Guest Article by Andrew Penner
As I take the short stroll to the island tee box on the beautiful par-5 6th at Red Deer’s dynamite River Bend Golf Course, a nervous feeling washes over me. Hmm. There’s a lot of water around here, I think to myself, sweat starting to bead on my farmer-tanned forehead. What could possibly go wrong? As it turned out, quite a bit actually.
Indeed, golf is typically quite the adventure. Especially when I peg it up. Perhaps you can relate. (I’m pretty sure I’m not the only happy hacker out there!) Skulls, whiffs, shanks, clanks, slices, duck hooks, hosel fades; I’ve got every shot in the bag. Most of them wouldn’t win a beauty contest.
But, over the years I’ve discovered that there’s a remedy, a palate-pleasing potion of sorts, that seems to cure my double-bogey blues. What is it, you ask? It’s simple actually. Play a great golf course. Or better yet, play a bunch of great golf courses. That’s right, great golf courses have a therapeutic power, the ability to ease the painful effects of ineptitude. The scenery. The beautiful turf. The wildlife. The peaceful ambiance. The wonderful rhythm and flow of the postcard-pretty holes. It’s medicinal. And that’s why I LOVE playing golf in Red Deer. There are just a ton of great courses in the area!
I played my first round of golf in Red Deer – at the phenomenal Red Deer Golf & Country Club – way back in the early 90s. It’s an awesome riverside course that immediately jumped into my top 5 courses in Alberta. And it’s been there for decades. (Not trying to boast, but I’ve played most of Alberta’s top courses. It’s like therapy…remember?)
However, the esteemed Red Deer G&CC is a private course. True, you should explore all opportunities to score a round with a member. Clean his/her shoes, water his/her lawn, bake some cookies, whatever it takes. You won’t be disappointed.
But thankfully, Red Deer is home to another great riverside course that’s open and available to all. In my opinion it’s one of the most underrated public golf courses in the province. That’s right, the River Bend Golf Course is a parkland gem. A wonderful, scenic, smooth-flowing, user-friendly layout that has all the ingredients for a memorable day on the links. Island greens, island tee boxes, beautiful shaping, ample bunkering, excellent conditioning, generous fairways, huge greens; the course is rock-solid in basically every way you can judge it.
The caveat? This year only 9 of 18 holes are open at River Bend. A fairly extensive renovation is well underway. However, next year the course is going to be fully open on 18 holes and you can expect it to be even better! Currently green fees at River Bend are just $40 per person for 9 holes.
For golfers who want to play additional rounds in the Red Deer area, just outside of town are some of the best rural courses in Alberta. Wolf Creek, Innisfail, and Alberta Springs are three that immediately come to mind. And, yes, they’re all plenty good enough to have a restorative force over your ineptitude.
Routed through rolling, sandy terrain, Wolf Creek (36 holes) is an Alberta classic; an inland links that rivals some of the best in the world in this genre. If you’ve never been to Scotland to play golf, this is about as close as it gets in Alberta. The architectural work at Wolf Creek was authored by Alberta native Rod Whitman, who is regarded by his peers as one of the best golf course architects working today. Whitman has design credits in places like Bandon Dunes (Oregon), Cabot Cape Breton (Nova Scotia), and the soon to be unveiled Cabot Revelstoke (British Columbia).
Also, Alberta Springs, which is located just five minutes west of Red Deer, is yet another gorgeous parkland course with plenty of water in play. The course even has an aquatic driving range with floating golf balls! And for me, this is a confidence booster. I can practice my skulls and chunks and I get exactly the same result as a ball struck perfectly. It goes in the water.
And to be honest, I’m totally comfortable with that. After all, great shot making is over-rated. It’s the course that counts. The experience. And that’s why I love golfing in Red Deer!
