Check out Destintaion Whistler in the lastestCUT Golf Magazine

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GOLF
TRAVELLER
SUMMER IN
WHISTLER
GOLF, ADVENTURE, SCENERY, NIGHTLIFE:
GET READY FOR SOME HIGH-ALTITUDE FUN
IN CANADA’S FAMOUS OLYMPIC VILLAGE.
BY BRIAN KENDALL.
PHOTOS Tourism Whistler
PHOTO: Blake Jorgenson
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The beautiful vistas from Whistler Golf Course. PHOTOS John Henebry
W
ho knew that slashing the top off a champagne
bottle with a sabre requires much the same
balanced finish as a golf swing?
Thoroughly exhilarated and ready to
celebrate at the end of a week of alpine golf, hiking, mountain
biking and other adventures in Whistler, our group found itself
at posh Bearfoot Bistro enjoying a late-night lesson in the fine
art of sabrage. Dating to Napoleonic times, this flamboyant
technique was perfected by French Hussars celebrating their
emperor’s victories.
“The trick,” said Bearfoot’s owner and sabrage master, Andre
Saint-Jacques (who in 2005 broke the Guinness World Record
by sabering 21 bottles in under a minute), “is to follow through
like Rory McIlroy” at the moment the top of the bottle flies off
with the cork attached. Several decapitated bottles of Veuve
Clicquot later, credit cards maxed out, we reluctantly called it
a night.
A two-hour drive north from Vancouver on the wondrously
scenic Sea-to-Sky Highway, Whistler is a fun-packed town no
matter the season. In winter, skiers from around the world
challenge the slopes of a British Columbia village that, together
with Vancouver, hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. Whistler
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boasts a greater variety of terrain than any other ski resort in
North America, including more than 3,000 hectares of slopes,
16 alpine bowls and three glaciers.
Yet, these days, more visitors come to Whistler for golf and its
other summer attractions than for the snow. Whether you want
to fill every minute between tee times with heart-thumping
outdoor activities, or prefer to stop and smell the mountain
wildflowers, Whistler is an ideal getaway during Canada’s peak
summer months of July and August.
With three top golf courses within a five-minute taxi ride
of town, and another just 25 minutes up the highway, Whistler
ranks among the best and most convenient golf destinations on
North America’s west coast.
Golf was added to Whistler’s tourism mix in 1983 when the
municipally owned Whistler Golf Club opened within shouting
distance of a colourful, walking-only inner village – called The
Stroll – that includes dozens of restaurants, hotels, shops, bars
and outdoor patios.
Designed by Arnold Palmer, this strong layout is set in
a serpentine valley dotted with nine lakes and cut by two
creeks. Forced carries and tricky greens put teeth into a
design where a definite highlight is the par-4 16th, aptly called
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Mist rises from the lake on the 12th at Nicklaus North Golf Course. PHOTO Rich Glass
KEEP YOUR CAMERA READY TO SNAP
A CLOUD-SHROUDED MOUNTAIN
PEAK OR ONE OF THE BLACK BEARS
THAT MAKE GUEST APPEARANCES ON
WHISTLER’S GOLF COURSES.
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Bears, it seems, make unreliable caddies.
An Inukshuk stone monument and Black Tusk mountain. PHOTO Mike Crane
The Gallery. Hikers and bikers on the Village Trail pause to
watch and sometimes giggle as you nervously wallop your tee
shot towards a fairway booby-trapped with water hazards.
The club’s charming outdoor patio, overlooking the 18th
green, is an ideal spot to ponder how to spend the rest of your
day. Adrenaline junkies might opt for white-water rafting on
the Green River, a zip-line trek across Fitzsimmons Valley,
summer skiing on Horstman Glacier, or a mad charge down
the slaloms of the world’s largest downhill bike park.
A less taxing, though equally thrilling, Whistler experience
is the almost 5-kilometre journey between Whistler and
Blackcomb mountains on the Peak 2 Peak Gondola, the world’s
longest and highest unsupported lift. For ultimate bragging
rights, switch over to the Peak Express chairlift to reach
snow-capped Whistler Summit. The sweeping views of the
Coast Mountain Range in the thin air 2,160m up are literally
breathtaking.
No one who visits Whistler is ever disappointed by the
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Fairmont Chateau Whistler at dusk.
Hiking High Note Trail on Whistler Mountain. PHOTO: Mike Crane
Peak to Peak Gondola in summer. PHOTO: Mike Crane
scenery. Keep your camera at the ready to snap an especially
stunning cloud-shrouded mountain peak or a coveted shot of
one of the black bears that wander the lower slopes and make
guest appearances on Whistler’s golf courses.
