Banff Springs Golf Course: As Natural As It Gets

Banff Springs Golf Course: As Natural As It Gets
Andrew Penner

The view atop Banff’s 15th tee is stirring. A hundred feet below a lush fairway curls around a cluster of pines. To the right, the Spray River shoots through the corridor, chattering in the same tongue it’s used for a thousand years. Higher up, slabs of rundle stone soar into the sky. Adjacent the fairway a herd of elk feed on the montane grasses, oblivious to the fact that they are in the line of fire. At the Banff Springs Golf Course nature is taking its course – and superintendent Kevin Pattison and his turf care team are making sure it stays that way.

Perhaps Stanley Thompson’s finest virtue was his fervent desire to blend a course with its natural surroundings. His goal was always to create something that worked in harmony with the land. Thankfully, Pattison is on the same page as Thompson when it comes to working with nature.

With numerous strategies in place to ensure the course doesn’t have an adverse effect on the natural habitat of the region, environmental groups are actually applauding the efforts made by Pattison and his team.

For the record, last year Pattison applied fungicide to the greens just once (in fall when the course was closed). On the 204,000 square feet of surface he treated, he used just 108 litres of product. Also, between 2000 and 2003 Pattison reduced fungicide applications by a whopping 87%. Those figures would make other superintendents blush. Due to the small amount of fungicide used, a problem with chemical run-off into nearby lakes and rivers is non-existent.

Interestingly, the course now features 32 acres where the natural montane grasses grow completely untouched. "One of my goals was to make sure we had ample ‘buffer zones’ on the golf course which would enable the animals to pass through the property in areas that are completely natural." Thanks to Pattison, this has now been achieved. Basically, areas in between holes, in front of teeing areas, and directly beside the fairways remain untouched and left in their natural state by the turf care team. Consequently, not only does the golf course have a beautiful authentic look with smooth, natural textures and tones, but wildlife in the area can feel right at home in territory that belongs to them as well.

The Fairmont Banff Springs golf course has long been known for its large elk population. In May of 2003 the elk population on the course totalled 199 – a figure that Pattison believes will rise. One of Pattison’s most challenging tasks is controlling and monitoring the elk while maintaining a course to world-class standards – a difficult task when dealing with beasts that can weigh over a thousand pounds (and can tear up an entire green with their antlers in minutes). "Elk ‘issues’ are often on the forefront," says Pattison. "We deal with things like repairing dead spots where the elk have urinated, controlling the movement of the animals away from areas of high golfer concentration, informing the public of the potential risks of coming too close to the elk, removing elk dung (by the truckload), and fixing flagsticks that have been smashed to pieces by the elk playing their own version of the game."

Fully certified in the Audubon Co-Operative Sanctuary System of Canada program in 1999 (an initiative dedicated to ecologically sound land management practices and including things like water quality and conservation, education, and habitat management), the Fairmont Banff Springs is making a few birdies when it comes to the environmental responsibilities that we all share in. With the efforts of Kevin Pattison and his turf care team, the local "tongue" should be spoken here for years to come.

Andrew Penner’s book, One Flew Over The Caddyshack, is available at Amazon.com.