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Encyclopedia WinterCampica - Suggest Change
Current Entry: Cross-Country Golf
On his 1998 album Dorkfish, recorded in metro Detroit, comedian Bill Engvall was comparing Texas and Michigan's reactions to winter weather. After describing the paralyzing effect of even light snowfall on vast reaches of the South, he addressed the Michigan crowd:
You guys-an inch of snow, you're like "I can still find my golf ball-hang on a second."
If Engvall had known about Winter Camp, he would have realized how right he was. This Winter Camp classic traces its origins to the former Michigami chapter, who proposed this activity, somewhat in jest, for the 1977 lodge Fall Fellowship. Seven years later, it found its way to Winter Camp VIII, where the Beaver Creek Athletic Club is now established as a one-hole, par-62 course. The annual two-team match tees off at the Beaver Creek Scoutcraft building and proceeds over the lake or up the dam along camp roads to the Ordeal site. A particular honor is to be handed the club for the traditional "face shot" from the top of the hill to the fire bowl. The hole is a pit atop a hill beneath a distinctive tree at the back of the clearing. As part of the Squaw Point project at Winter Camp XXV, official-looking signs were crafted and posted on the Scoutcraft building by Winter Campers to mark the teeing ground.
Par was 162-matching the lodge number-for the first two years of the tournament before being arbitrarily reset for subsequent matches. The course record (see Table 14) stands at 52, 12 under par, and was notched by the Battling Bluegills at Winter Camp XIX. Mark Bollman? and Ron Donohue took to the links on Day Four of Winter Camp XXIII in an unofficial effort to challenge the record. They scored a 34 (-28) with their best ball as a two-man team.
"Rand Rules" were added for Winter Camp XXVII. These rules are designed to make the game easier for golf neophytes, and allow multiple swings at the ball, counting only a single stroke, so long as the swings may be made without moving one's feet from their initial placement. By careful application (and re-application) of this rule, it's possible to extricate the ball from a tough lie before
taking a meaningful swing and take no penalty. "Rand Rules", unlike Jeff Rand himself, are quite liberal.
At Winter Camp XXXIII, in keeping with the "Bigger Than Big" theme, cross-country golf was played with tennis balls. Certain advantages were readily apparent-a tennis ball was easier to find in the snow and more likely to bounce favorably off of a tree, for example. The team of geezers led by Gabe Church set the standard in this new category with a 9-over-par 71.
At Winter Camp XXXVII, a new camp brought the need for a new cross-country golf course, and Jeff Rand and Keith King rose to this challenge by laying out a single hole that began near Rotary Lodge, forded Silver Creek, and passed through Dan Boone and Kit Carson campsites before finishing at Fueslein West campsite. Par was set at 80: 100 less than the number of Chickagami lodge, and so the tradition begun at Winter Camp VIII, when par was standardized at 62 on the original Winter Camp course, continued. Despite pessimistic predictions from several camp elders, two teams finished with all the golf balls they started with. Team 3 lost their last ball in the immediate vicinity of the hole and substituted a piece of wood, which was placed in the Winter Camp Museum. Team 1 briefly commandeered a camp golf cart, marking the first time cross-country golfers had used one, and scored a 72 to take top honors.
Winter Camp XXXVIII saw another new course, as Cross-Country Golf found itself merged into the Cross-Country Triathlon on Day Four. The tee remained at the site of the Beaver Creek Skills Center, but the hole turned north once it passed Beaver Lake, ending at the Trout Lake flagpole. Once there, campers enjoyed a luncheon at Club Trout Lake.
With Winter Camp XLI's move from Beaver Creek to Trout Lake, a round of cross-country golf over the usual par-62 hole would have involved more hiking and more snow than usual. Fortunately for campers, it turned out that the Beaver Creek Athletic Club is more than just a one-hole course. Just prior to the traditional hole lies a par-88 hole running from the Trout Lake building to CAG Rock in Beaver Creek, thus finishing right near the tee for the traditional hole. Three teams set out on Day Two to conquer this new hole, and each found that the road as far the Beaver Creek fork was quite passable. The roads were unplowed starting at the fork, and so the going became much slower. All three teams eventually took to the ice of Beaver Lake, with its 6 inches of snow atop, as they made their way to the target. Team 1 took top honors with a score of 63. Team 3 took second with a 67; they may have benefited from the chance to play on their opponents- footprints. Team 2, which contained all of the left-handed golfers, scored a 74 over the unfamiliar terrain.
At Winter Camp XLII, cross-country golf returned to the original hole, with all of the addi- tional hiking and snow that that return entailed. The Olympic competition awarded medals for this event, with Grand Fenwick winning the gold with a score of 59. The People's Democratic Communist Republic of North Australiastan took the silver with a 70, and the blue medal went to the BRANNES, who carded 102.