Links of GlenEagles Hole-by-Hole
This will be my third hole-by-hole post from a recent trip to Alberta. The first two were from the Links and Old courses at Wolf Creek, both in the SCORE Golf Top 100. In this post Alison and I will play The Links of GlenEagles in Cochrane, just to the west of Calgary. This is a course I first played over twenty years ago with my brother Robert and I remembered it as being very scenic and challenging. Returning in 2025 I found a course in superb condition with some of the most memorable holes in the province. Please join us as we play a course that I think should join the Wolf Creek duo in Canada’s top 100.
The Links of GlenEagles was designed by Canadian golf architect Les Furber who learned his craft from the legendary Robert Trent Jones Sr. Not as well known in Eastern Canada as he should be, Furber is responsible for some of the best courses in Alberta and British Columbia including Top 100 course Predator at Predator Ridge. He was also tasked with the restoration of one of Canada’s most iconic courses, Banff Springs, which we will be playing next. Unlike many golf architects, Furber is not a scratch golfer and his design philosophy is to cater to the average golfer and not the less than 1% who are actually really good at the game. His courses feature beauty over difficulty, which to my mind is the way most courses should be designed.
We receive an enthusiastic welcome at the well stocked pro shop.
The Links of GlenEagles has an aquatic driving range which is not something you see every day, particularly with views of the Rocky Mountains in the distance.
And a massive putting green.
OK, after a nice warm up we’re ready to go.
Links of GlenEagles #1 – 355 Yard Par Four
The Links of GlenEagles plays 7,019 yards from the tips and has five sets of tee boxes. I will be playing a combimnation of the blue and white tees that measures a much saner 6,059 yards.
The first hole gives an immediate impression of just how lush and well conditioned the fairways are on this course. The tee shot requires a fairly decent drive to a slightly downhill fairway that abruptly makes almost a 90° turn to the right. The closer to the right you land the less you will have on the approach shot.
The very small green is tucked into a bowl that, without any traps, makes for a very inviting approach. There are two options here – fly it all the way to the pin with a high pitch shot or take a lower trajectory and land it short and let it roll down to the pin.
The greens at The Links of GlenEagles are not particularly contoured, but they are subtle and fast. I have to confess that I had a number of misreads on both breaks and speed.
This is a great starting hole, not an easy par, but with a well positioned drive and decent approach you might just start off with a birdie.
#2 465 Yard Part Five
The second hole at The Links of GlenEagles is a downhill par five that might possibly be reachable in two, but my philosophy on par fives is to play them safely and not try to overpower them (as if I could!). So I’ll play this as a three shot hole leaving driver in the bag and taking the traps on the left out of play.
This is also the first hole where you get a good idea of just how high above the Bow Valley this course is. Unfortunately, because of wildfire smoke from BC, the Rockies are not as clear as they might be, but still the views are pretty impressive.
Here is the result of my three wood. You can see the 150 yard marker well ahead, so there is no way I can reach the green and I definitely want to avoid the plethora of bunkers that guard it. A hybrid of some sort should keep me safe.
This is more like it. Again there is the option to pitch or chip. A well struck wedge to this medium size green leaves an easy two putt for par. Managing a par five for par gives me a lot more satisfaction than trying to birdie them and ending up with a bogey or worse. If you get to the par fives in regulation, the birdies will come, especially if you have a hot hand with the putter.
Links of GlenEagles #3 – 147 Yard Par Three
Okay, here we go with the first of a number of dramatic downhill par threes that really make The Links of Gleneagles a memorable course. The issue on them is how much club do you take off. Although there are traps everywhere but for a portion of the back, they should not be in play if you pick the right club. The green is large and receptive. Par or birdie are both in the equation on this hole.
#4 360 Yard Par Four
Things continue to go downhill on this par four that plays less than its stated distance. With my right to left ball flight the trap on the right is not in play and I can’t reach the one on the left so this is a good spot for the driver.
That leaves this somewhat testy approach shot. The one thing you cannot be on this and many of the other downhill holes at The Links of GlenEagles, is too long. The terrain drops off dramatically behind many of the greens and if you are over, forget it.
With that in mind, I chicken out a bit, come up short and end up bogeying what, on the stroke index, is the easiest hole so far. That’s golf.
Links of GlenEagles #5 – 140 Yard Par Three
This is the view of the Bow River from the fifth tee box.
And this is the next of the wonderful par threes at The Links of GlenEagles. This would be a signature hole on many golf courses, but here, as we shall find it, it is not not in the running.
The quandary on these type of holes is what club to hit. As I noted on the last hole, long is dead, but the green is the largest yet so I opt for a 9 iron which comes up short on the front fringe. That leaves a two putt from there for par.
#6 468 Yard Par Five
We’ve basically hit rock bottom at The Links of GlenEagles and at some point will have to start making our way back up. This par five is relatively flat until you get closer to the green when the fairway does start to rise. Like #2, I’m going to play this as a three shot hole and try to stay our of trouble, which is basically all on the left side. So, driver is in the bag and three wood it is.
