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"Hell's Highway" at Wolf Creek Golf Resort. (Kevin Watson)
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Teeing it up and tip’n it back at Wolf Creek Golf Resort

Aug 27, 2021 | 11:38 AM

There are a number of great golf courses up and down the QE2 and if you are looking to play two totally different courses, type in Wolf Creek Golf Resort to your GPS and it will guide you to one parking lot to test those 36 holes.

There’s the original “Old Course” and the newer “Links Course”. The Old Course features more trees, a little water and tighter shots, while the Links Course is more wide open, but has more sand to contend with.

Aaron Miller grew up playing the course and has been the Head Pro for 8 of his 17 years at the “Wolf” so he knows each nine has its own personality, so there is a signature hole on each as well.

Starting off on the front nine of the “Old Course”, Miller picks number four. “It has the water behind and left of the green and the creek all up the side.” Which means to me keep the driver in the bag and play it safe!

“Hawk’s Alley” (Kevin Watson)

On the back nine, it’s number 11. “You have the best risk/reward par five I think you’ll find anywhere. Drive it up to the top of the hill and then you’ve got to roll the dice if you think you can clear the creek and get it on in 2 or…….” Or NOT!!!!

Across the road now to the “Links Course” which was built in 1990. It’s number nine, a par five and I would say it’s appropriately named Hell’s Highway. Miller concurs, “It’s with the bunkers scattered within the last 150 yards. So, everyone really has to strategize where to hit their second shot on that hole.”

On the back nine it could be number 16, but Miller favors number 12. “With the bunkers down the middle of the fairway, we have a shared fairway with 13, so it’s a really cool looking hole. Big green, with a lot of options for pin placements.”

The “Wolf” hosted the Canadian Pro Tour’s Alberta Open for 13 years from 1987 to 1999 and a lot of future PGA players cut their teeth on the challenging track that features the slogan, “Wolf Creek—where Canada meets Scotland”. Many up-and-coming junior players get to see how they stack up against the Rod Whitman designed course, as the McClennan Ross Tour Championship has been held there since 1996. This year’s wrap up event is August 30, while the PGA Jr. Masters will be held the week after September 2- 3.

COVID- 19 changed the way golf courses operated and Miller says things that you thought were necessities maybe aren’t anymore. “I don’t think we’ll ever put ball washers out on the golf course again. It causes our grounds crew quite a bit of labor time to maintain the ball washers. We’re all used to having a damp towel on our bag to clean our golf balls.”

“Prepaid online booking. I think for a lot of daily fee courses, that’s here to stay as well. I think the golfers found that convenient too. We offer a dynamic price discount if you prepay online in advance.”

Once again, we had the pleasure of having Bud Kelly from Troubled Monk join us, and he informed us about tees.