Kananaskis is Back!

Along with several other members of the Stewart Creek Golf and Country Club, Rolande and I played golf this week at the recently re-opened Kananaskis Country Golf Club. It’s two courses, Mount Kidd and Mount Lorette were severely damaged by the floods that struck the area in June 2013. Their restoration has taken a long 5 years and now the Mount Lorette Course is open and back in play. Mount Kidd will re-open with 9 holes on June 1, followed by the other 9 holes on August 1.

Kananaskis Country Golf Course is a publicly accessible course which opened in 1983. It was designed by golf course architect Robert Trent Jones and consists of two 18-hole golf layouts, played beneath Mt. Lorette and Mt. Kidd, after which the courses are named. Score Golf Magazine has consistently ranked this facility as a top 100 course in Canada. It owes this honour to its outstanding design, taking advantage of the spectacular mountain surroundings of Kananaskis Country. Located only an hour west of Calgary, it is very popular with Albertans who play eighty-five percent of the sixty thousand rounds of golf played there annually. That’s a lot of golf during a season that lasts only 4-1/2 months!

Today’s blog consists of photographs I took during our round. They’re intended to share with you the beauty of this magnificent golfing paradise. We enjoyed beautiful spring weather and we were all pleased to be part of the re-opening of the Kananaskis Golf Course.

I begin with this view of Mount Kidd on the right and The Fortress in the background, two well known Kananaskis Country landmarks.

This scene features a view of the Kananaskis River that runs though the golf course, in this case separating the tee box from the 16th green.

This next photograph shows the beautiful sixth hole, a par 3 across a pond, with Mount Kidd in the background.

This is a view of the third hole with Mount Lorette in the background.

I took this photograph between the third and fourth holes. It’s at the northern boundary of the course, looking north toward Mount Lorette.

I wrap up this post where all rounds of golf end, at the 18th green. It’s actually a double green continuing to the right where its north side is the ninth green. An idea borrowed from the Scots?

It was a great day for golf and for photography. I’m reminded however that it’s difficult to do both at the same time. I find that pace of play does not allow me the time I would normally prefer to take a picture. If the photos appear to suffer from that, I still did better with the camera than with my golf clubs! I look forward to returning to Kananaskis Country Golf Club when the Mount Kidd course re-opens.