May 27th: Jasper Park Lodge Hole #7

Jasper Park Lodge Hole #7 "Colin's Clout" 178-yard Par3 Handicap 17

Jasper Park Lodge:

Located in the middle of a wildlife corridor, JPL provides a setting hard to dream of: a course hugging snow-capped peaks, meandering past glacial-fed lakes with unimaginably clear waters, all while having to mind the other foursomes on the course.

(Roscher...I don't care if they're chicks, let them play through --- photo taken at Jasper Park Lodge G.C.)

Great golf courses contain a sense of adventure. Late one September, the author (of a book which doesn't matter) was out on the peninsula that holds the 14th-16th holes. In the middle of the fairway was a family of elk. The young ones were away from their rather large mother. Considering it to be imprudent to come between the mother elk and her babies, we took our shoes off, walked into the edge of the lake, and circled quietly past. Such opportunities to be so closely intertwined with nature are rare and make a game at Jasper Park an absolute must. Its world ranking of #36 according to the 1939 article found by Tom MacWood is justified to this day, thanks to its setting which has never been tainted and the superb work of Thompson which has been lovingly preserved and restored.

Things Along the Way - Maligne Lake:

"The Longest Glacier-fed Lake in the Canadian Rockies"

This is one of the most beautiful lakes in the Rockies. Once named "Sore Foot Lake" by a railway engineer who was looking for a route for the Canadian Pacific Railway. An explorer named Mary Shaffer found it after him & marveled at its great beauty. The Island is called "Spirit Island" named by someone who won a kodak competion!! I think my fellow tourist was just in awe of its great beauty - no competion required.