I’m in the middle of the fairway and can now make out that there is a huge ravine that must be navigated to get to the green. I want to get as close to it as possible for the approach shot so it’s a wood once again.
Well, I did manage to get as close as I would want for this daunting approach shot. If there was nothing but fairway between my ball and this green I would be thinking about birdie. However, put a ravine like this or a pond between ball and green and it becomes a psychological nightmare. And it is all in your head.
I do clear my thoughts and the wedge does it’s job and there’s another par on the card.
This is a look back from behind the green of this really great par five.
Links of GlenEagles #7 – 335 Yard Par Four
A very obvious risk reward hole that dares you to try to cut off as much of this fairway intrusion as you can. At one time when I could hit a decent drive, I was a sucker for holes like this. Nowadays I pretty well forego the risk and play it safe. The good news it that the way this hole is designed, my right to left ball flight will naturally move away from danger. So I do hit driver and let the chips fall where they may.
As it turns out, the chips fell into place pretty nicely. I’m left with a slightly down hill approach to a generous green with a gettable pin on the back left. I didn’t get the birdie putt I was hoping for, but once again par is in the cards.
Taking a look at this approach shot while writing this post, I realized how easy it was to became blasé to just how nice the approach shots on these par fours really are. On some courses this would be considered an outstanding looking scene with the green, the traps, the trees and the background all in harmony. At The Links of GlenEagles it seems every approach shot is one to remember.
#8 – 142 Yard Par Three
This is the #18 stroke hole and it does look pretty benign. This is the first par three where you can actually play the club for the yardage, in my case a seven iron. Once again, the large green, which slopes uphill, is a fairly easy target and the ball lands on the front and rolls to within 20 feet, but I miss the putt due to a slight misread.
I mentioned at the beginning of this post that Les Ferber designs his courses for the average golfer and not the scratch handicapper. The first eight holes at The Links of GlenEagles, but for the approach on #6, are great examples of this. While the course is visually exceptional it has not been overly difficult. In other words, it’s fun to play.
Links of GlenEagles #9 – 532 Yard Par Five
The front nine at The Links of GlenEagles has three par fives, three par fours and three par threes, a combination I very much approve of. I find par fours the most difficult to score well on, usually because the approach shot is much longer than on par fives or from the tee on par threes.
I don’t know how, but without really noticing it we are somehow back up to the clubhouse level, even a bit above it for this tee shot. At 532 yards this is a definite three shotter. The fairway slants left to right which will be of help for me, so driver is the best choice.
For some unknown reason my drive actually went straight for a change and ended up on the far right side of the fairway for this second shot. There’s a ton of room on this downward sloping fairway, but there is water that needs to be cleared on the approach shot. I’m not sure if I should risk three wood or play safer with a five and opt for the latter.
Should have hit three wood as I now have this very interesting approach shot. I can go for the pin, but that requires a precision shot over the bunkers and I’m not confident I can manage it. So instead I aim for the left side of the green and my reward is a monstrous putt that results in a bogey.
I’m not in the least upset because if I had failed to make the direst at the pin shot I might have scored worse.
So far, Alison and I agree that this is most fun we’ve had on a front nine in some time. Let’s hope the back is just as good.
#10 – 455 Yard Par Five
No. 10 is the second consecutive par five at The Links of GlenEagles and listed as the easiest stroke hole on the back nine. It’s a perfect setup for my right to left ball flight so I can let loose here with the driver. I know I’m not getting home in two, but I might get close enough to bring up a birdie opportunity.
Once again the play is right to left to take the bunkers out of play and I’m able to accomplish that with a five wood. There’s a small depression that runs across the fairway, but that should not be in play.
The approach is pretty well blind to an uphill green, but the scorecard tells me the green is longer than it appears (actually it’s not appearing to me at all). So I take an extra club and while I don’t have the birdie putt I was hoping for, it’s an easy two putt for par.
I can never figure out courses that blindly list the par threes as the easiest stroke holes, then the par fours and lastly the par fives as the most difficult. In reality that is not the case – you can have brutally hard par threes and gentle par fives like No. 10 at The Links of GlenEagles. By marking it as a relatively easy hole, it allowed me to change my approach to be a little more aggressive than I otherwise might have been.
Links at GlenEagles #11 – 397 Yard Par Four
We’re back now to a much more difficult proposition on this, for me, relatively long par four that once again suits my ball flight. Right handers probably find The Links of GlenEagles a more difficult course for them as most of the trouble is found on the right side of the fairways.
I should note that although The Links of GlenEagles is a housing development, at no time do the residences ever come into play. In fact as you can see from this photo and others in this post, they are not even in sight off the tee. Although there is some highway noise on a few holes on the front, on the back things are completely peaceful.
