BANFF SPRINGS GOLF ROCKS, BUFFALO/BOAR MEAT TOURTIERE

July 15, 2009

BANFF SPRINGS GOLF ROCKS, BUFFALO/BOAR MEAT TOURTIERE

I've had a chance to play a lot of tremendous golf courses in the world. Kapalua in Hawaii has the greatest ocean views and trade winds. Sea Island in Georgia is lovely. Mission Hills in China is an amazing collection of a dozen courses.

But nothing compares with my new favourite, the Banff Springs. It's a stunning Stanley Thompson layout at the foot of the marvellously old school Banff Springs Hotel in the Rockies. The conditions are exquisite, the design is absolutely first-rate and the views are, well, breathtaking.

It wasn't considered one of the top courses in the country by some folks a few years ago but it's
as wonderful a golf course as you can find these days and deserves huge recognition around North America. It's truly one-of-a-kind.

The Jasper Park Lodge course is a very good one, and I also had a chance on Tuesday to play the Canmore Golf and Curling Club, which is straightforward and fair and in great condition and very reasonable, with absolutely marvellous views of the Rockies. But Banff Springs is my new Canadian favourite; hands down.

More to come in next year's Star golf magazine. But you'll have to wait until next April, I'm afraid.

TOURTIERE, WESTERN-STYLE

I've mentioned the emphasis on local cuisine out here, having tasted venison at dinner the other night and all. On Tuesday, the Canmore Golf Club was serving an outrageously delicious tortiere with wild boar and buffalo/bison meat. The Americans seemed to love it, by the way.

SPECIAL PLACES DOWN SOUTH

Time.Com had a good piece recently on special, "authentic" places in each of the United States. I never
know what authentic really means, but it's worth checking out.

Posted by Jim Byers at 01:02:02 AM in canada, Food and Drink, golf, tourism, Travel

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Travel Blog by Jim Byers

Jim Byers is the Star's Travel Editor. He has been writing travel stories for more than a decade, covered five Olympic Games and spent years covering the Blue Jays, the Toronto Raptors and the PGA Tour. He's been everywhere from Bonavista to Vancouver Island, as well as China, Hong Kong, Australia, the Caribbean, Thailand, Mexico, Tahiti, New Zealand, Vietnam, a dozen countries in Europe and just about every major city in the U.S. Okay, he was only in Liechtenstein for a couple hours in a rental car and his only visit to New Orleans was when he was 12, but you get the picture.

July 15, 2009