Delacour course a dandy challenge
Monster greens among Alberta’s most intimidating
At some point you will slap the head of your putter and mutter a string of expletives in disgust.
For as finely groomed and as magnificently conditioned are the massive and often severely tiered greens at the Canal at Delacour Golf Club, there will be a three-putt before you finish the challenging 7,077 yards.
Maybe even a four-putt. That is a guarantee.
The greens are monstrous, quick and smooth, and perhaps the most intimidating in the province if you continually find yourself on the wrong level or if you find yourself at one side some 120 feet or more away from a flag perched on a six-foot high tier on the other side. But they are perfect. “Terry Shinkewski has worked his magic on them since Day 1,” says club pro Paul Hemstreet, smiling. “Obviously, the key to scoring here is hitting approach shots to the right levels and then being able to get down in two putts when you don’t.”
The course is one of Harold Pasecehnik’s early designs. The Calgarian was a top amateur player in this province for a long time and he clearly challenged his own game when he ran it through a piece of ranchland and wound up with a links-style.
Just replace the gorse with natural fescue on several of the holes and, voila, you’d swear you were in Scotland.
While it will test the very best player from the tips, which carry a slope rating of 138 for the par 72-rated-74, it can be comfortably contested at much more friendly yardages of 6,654, 6,391, 6,121 or right down to 5,308.
The fifth and seventh holes top the par 5s at 553 and 570 yards, respectively, with seven par 4s stretching beyond 400 yards and the 11th the most demanding of the par 3s at 234 yards.
Every hole sits right out in front of you, so there are no surprises, no second-guessing from the tee box, except perhaps at the short 17th.
The par 4, just 346 yards, doglegs sharply right and plays considerably shorter on a straight line across a field that is out-of-bounds.
While even some average hitters could take a run at it, the risk is far too high with that out-of-bounds close and the unlikelihood of holding the runaway, long, thin green even greater.
Before you are finished this adventure, you will put your hands on every club in your bag — that’s a guarantee, too, and the mark of a solid course.
It is the 169-yard, 15th, however, that stands as the signature hole. It’s like a little oasis, the two-tiered green camped on the other side of a large pond.
A stone bridge, the sort of which you’d only expect to see in jolly old England, leads to the 16th tee box and quickly pulls your vision to the right.
Stop it! Focus, because you really need to concentrate on this tee shot.
The Canal, which is located about 20 kilometres east of the city on Country Hills Boulevard, offers highly competitive green fee rates at $39.99 weekdays on up to $65.71 on weekends.
Hemstreet notes the sixyear-old, semi-private not only has been doing a brisk business on the green-fee side, but is attracting considerably more equity members.
Those memberships, which can be paid over five years, sell for $20,000.
Annual memberships also sell for $2,400 (unrestricted) and $1,500 (restricted), while a very popular Player’s Club pass goes for $79.
The latter offers eight rounds with the first one free and 25 per cent off fees for the last seven.
Tee times can be booked at 403-590-4515.