May 5th: Silvertip Hole #3

Silvertip Hole #3 -- 211yd Par3 Handicap 18

Silvertip:
The Golf Course at Silvertip is like the Rockies themselves -- steep and beautiful. Suck-in-your-tummy tight fairways, devilishly placed water and sand hazards, and big elevation gains and drops make it a challenge. You can always blame a lost stroke on the breathtaking mountain scenery, which certainly is a distraction. Silvertip's bench-land location above Canmore offers sweeping Bow Valley views, and holes have been placed for maximum visual impact.

(One of the most widely used photographs of Silvertip)

Rocky Mountains Geography Lesson:
The Canadian Rockies are distinct from the American Rockies in that they are older mountains, they were primarily formed by overthrusting whereas the American Rockies were primarily formed by uplifting, and they are almost exclusively sedimentary rock, whereas the American Rockies are cored with granite. Their physical appearance is different because the Candian Rockies have been very heavily glaciated, resulting in sharply pointed mountains separated by wide, U-shaped valleys gouged by glaciers, whereas the American Rockies are more rounded with river-carved V-shaped valleys between them.