Speargrass Golf Course

Our cart GPS repeatedly showed we were delayed, so we contacted the pro shop to ask if the groups ahead of us could be encouraged to keep pace, as there were no marshals monitoring play. Instead, someone from the course told a group ahead of us that we had complained about them, which resulted in us being yelled at with profanities on the course.

The situation escalated in the parking lot, where two heavily intoxicated men verbally abused us as we were trying to pack our vechile. Thankfully we had men golfing with us, but if we had not, this could have been a very different situation. As women, this was completely unacceptable and made us feel extremely unsafe, as we were simply trying to play a game of golf. We contacted the pro shop, and a very young staff member approached us and asked, “Do you want to make a complaint with a manager?” in a rude tone. He also confirmed that he was the one who told the group behind us had complained, which directly contributed to the verbal abuse we endured.

Speargrass golf course failed to manage pace of play with having no course marshals, failed to handle an escalating situation appropriately, and ultimately failed to address aggressive behaviour from intoxicated patrons. A beyond disappointing experience.

I will preface this by saying that the pace of play was dreadfully slow (5+ hour round), the mosquitos were quite bad on the back 9, and I played awful. Naturally, all three of those things impacted my overall experience, but I will try and be as objective as possible in my review.

PROS:

- the course was in pretty good shape overall, especially considering its been dry and hot of late. The tee boxes were especially nice - flat, smooth and nicely cut. The fairway and the rough had some patchy spots, but generally they were decent. The greens were a nice speed and rolled pretty true. I played later in the day, so the greens were starting to get a bit chewed up but that's to be expected. I wasn't in a lot of bunkers today, but the ones I found were serviceable.

- the last three holes are the ones everybody talks about, and yes they are a very scenic way to end your round.

- I thought the par 3's were all pretty strong.

- driving range was nice. It was flat with lots of targets to aim at, and you get to hit off grass which is always a nice touch.

- rates were ok.

CONS:

- I honestly wasn't a huge fan of the design. Not a tree on it until the last 3 holes, and the fairways were very narrow in places (plenty of water and tall thick escue). It felt overly punitive when the wind was whipping. And given the location of the course, I imagine that it would be windy most of the time.

- no marshall, and the course was jammed up. Very busy and very slow.

- as pretty as the closing holes are, they aren't good holes. I had no clue what to hit on #17 tee. #18 was a bit more open off the tee, but it was still pretty intimidating.

OVERALL:

Not terrible, but a bit underwhelming. I don't know if it's worth the drive from Calgary or beyond.

I played Speargrass as part of the Alberta Golf Tour and felt the track had some great features but I was not overly impressed. I am a big links style course fan but this course did not have a big links type feel. The course had an interesting layout as there was some very well placed bunkers and water hazards. It provided some great views especially on the last three holes but the difficulty changes so drastically that high handicap golfers will be left scratching their heads at the end of the round. A lot of the course is relatively flat but then you run into a lot of forced carries and really small landing spots on the back nine. This is a great course to try especially with the amazing views on the final three holes. But if you are looking to find a true links course you will find that there is more of championship type feel that can eat you up if you are not accurate as the round progresses. All in all a fun track to play.

After driving by this course a couple of times, finally had the opportunity to try it. Everything was in great shape but stay out of the rough. A good variety of challenging holes.