BOW VALLEY – Bow Valley and Kananaskis golf courses are ready to open in the next week in a local season forecasted to have more chills, more drizzle, and more Trump.
Swinging into action first is Brewster’s Kananaskis Ranch Golf Course opening Thursday (May 1). It will be the sixth season in a row that the 18-hole Exshaw course is the first to open locally.
The Tunnel Mountain 9-hole course at the Fairmont Banff Springs will follow, welcoming golfers to the links Friday (May 2). Banff Springs opens its Stanley Thompson 18-hole course Friday (May 9), which is also the same day that Canmore-based courses, Silvertip and Stewart Creek Golf Course, open. The Canmore Golf and Curling Club will have its opening day Tuesday (May 6).
The doors open at Kananaskis Country Golf Course on Wednesday (May 7), but the course will close from June 6-20 for the G7 Summit in Kananaskis Country. It’s expected that world leaders such as newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump will be in attendance.
Although, it won’t be the first time the Kananaskis Country Golf Course has shut down during such an event. In 2002, the G8 Summit came to K-Country for the first time, and in between leaders talking shop, they had a dinner banquet at the local golf course.
“I had an incredible opportunity to meet President Bush,” Darren Robinson, general manager at Kananaskis Country Golf Course, said of the 43rd US president. “When we were first introduced, he said, ‘Darren, I have to tell you, you live and work in the most beautiful place I have ever seen,’ and that’s just a great reminder of how lucky we are.”
The G7 Summit is an informal meeting of seven of the world’s advanced economies, including Canada, the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Robinson said that while the summit impacts normal operations, these types of events are “rare and unique, so we’re embracing it and are excited.”
“These golf courses, we’re just going to nurture them and baby them along that two week closure and they’re just going to be absolutely incredible when we’re open on June 20, so it’s going to be a real treat for everyone who comes and plays following the event,” he said.
As for what kind of temperatures to expect out on the links, the 2025 Old Farmer’s Almanac is forecasting cooler and wetter than normal summertime weather in the prairies, which include the Bow Valley, and also in southern British Columbia.
Bow Valley, Kananaskis 2025 tentative opening dates
May 1: Brewster’s Kananaskis Ranch Golf Course
May 2: Tunnel Mountain at Fairmont Banff Springs
May 6: Canmore Golf and Curling Club
May 7: Kananaskis Country Golf Course
May 9: Silvertip
May 9: Stanley Thompson at Fairmont Banff Springs
May 9: Stewart Creek Golf Course
Columbia Valley courses are open
In Columbia Valley, in the eastern British Columbia Rockies, all golf courses have opened except for Greywolf Golf Course in Panorama, which is set to tee off May 9.
Starting this season, the Eagle Ranch Golf Resort, in Invermere, has launched a unique caddie program, which is a personalized service. In the program, a caddy provides insight, tips and strategic support every round.
“As the great Ben Hogan once said, ‘the most important shot in golf is your next one’”, said Steve Deschenes, the resort’s new golf pro, in a media release. “Caddies have knowledge of the course and its nuances that an amateur golfer may not otherwise observe.”
Columbia Valley, B.C. 2025 opening dates
Open: Eagle Ranch Golf Resort
Open: Windermere Valley Golf Course
Open: Fairmont Hot Springs’ Mountainside, Creekside, and Riverside courses
Open: Spur Valley
Open: Copper Point Resort’s The Point, and T Ridge courses
Open: Radium Resort’s Radium, and Springs courses
May 9: Greywolf Golf Course
