The Most Interesting Golf Game I’ve Ever Played

I am not a golf person, but when Bud saw the course at Waterton National Park he really wanted to play. This time I decided to play also.

I agreed to play eighteen holes, though that is more golf than I can usually take at one time. I used to quote Mark Twain, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” But I found out it is not likely he ever said that. In researching the origin of that quote (unknown) I came across my new favorite, which was published in a South Dakota newspaper in 1913. “You hit a ball as far as you can, and if you find it the same day you have won.” By that definition I won today. By any other measure I was abysmal. Which is not to say the game was.

It’s hard to have a bad game when this is your view when you first get in your cart at the clubhouse.

I usually stand behind Bud when he tees off to watch where his ball goes, since his eyesight isn’t too good anymore. It was hard to concentrate on the ball when there were views like this everywhere.

Like the on-line brochure says, “the mountain scenery is a often a ‘hazard’ all its own”.

Sometimes I looked up from a putt and was just a bit stunned at the beauty all around.

Another time I turned around and was startled to see the valley of Blakiston Creek with the Sofa Mountains in the distance.

From here you just get a glimpse of Middle Waterton Lake (past the water hazard on the course) and you can see the roof of The Prince of Wales Hotel on its hill.

The course offers its own challenges. Coming down from this tee it felt like there should be a guard rail on this cart path.

And if you missed the green on this par three hole (like I did) you faced a serious uphill climb. The first nine holes were built in 1929, the back nine added in 1935 designed by Stanley Thompson, a famous Canadian golf course architect.

We were pretty excited to see this bear scat on the edge of one of the greens. Just a reminder that you are playing in a national park.

But the most excitement and greatest hazard came as we looked from the thirteenth green towards the fourteenth hole. There was a very big brown bear hanging out on the fourteenth fairway! He wasn’t leaving, so we drove the cart back to the twelfth green, told the father and son playing there about the bear, and then followed a track that took us past the fourteenth green to the fifteenth tee. The bear was still in the fairway. I wrote Bear! on our scorecard for the fourteenth hole.

I didn’t play well, but I had a wonderful time. If you like golf and you like wild places (Jack and Randy and Chris) this place is one you will love.