When a two-time U.S. Open champion with millions of social media followers goes looking for the most beautiful golf course on the planet, and the trail leads him to the Canadian Rockies, luxury travelers should take note. This summer, golf star Bryson DeChambeau made the trip to Alberta, spending time at both Silvertip Resort in Canmore and — the true showstopper — the legendary Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course. The visit, chronicled in a nearly 50-minute YouTube feature that has already drawn millions of views, has put this century-old mountain course back in the global spotlight. For our clients considering a Canadian Rockies escape, here's why Banff Springs deserves a place on the bucket list — straight from one of golf's biggest names.
A Course Built to Be "The Final Word in Golf"
The Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course has been turning heads for nearly 100 years. Commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway and designed by legendary Canadian architect Stanley Thompson, the course was pitched to Thompson with an audacious brief: create nothing less than the final word in golf. Thompson delivered — his par-71, 18-hole layout opened in 1928 as the most expensive golf course ever built at the time, and it has been drawing golfers, celebrities, and royalty ever since (Marilyn Monroe famously stayed at the course during filming in the area in 1954, with then-husband Joe DiMaggio playing rounds there).
Key attributes that make the course a standout:
- Setting: The course winds along the Bow River beneath the snow-capped peaks of Mount Rundle and Sulphur Mountain, inside Banff National Park — widely regarded as one of the most dramatic natural backdrops in golf.
- Design pedigree: A Stanley Thompson design, with earlier contributions from Donald Ross and original Scottish designer Bill Thomson (a protégé of Old Tom Morris). Thompson's six most celebrated Canadian layouts — including Banff Springs — are routinely ranked among the country's best courses.
- Signature hole: The par-3 fourth on the Rundle nine, nicknamed the "Devil's Cauldron," is one of the most photographed and talked-about holes in Canadian golf, with an elevated, punchbowl-shaped green ringed by bunkers.
27 holes across three nines: The original Rundle and Sulphur nines (1928) are complemented by the Tunnel nine (1989), allowing for several 18-hole routing combinations. - Living history: Guests can book the Heritage Golf Experience, playing the course as it was in the 1930s — hickory clubs, replica balls, and all — and the club holds Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuary certification.
- Championship pedigree: Banff Springs has hosted the Telus Skins Game, featuring names like Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, and Sergio Garcia.
What Bryson Had to Say
DeChambeau — a two-time U.S. Open champion with roughly 4.6 million Instagram followers and one of the largest individual-player channels in golf — didn't hold back on camera. The title of his video summed up his verdict before he'd even finished the round: The World's Most Beautiful Golf Course.
Arriving at the resort, DeChambeau said the setting felt "like another planet," and once on the course itself, he added that it was unlike anything he'd encountered in his two-plus decades playing the game. Partway through the round, he admitted the scenery was pulling his focus away from the golf itself, and standing on one of the signature holes, he said he'd genuinely never seen anything like i
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He was similarly effusive about the country as a whole, calling Canada "a special place" in a social post about the trip, and telling his audience the experience at Fairmont Banff Springs was one he'd never forget.
Banff isn't just a beautiful place to visit, it's a world-class golf and resort destination that competes with anywhere on earth. For clients weighing the Canadian Rockies against more traditional luxury golf markets, DeChambeau's trip is a timely reminder that some of the most spectacular golf in the world is closer to home than they think.
Whether your clients are golf enthusiasts chasing a bucket-list round at the Devil's Cauldron, or travelers simply seeking the Fairmont Banff Springs' storied Châteauesque grandeur against a Rocky Mountain backdrop, this is the moment to put Banff on the itinerary.
Interested in building a Banff golf and resort package for your next golf vacation?
