Golf in Whistler
Four courses open in the corridor, from a mountainside in the Village to farmland under Mount Currie
Whistler golf has a short season and a long reputation. The snow clears the valley floor around the start of May, the courses run to the middle of October, and in between you get roughly five months of playing under 2,000-metre peaks on turf that stays green because it rains enough to keep it that way.
Four courses are open in the corridor at the moment. Two sit in the Whistler valley itself, at the Chateau and beside Green Lake, and two are twenty-five minutes north in Pemberton under Mount Currie. The fifth, Whistler Golf Club beside the Village, is in the middle of a rebuild and does not reopen until July 2027.
Booking a tee time here is straightforward for one or two players and gets harder for a group in July and August, particularly for a morning slot. If you tell us the dates and the number, we will sort the times and the transport.
Which of the four to play
If you are staying in the Village and want to walk or take a five-minute shuttle, it is the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. It is the mountain course in the literal sense, climbing and dropping across the lower slopes of Blackcomb, and the elevation change does more to your club selection than the yardage suggests. It is also the most photographed, for good reason.
Nicklaus North is the one most people come back to. It is flatter, it runs along Green Lake, and water is in play on most of the round without ever feeling punitive. Ten minutes north of the Village by car, and the only Jack Nicklaus course in Canada that carries his name.
The two Pemberton courses are worth the drive and are usually easier to get on at short notice. Big Sky is the more serious test, a Robert Cupp layout on open farmland with Mount Currie filling the whole northern sky and tees from 5,200 to 7,001 yards, so it works for a mixed group. Sunstone is the relaxed one, cheaper, two nines that play like different courses, and no expectation that you arrive in a collared shirt with a plan.
Weather changes the answer as much as anything. The Pemberton valley sits in a rain shadow and is frequently dry and several degrees warmer when Whistler is under cloud, so if the forecast is poor at the Village it is worth calling north before writing the day off.
Fairmont Chateau Whistler Golf Club
The mountain course, cut into the lower slopes of Blackcomb and climbing more than 120 metres between the highest and lowest points. Robert Trent Jones Jr. opened it in 1993 and it plays like a course built on a hillside should: blind tee shots, sharp elevation drops, granite outcrops and creek crossings, with the Chateau and the peaks in almost every sightline. It is the shortest of the four on the card and rarely the easiest.
Course details
Nicklaus North
Flat by Whistler standards and all the better for it, laid along the shore of Green Lake with water on a dozen holes and Wedge and Armchair mountains filling the horizon. Completed in 1996, it is the only Nicklaus-designed course in Canada that carries his name, and it was the PGA of BC Facility of the Year in 2024. Table Nineteen handles lunch afterwards. Non-metal spikes only.
Course details
Big Sky Golf Club
Twenty-five minutes north in the Pemberton valley, laid out on the flat farmland directly beneath the 2,600-metre north face of Mount Currie. Robert Cupp designed it in 1993 and it opened the following year: gentle rolling links, bent grass throughout, water in play across the property and seven sets of tees running from 5,200 yards to 7,001. The BBC once called it the third most beautiful sports arena in the world, which is the sort of claim that usually deflates on arrival. This one does not.
Sunstone Golf Club
The unpretentious one, formerly Pemberton Valley, sitting between two rivers at the base of Tsʼzil, which is Mount Currie by its Lilʼwat name. The front nine runs open across meadow with an island green at the par-4 eighth; the back nine turns tight and forested with water throughout, and is the harder half by some margin. Rates are the friendliest in the corridor and the bar and grill has the patio to sit on afterwards.
Course detailsWhat is happening
The Arnold Palmer course beside the Village is being reworked by architect Thad Layton, formerly of Arnold Palmer Course Design. New tee complexes at every level, rebuilt bunkers, resurfaced fairways and greens, upgraded cart paths, and the greens at the third and twelfth realigned for safety. Palmers Restaurant and the clubhouse patio are being renovated, and a snack shack is going in near the first.
What stays open
The Whistler Driving Range and the Whistler Golf Club retail shop keep running on their usual seasonal schedules, and The SIM, the indoor simulator in the clubhouse, stays open through the off-season. So the practice ground beside the Village is unaffected even though the course is not playable.
When it reopens
The club announced the date on 9 September 2026. Until then the four courses above are what is open in the corridor, and Fairmont and Nicklaus North are the two within the Whistler valley itself. If you are booking a 2027 trip for late summer, it is worth asking us before you fix the dates.
Whistler Driving Range
Open on its usual seasonal schedule through the course renovation, so the range is still the easiest hour of golf in Whistler if you are not playing a full round.
The SIM
An indoor simulator that keeps going when the valley is under snow. Full rounds on famous courses, practice sessions and coaching, booked by the bay for one player or a group.
Book a bayThe Cabin at Nicklaus North
The academy at Nicklaus North runs lessons and club fitting from an indoor facility, which makes it a reliable option when the weather turns in shoulder season.
Big Sky Golf Academy
Coaching and clinics at Big Sky, worth pairing with a round if you are making the drive north anyway. Fescues handles lunch.
Whistler Mini Golf
Eighteen holes of the other kind, at the adventure zone kiosk at the base of the Blackcomb Gondola. Tickets and equipment from the kiosk, and it works for an hour with children who are not ready for a real course.
When it rains
Golf here is weather-dependent and shoulder season can be wet. Our indoor activities page has the pools, courts, climbing wall and museums that fill the same afternoon.
Indoor activitiesBook a tee time
Tee times are booked with each course directly. For a group, for more than one course in a week, or if you want transport to Pemberton arranged around the round, send us the dates and we will put it together.
Whistler Golf Club is not taking bookings for the course until it reopens in July 2027. The Whistler Driving Range and The SIM are unaffected.
Prefer to book through us, or planning for a group? connect@whistlerwired.com
