4th) and convincing the railway to buy the land closer to the hotel.
Enabling the famous 1st and 18th holes (14th,15th) also to make it an out-and-back routing like all of Thompson's best work. This makes sense as he was pulling out all the stops. Thompson was very keen for Banff in his words to become his "the final word in golf".
No expense was spared in the construction of Thompson's new course the budget at the end totalled the largest in the history of golf in Canada at the time.
To help ensure that this money went to good use he sent his young associate Robert Trent Jones to help advise during the construction and to help bunker his new holes particularly the 8th. Which has become one of the most famous par 3’s in the world. It's this routing that makes Banff shine to me.
The story of Banff is like an epic romantic folk tale of man vs nature. One that starts at the base of the hotel, your home for the time then it asks the golfer to go out on an hike along the Rundle escarpment out to the small glacial cirque filled with crystal blue water at the base of the mountain that refracts across it. As the player turns home for their return journey along the Bow River and its tributaries, views of the hotel and home as teased throughout the routing until on 18, the grand hotel is revealed to becomes the dominant feature in the landscape.
In 1929, the first tee shot was struck across the Spray River and golfers journey into the novel that is Banff had begun. One can only imagine the scene on that day, the glamorous 1920s crowd gathered to the side of Bow Falls, full of hustle and bustle, the raucous patio above the tee providing a gallery a perfect view of one the most picturesque tee shots in the world. This was Banff this was what golfing at the top of the world felt like.
The 1st (15th) is an awe-inspiring handshake from the gods, the player must rope a draw across the Spray River. Choosing their line off the eastern end of Rundle Mountain. It's here Thompson begins to introduce you to the tests that you will face at Banff. The course is defined by challenging drives to specific points in the fairway. Normally these spots are protected by a bunker or other hazard. So playing towards danger is rewarded. On the 1st golfers who take on the left tree line are rewarded with a better angle rather than those who hit a safe ball to the right half of the fairway. This theme of reward for taking on challenges is a hallmark of Banff, Thompson and his famous associate Jones.
After the fireworks and heroics of the 1st (15th) Banff starts to settle into a strong rhythm with two great drive and pitch holes then followed by a cape”esque” tee shot on the par 5 4th (18th). With the boldest and longest players challenging the driveway enabling well-struck drives to reach the green in two. Where more conservative drives play off Buffalo Mountain and into a heavily bunkered section of fairway.
Then the next great run of holes is 6-9 (2nd-5th). This stretch is the heart of the golf courses. The first of these holes, the mid-length par 3 6th, plays from a lower tee up a hill to a plateau containing one of the most interesting greens on the course. There are not many safe misses on this hole except short into the apron, as balls that find the bunkers in front of the green or the rough behind can easily become bogey even with the deftest of short games.
The par 5 7th Gibraltar is a special golf hole as you play around the base of Rundle and the hole has a wonderful compression and release effect as one walks from the chute of trees and large mountain views towards the green, which slowly reveals itself as you come around the mountain. Once around the corner, the green is wonderfully sited in a mountain meadow overlooking the Devil's Caldron 8th (4th).
There is enough history about the 8th (4th) also known as the devils caldron to be an essay on its own. But needless to say, it's probably one of the most natural spots for a par 3 in the history of golf. Thompson had to fight for it and the money to build it but the result is hard to argue with as I am sure that a majority of rounds at Banff are played just to experience the tee shot over this glacial cirque to this immaculately bunkered green. This hole has been the backdrop for many famous players from Marlyiln Monroe to Jack Nicklaus and Anthony Kim.
The next hole is probably the most underrated hole at Banff as it has been altered through mowing and bunker renovation to function worse than intended. The hole originally played across an angular bunker that worked across the ridge which bisects the fairway. Creating almost a split fairway with the safe option to play to the left below the bunker leaving a longer blind shot. With, the bolder player being able to take on the bunker and gaining an advantage of not only a shorter shot but a clear view up the green. This however is no longer possible as the lower fairway has been removed and the bunker shrunk to only affect those making the bolder of the two plays Still this hole is an electric way to finish one of the best 4 hole stretches in the country.
At this point in the round, the golfer is now making the turn home and more thrills await at 12, 13,14, 16, and of course 18 (8,19,10,12,14). All holes drive home how good Stanley was about creating moments and unique holes that extend into the landscape.
It is this control over pacing, routing and extended views that Banff stretches out and shows us what is possible in Canadian golf. It's a shame that this is all obfuscated in its current routing where the best holes in the original routing come early 2-5 instead of as at the furthest point from home and as a cap in the middle at 6-9. This is also highlighted in the back 9 as well with the wonderful opening note of 1 following the closing crash of 18 as these holes now sequence as 14 and 15. I still believe that a round at Banff is a must for any serious Canadian golfer even with the current blended routing.