We spotted a mama bear and her two cubs rambling
alongside a fairway the next day at Nicklaus North Golf
Course, only the second course in the world the Golden Bear
deigned to lend his surname to. Opened in 1995, Nicklaus
North has done more than any other local course to spread
Whistler’s fame. Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Fred Couples
and Nick Faldo played a skins competition here in 1997 that
was televised around the globe.
In contrast to the severe courses Nicklaus built early in his
design career, this one is fair and fun, though no pushover.
Slowly building momentum, the layout switches into high gear
on a back nine featuring three strong par-3s, all of which bring
water into play. Best of the bunch is the 207m 17th, set beside a
glacial lake at the base of snow-capped Wedge Mountain. The
green, hugged by bunkers on three sides, was built by dumping
thousands of tons of boulders into the lake.
With the successful launch of acclaimed courses by Palmer
and Nicklaus, golf ’s two biggest stars, Whistler had become one
of North America’s most talked-about new golf destinations.
A dozen or more luxury hotels opened to accommodate the
crowds that now came year-round. The two most prominent
additions, Fairmont Chateau Whistler and Four Seasons
Whistler, sit almost side-by-side at the foot of Blackcomb
Mountain in the Upper Village. A ski-in/ski-out hotel in
winter, the Chateau Whistler is a modern and wonderfully
comfortable take on a European-style A-frame ski chalet.
It quickly became the preferred place to stay in Whistler
following its opening in 1989.
In 1993, Fairmont, the owner of such iconic Canadian golf
resorts as Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and Fairmont Jasper
Park Lodge in the neighbouring province of Alberta, unveiled
what purists maintain is Whistler’s only true mountain course.
Unlike the Palmer and Nicklaus designs, which roll gently
across the flatlands of the valley floor, Fairmont Chateau
Whistler Golf Course is carved through the lower slopes of
Blackcomb Mountain, a short shuttle ride from the hotel. Over
the opening three grinding uphill holes at this Robert Trent
Jones Jr design, golfers experience an elevation change of more
than 90m. Typically fearsome is the signature 8th hole, a 194m
par-3 playing severely downhill to a green guarded in front by a
pond, and to the rear by a massive wall of granite notorious for
bouncing errant balls into orbit.
Though thrilling, chasing your golf ball across Chateau
Whistler’s roller-coaster terrain of yawning chasms, fast-rushing
creeks and towering Douglas firs takes a physical toll. Happily,
rejuvenation awaits a short cab ride away at Scandinave Spa.
Opened in 2010 on the edge of Lost Lake Park, the spa
was designed to appear as if it had emerged organically out
of the mountain landscape, an impression reinforced by the
native grasses and meadow flowers that cover the rooftops of
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Fairmont Chateau Whistler Golf Course. PHOTO Mike Crane
the treatment buildings. First, slip into one of two hot pools
to work out the kinks in your shoulders and legs. Then –
deep breath – plunge into the freezing-cold Nordic waterfall.
You’ll emerge fully revived and eager to take another crack at
Whistler’s vibrant nightlife.
People who love food can dine sumptuously in this town.
Whistler’s top restaurants cater to a sophisticated, affluent
and well-travelled clientele. The previously noted Bearfoot
Bistro, where chef Melissa Craig focuses on locally sourced
seafood and game dishes, is an obvious choice. Araxi, Bar Oso,
Trattoria di Umberto and Sidecut Steakhouse are also highly
recommended.
Then go boldly into the Whistler night to dance till all hours
with the beautiful young things at the Savage Beagle, shoot pool
with the locals at sometimes rowdy Buffalo Bill’s Bar and Grill,
or sip a Bloody Caesar (Canada’s spicier version of a Bloody
Mary) while watching the passing village parade from a patio
table at Longhorn Saloon and Grill.
There’s so much going on in Whistler that many visitors
never stray beyond the town limits. But it would be foolish
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for any serious golfer to come this far and not play Big Sky
Golf and Country Club, about 25 minutes north in lovely
Pemberton Valley.
Sheer-faced and massive, 2,560m-high Mount Currie looms
like a granite god over a brawny valley design, by American golf
architect Bob Cupp, defined by twisting creeks and seven lakes.
Beware the fourth hole, not coincidentally named Purgatory.
Water snakes across the fairway no fewer than four times on
this 550m par-5.
Even leaving Whistler doesn’t have to see the end of the fun.
The drive south to Vancouver along the winding Sea-to-Sky
Highway is one of the most picturesque in Western Canada.
Just past the historic mining town of Squamish, look on the
right side of the highway for a 193m par-3 set on a rocky
peninsula thrusting into Howe Sound. That’s the signature hole
of Furry Creek Golf and Country Club. If time permits, stop
and play an outrageous thrill ride of a course that’s so difficult
it’s best not to keep score.
You’ll relive the cliff-top tee shots and views of Howe Sound
all the way home.