Anyone For Golf?

 The PGA season is well underway. Tiger has already experienced back spasms and pro golfers are ready for another weekend of activity on the links. Meanwhile, here in the upper regions of the latest polar vortex, golf is a sport we watch on television while we wait for the temperature to rise and the snow to stop falling.

 While we are unable to participate, that doesn’t stop golf from being played , even in the most extreme winter conditions. If one lived in Norway or Sweden, the wait for favorable “golf weather” might take some time!

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Swedish professional golfer Henrik Stenson is ranked in the World top ten and his career high ranking of third is the best by any Swedish golfer as he plays both on the PGA and European Tours. In a recent report, Stenson earned 20 million dollars in golf tournament winnings. Golf was invented in cooler regions of our world and I’m sure some people can’t wait to practice their sport each season. Perhaps, Henrik’s ancestors encouraged the golfing-spirit  in him and they just couldn’t wait to get out on the links, perhaps starting before the snow melts.

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But in the winter time??

Kolf on the frozen canal

Snow golf competition March 21-23, 2014

In March, 2012,  golf enthusiasts in Kiruna, northern Sweden took to the “whites” to compete for the unofficial title of Sweden’s best “snow golfer”. Snow golf and classical golf seem to share a common ancestor in the Dutch game known as “Kolf”, played since the Middle Ages. Evidence for Kolf as a popular winter pastime can be seen in numerous 17th century paintings. Golfers in search of an alternative winter break might want to consider a trip to Swedish Lapland, where they can play snow golf in the picturesque surroundings of the Bjorkliden mountain resort.

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The first European championship in “Snow Golf” was held in Switzerland January 13th-16th, 2011. 

72 qualifiers played in the two day tournament.

Tina-Blomme

Modern day Snow Golf was "invented" by a Canadian-Tina Blomme. She incorporated Snow Golf Inc. in 1998. Since then, Ms. Blomme has been promoting the sport. She designed and operated the first official Snow Golf 9-hole course in Québec, Canada (the course was located next to the celebrated Ice Hotel). Although Ms. Blomme is now in law school, she consults on all aspects of the sport. Snow Golf has had a short, but interesting history. She stated: "When I started the sport in 1998- it was unheard of. Many called me crazy for even considering inventing and promoting this sport".

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The first player of modern snow golf was Rudyard Kipling, an avid golfer. While writing The Jungle Book in

Rudyard Kipling

Vermont, Kipling allegedly relaxed by playing snow golf during the winters of the early 1890s.Rudyard Kipling didn’t only like literature, he also had a passion for sport and was a visionary: with the help of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes), he was the first person to play his favorite sport: snow golf. During the long winter months that he spent at ‘Naulakha’ in Vermont, USA, he used to play with red golf balls and cans.

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Winter golfing has also existed for a long time in Canada played with snowshoes or skis, colored  golf-balls or big rubber balls, the latter sinking less into the powder snow. Forget the putter, the game is mainly played as a target area.

Europeans have a name for winter golf. It’s called “Piste Golf”. It’s a noun, a French term for “trail” or “track”. A piste is usually a marked ski run down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding or other mountain sports, sometimes known as The Fairway.

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Tomas Wågberg och Susanne Mellgren, SM segrare i snögolf i Kiruna.

While the whole world may never warm to the sport of snow golfing, Sweden’s Arctic Circle has embraced it, with their 2nd annual weekend competition. Last year’s  winners were two who finished the nine-hole course (played twice each to make for an even 18) with the lowest scores of the day.

“Those who are golf-crazy find it really exciting to play golf in the winter,” said Mellgren, who placed second last year, and quoted in the local Norrländska Social Demokraten newspaper (NSD).

 For those who don’t know what snow golf is, imagine regular golf – but on snow. For Wåberg, the difference between snow golf and regular golf  is not so big.
“It’s quite special to play on the snow, but it’s just like normal golf anyway. You need to have a clean hit, the ball goes where you aim it.” he told the paper. On the surface, they all look like normal golf
balls, but give them a sharp tap and they light up for seven minutes. “You need to have more precision in the winter,” she said. As to "where they go where aimed", Mellgren claims, in fact," the opposite".

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Here, in our usually moderate and mostly predictable weather, we are normally waiting for the water puddles to dry and the flags appear on our golfing "greens". However, with the advent of two "PolarVortexes", the abnormal might soon become the norm. Future golfers may need different equipment.

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Tee Time 7 PM after the crowd leaves, tomorrow? 

See you there!