Banff Springs Hole #7

Banff Springs Hole #7 "Hoodoo" 602-yard Par5 Handicap 1

The accepted definition of a classic three shotter is that each shot grows more exacting and few three shotters measure up to that standard as well as this one. Standing on the tee, there again appears miles of room but the player comes to appreciate that left is always preferred. The first true decision is how to handle the forty yard long Thompson bunker complex that starts 135 yards from the green and bites into the fairway from the right. Should he lay back short of it? Lay up beside it? Or perhaps for the strongest, even get past it? The author witnessed a good round come undone when a player put his second shot in it and three strikes later, the same player pitched out sideways rather than continue in vain to advance the balln ear the green. The green itself rewards the golfer who has played aggressively for his two shots as it is long and narrow and best approached with a short club.

As seen from the tee, the seventh fairway seems wide but the trees on the right narrow the fairway corridor at the 340 yard mark from the tee and the shot requirements progressively tighten thereafter.

#7 is a strategic par 5, played along a narrow fairway with Rundle’s rock face on the right and bunkers to the left. Bunkers must be flirted with if there is to be any chance of finding this green in two, tucked away as it is round a corner to the right.

Banff Springs:

The essential stop for every golfer, the breathtaking valley design is the handiwork of Stanley Thompson, Canada's most revered golf architect. Opened by the Prince of Wales in 1929, the 27-hole facility features one of the most photographed holes in all of golf, the par-three Devil's Cauldron, which Thompson set beside an impossibly picturesque glacial lake.

(Oh and I forgot to mention, but probably not too tough to figure out; Devil's Cauldron made that list of holes to play before you die)

Banff:

Hoodoos -- They are giant freestanding pillars several metres tall that are made of silt, gravel and rocks cemented together by dissolved limestone. Sculpted over time by wind and water erosion and protected by a solid cap of rock, the Hoodoos can be found standing guard along the top of Tunnel Mountain. It’s the smallest peak in the Rockies to be called a mountain, at 1,692 m (5551 ft) and originally it was known as “Sleeping Buffalo” among the local Stoney Indians, for its bulky contours. Tunnel Mountain almost had a hole blasted through its middle in 1882 when railroad surveyors were devising a route through the Rockies. Luckily it was easier to go around……………….. On Tunnel Mountain there is a series of hoodoos that overlook the beautiful Bow River. The hoodoos are nice enough, but not really anything that anyone would go too far out of their way to view. Their main claim to fame is the closeness to town and the ease of viewing--just a few hundred feet from the parking lot to the first viewing platform. We bypassed the hoodoos until the last evening, even though they were less than half a mile from our lodge. On the last evening I went down at about eight-thirty or so to get a look at the hoodoos. Not only did I get a good look at the hoodoos, I got a good look at a teen streaker. He was goaded by his friends to shed his clothes and then these friends (or were they fiends) took off up the trail with the streaker's garments.