Orchard Park, NY
We may be a little spoiled in central Virginia where we rarely have
snow for an Ice Bowl, and I've decided that, if I wasn't before, I
might be a little hard core. At the time of writing, there's a half
foot of snow on the ground and the wind chill was kicking today. I went
out without my hat today and nearly had to drive all the way back to
the hotel, but I found one in the car I drove. So I braved windy
conditions and tromped through, at times, six inches of snow to play
this round.
This is a nice, scenic course winding along a creek which has, at times, steep banks. For a number of the holes, the ravine is out of bounds. I had a few problems today: Some of the tee signs are missing, as are some of the white tee markers. For most of the course, I followed the tracks through the snow, with a couple of exceptions. The second tee is located at the bottom of a sled hill somewhere. I imagine they take out the markers and signs so that nobody slaps into them on a particularly good slide down hill. Also, I got turned around going from 12 to 13 and wound up playing an extra hole. It turns out that you cross the creek from 12's basket, walk up a bit to 13's tee, throw across the creek, and then throw back across the creek for 14.
The course is lightly to moderately wooded throughout all holes, but there are plenty of well-defined fairways. One of the guys I ran into playing today says that the course is crowded on nice days in the spring and summer, and I believe him. Holes 9 and 15 stick out to me the most. 9 is a short hole shooting across the creek onto an island where the red tee is and then across another fork in the creek. I imagine it's a little slippery when wet, but the snow actually gives you decent footing. 15 throws along the creek, then slides down the hill to the bottom. Not much to it but a long, straight (maybe slightly anhyzering) shot. Nice and simple, just watch out for trees and/or a splashdown. All in all, this is a course that is definately worth playing.
No sign for hole 2. Played a best guess.
Shot from 4's basket downhill to 3's.
Footprints showed the path they took through the snow.
View from 5's basket across the hill to 1's. Tha ravine. Don't over throw your putt on 5!
Winding path uphill to 6's basket.
8's basket downhill from my second shot. A cool hole with two creek crossings and an island in the middle.
The red tee is visible near the left. Plenty of gap there for ballsy golfers though. No sign for 10.
Or 11.
What I thought was the no sign for 13, but was really the wrong side of no sign for 15.
Right after this is where I hooked up with a couple other golfers and decided not to slow them down by taking more pictures. Sorry.
This is a nice, scenic course winding along a creek which has, at times, steep banks. For a number of the holes, the ravine is out of bounds. I had a few problems today: Some of the tee signs are missing, as are some of the white tee markers. For most of the course, I followed the tracks through the snow, with a couple of exceptions. The second tee is located at the bottom of a sled hill somewhere. I imagine they take out the markers and signs so that nobody slaps into them on a particularly good slide down hill. Also, I got turned around going from 12 to 13 and wound up playing an extra hole. It turns out that you cross the creek from 12's basket, walk up a bit to 13's tee, throw across the creek, and then throw back across the creek for 14.
The course is lightly to moderately wooded throughout all holes, but there are plenty of well-defined fairways. One of the guys I ran into playing today says that the course is crowded on nice days in the spring and summer, and I believe him. Holes 9 and 15 stick out to me the most. 9 is a short hole shooting across the creek onto an island where the red tee is and then across another fork in the creek. I imagine it's a little slippery when wet, but the snow actually gives you decent footing. 15 throws along the creek, then slides down the hill to the bottom. Not much to it but a long, straight (maybe slightly anhyzering) shot. Nice and simple, just watch out for trees and/or a splashdown. All in all, this is a course that is definately worth playing.
No sign for hole 2. Played a best guess.
Shot from 4's basket downhill to 3's.
Footprints showed the path they took through the snow.
View from 5's basket across the hill to 1's. Tha ravine. Don't over throw your putt on 5!
Winding path uphill to 6's basket.
8's basket downhill from my second shot. A cool hole with two creek crossings and an island in the middle.
The red tee is visible near the left. Plenty of gap there for ballsy golfers though. No sign for 10.
Or 11.
What I thought was the no sign for 13, but was really the wrong side of no sign for 15.
Right after this is where I hooked up with a couple other golfers and decided not to slow them down by taking more pictures. Sorry.
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