It’s December and I’m swinging a golf club.

This isn’t a “bros trip” to Scottsdale or Vegas, and I’m a couple decades away from retiring on Vancouver Island. The Stanley Thompson-designed 18-hole course at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club has gone into hibernation and it’ll be a good six months before anyone has the chance to stripe a drive, pure an iron or sink a putt at this latitude. 

So how is it that on December 13, with snow and ice covering the fairways at the Number Two-ranked public golf course in Canada, I can be standing over a golf ball, going through my pre-shot routine, focusing on making a good swing to match my friend’s fine approach onto a tiered green?

The Foresight GC Hawk, that’s how. 

The Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club’s newest amenity is the salve that members and guests are already clamouring to apply to their golf-starved winters. The GC Hawk is the nerve centre of a new golf simulator installed in the recently-opened “Bear’s Den” at the Jasper Park Lodge Golf Clubhouse. It’s a high-tech computer, kitted with high-speed cameras and sensors, which together accurately simulate the flight of every golf ball you strike into an impact screen—which itself displays one of 30 world-class golf courses that players can select.

“This thing will give you every number you want about your golf shot, from launch angle to club head speed to spin rates,” JPL Golf head professional Troy Mills says confidently. “It’s extremely accurate.”

In other words, it’s a great tool for those wanting to sharpen their game during a time of year when the sticks typically lie dormant. 

But how do I, a bonafide hack who still uses the putter he won at a junior tournament in 1996, know the machine is accurate? It doesn’t take long for me to find out. When my friends and I take our turns practicing at the virtual driving range, the GC Hawk displays with immaculate precision the ball flight of my first three warm-up shots—shanked, toed and skulled about 50, 60 and 100 yards dead right of my target, if you must know. 

“Looks like you haven’t missed a step,” my playing partner chirps. 

I eventually put a decent arc on a ball with an 8-iron, but the range session is a good reminder about what to expect in simulated golf. Despite the experience being powered by a computer, it’s not like playing a video game. And despite the big screen, particularly with our threesome, it’s just about the polar opposite of watching Masters highlights on YouTube. If I want the GC Hawk to simulate a good shot, I have to make a good swing. And because the computer is all-seeing, there’s no foot wedges to get out from behind a tree or to fluff up a bad lie. 

“But luckily there is a mulligan function,” Mills says as I snap-hook a drive into the virtual woods. 

Even better, there’s a beer cart; well, sort of. The Bear’s Den is licensed and if you time it right, you can even order food from a pub-style menu, courtesy of Mills’ colleagues in the Emerald Lounge. So if you can’t stuff a chip to two feet, you can still stuff your face with a beef brisket sandwich, and if your putter goes cold, you can attempt to warm it back up with a hot toddy. 

“Not sure about my ball flight, but the pizza has the perfect launch angle,” my buddy winks, opening his gullet. 

Appropriately, the new facility’s moniker—Bear’s Den—has a bit of JPL history attached. This past summer, Director of Golf Operations Tahlon Sweenie was sent a decades-old scorecard which showed a different layout of the golf course than what’s in play today. The hole formerly played as the seventh was named Bear’s Den. As such, Sweenie figured it was the perfect fit for the club’s new offer. 

“It was a good chance to feature a bit of the course’s rich past,” Mills says.

Now, thanks to the simulator, members and guests can hopefully affect a bit of their golfing future.

The Bear’s Den is open from Sunday to Thursday, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m. Rates for up to four local players are $60 per hour. Call the Golf Clubhouse to book: 780-852-6090.