The 2012 Stowe Snow Golf course will run from the lower parking lot at Stowe Country Club practice area thru Ohmygoodness Corner (the 6 traditional holes up and down the practice range hills) and back.
10 Holes on the course, played two groups per hole, shotgun start.
Hole #1 is The Flats, a par 4, straight out of the parking to a slight dog leg right. Off to a good start with this par 4.
Hole #2 is The Hump, a par 4, straight back towards the parking lots. Watch for the HUMP on this straight shot.
Hole #3 is Josh’s Peregrine Ridge, a par 4, up hill from the parking lot at Stowe CC to the driving range level. If the hillside is icy, watch out. Balls and players have a tendency to roll/slide back down.
Hole #4 is the Skee-ball Special, one downhill putt back down the steep hill, off a ramp and into a series of concentric circles for scoring. You can putt and roll it, or you can try to fly a lob wedge in there lawn-dart style. Depends on the snow.
Hole #5 is the Ray Charles Special, a blind tee-shot up a short uphill par 3 that’s tougher than it looks, with a fairway that falls away left and right.
Hole #6 is the Tabletop, an elevated par 3 to a flat and usually windy green that slopes back to the tee box. It seems easy….
Hole #7 is the classic Valley hole. Down across (or into) a gulley, then uphill and doglegging to the right to a tree protected green. So many ways to get into trouble its not funny. OK, it actually IS funny. Oh, and if you go just a bit long, it’s 30 feet downhill. Beware the moon getting in your eyes along here as well.
Hole #8 is The Swamp, a long par 5 horseshoe shaped fairway with a creek/swamp/ditch/deadzone running through the middle of the horseshoe/corner. Team strategy is huge here. Play it safe and follow the fairway around the corner, sucumb to the tempting and enticing possibility of blasting straight over the creek and trees to the green and eliminating the entire corner. Or cut part of the corner. Many options, most of which end badly.
Make it and you can win the tourney. Miss and you might be lost…or swimming in cold water. Or waist deep in powdery snow. Very few make it over the trees, but it HAS been done. Plays VERY different each year depending on temperature, snow, ice, karma, etc. Remember the buddy system if you try to cut through. We don’t want another “Man Down Ethan” episode.
Hole #9 is Kennebunkport, with The Bushes keeping you from going where you want to. A medium length par 4, with the green tucked behind the only patch of shrubbery in the entire field. Why? Cause we’re evil.
Hole #10 is SnowHenge, a par 4 dog leg left back to the parking lot. Clean, simple and easy. You might even cut the corner and drive the green. Or you might disappear into the traditionally deep snow off the fairway. Oh, and the green is….protected.
- One shot per player
- Hit it into the trash can and score a 1 for your team.
- Hit it into the surrounding ring and make a 2.
- If no one aces the hole, the closest player out of ALL teams scores a 1 for his/her team
- 2nd closest player scores a 2 for their team
- ALL OTHER PLAYERS SCORE A 3 FOR THEIR TEAM
Basic layout is subject to change due to weather, wind, wild animals, whims, bribes and/or litigation. Perhaps all of the above.