What you cannot see from the tee box is that this is actually a split fairway and I have ended up on the wrong one. I’m still miles away and rather than risk losing a ball in the deep rough to the left by trying to reach the green, I opt to take a mid-iron well out to the right. The result is a bogey, but things could be a lot worse on this hole.
#12 – 154 Yard Par Three
This is yet another great par three at The Links of GlenEagles requiring what from the tee looks like a very long carry to the green. That is an optical illusion as is usually the case when there is a gorge or ravine between the tee box and the green. At 154 yards this is a very doable carry with a really big backstop. The tendency still will be to take too much club, which I do, end up above the green and have to settle for a bogey.
Links of GlenEagles #13 – 361 Yard Par Four
You can see from the length of the rough that going left here will be disastrous. so the target for me is the bunker on the right and the drive will gently curve away from it and hopefully get some added distance as the fairway disappears from sight.
I did get the distance I hoped for and was rewarded with yet another gorgeous looking approach shot. I’m not even going to think about going at that pin, but rather for the far right side of the green and as the scorecard advised, the shot moved dramatically to the left after landing leaving a 20 foot birdie putt, which I missed. Still, being back on the par trail was satisfying.
#14 – 356 Yard Par Four
This is a really scary tee shot for me. The right to left slanting fairway will accent my similar ball flight making it difficult to stay out of trouble. The scorecard advises not to try to cut the corner, but I have no choice but to aim over at least a small part of. I choose three wood over the driver for this shot as it fades less than the driver, OK slices less.
Somehow that worked out and I now have about 160 yards to a green surrounded by four bunkers. Although I’m not a bad bunker player, I always prefer safety over risk knowing the former will protect against anything worse than a bogey while foregoing the latter will take any chance of a birdie and maybe even a par out of contention. My approach shot comes up well short, between the two bunkers and I settle for bogey.
Boring golf? Maybe, but I hate doubles or worse. So far I haven’t had one and I intend to keep it that way.
Links of GlenEagles #15 – 385 Yard Par Four
The third par four of this three hole stretch at The Links of GlenEagles is the #1 stroke hole and from the tee it looks it. I can see the 150 yard marker out there. but not the green. The scorecard advises short hitters (that would be me) not to go for the green in two so I’m in a bit of quandary whether to hit driver or not. I opt for three wood.
This is a bit of a replay of the third shot on #6, but way longer and harder. I have no choice but to just chip a 7 iron out to the right and then pitch on for a two putt bogey.
The ball you see in the photo is Alison’s second shot. I’m actually standing over my drive in this shot.
#16 – 182 Yard Par Three
Although I have only played The Links of GlenEagles once before and over twenty years ago, I still remember #16. It is the signature hole and one of the great par threes in the country with a 130 drop from tee to green. Initially my memory played tricks on me and I thought #5 was the hole I remembered with its 75 foot drop from tee to green.
I don’t care how many great holes you’ve played around the world, anyone’s first reaction on stepping up to this tee box will simply be “Wow!”
And without further ado, here is the amazing #16 at The Links of GlenEagles.
The hole will not play anywhere near 182 yards so the challenge is to pick the right club. If you hit the front of the green the ball should shoot forward toward the pin, at least that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it with an 8 iron. One of my favourite things in golf is watching a tee shot on a hole like this as it seems to stay in the air forever.
It does land on the front of the green, but does not follow my orders to proceed to the pin leaving me this putt for birdie. I don’t make it, but I do get a par on this most memorable of par threes.
It’s worth coming to The Links of GlenEagles for #16 alone, but if you’ve read this far you’ll know it’s far from being the only great hole on this course.
Links of GlenEagles #17 – 340 Yard Par Four
Described as a short and dangerous hole on the scorecard, I opt for a three wood using the 150 yard marker as the target.
That strategy works, leaving this short iron into the green. The scorecard warns against pin-hunting when it is on the right, as it is today, so I aim for the centre of the green and am rewarded with a two putt par.
#18 – 485 Yard Par Five
It’s been a while since we’ve had a par five at The Links of GlenEagles so I’m not surprised we are ending with one. This is probably the safest drive on the entire course with a very wide fairway and the bunkers well away from it. I expect Les Furber was tempting long hitters to grip and rip it on this tee to set up a second shot to the green.
That won’t be my approach. I do hit driver, because, why not?
There is still a ton of room to hit a fairway wood probably as far as I can and it still won’t reach the creek you need to carry on the third shot.
That leaves one final great looking approach shot to a large green where short is not an option. It is downhill and I sure as hell don’t want to be in that bunker behind the pin on the right. I opt for a seven and it does hold the green leaving this three footer for a birdie. What a way to end things!
I have played the Ryder Cup course at the original GlenEagles in Scotland as well as the Queen’s course and I can say that while GlenEagles is an unbelievable resort, I enjoyed playing the Links of GlenEagles here in Canada more. It did help to have perfect conditions, but even without them, this Les Furber design is masterful.
Next Alison and I will head to Banff to play the legendary Banff Spring Golf Course, something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I hope you’ll join us there.