Where the fairway is frozen
JOSH P. ROBERTS, Star Tribune
 Get
off the plane and feel the 80-degree sunshine.
Change into shorts and step onto the green, palm
tree-lined fairways. There's nothing like Hawaii or
Florida for a winter golf vacation, right?
How about a white, pine tree-lined fairway near
Brainerd?
Forget the airplane (and the airfare), and hop in
the car. And you might as well forget about the
80-degree weather, too, and hope for a balmy 30 as
you head off to play snow golf on Big Pelican Lake.
And I mean on the lake.
The venerable Breezy Point Resort has groomed the
frozen lake in front of their marina and restaurant
each winter since the 1970s. Fairways meander back
and forth across the sculpted tundra, mimicking a
typical golf course. Some years the links has nine
holes, some years there are only six - it depends on
where the fish houses are when the course is laid
out. And with the holes only about 80 yards or less,
it shouldn't be too hard to make the so-called
green. But be careful, warns general manager Dave
Gravdahl: "When you swing, you're going to slice."
Like at summertime links, for the last decade or so
snow golfers get to play among the trees. "The day
after Christmas we pick up all the Christmas trees
from the local dealers that aren't sold, and we line
the fairways with them," Gravdahl said.
Employees and locals sometimes donate their old
trees for the course, too. If there are enough, "we
try to put them around the skating rink," Gravdahl
added. "It makes it look a little nicer out there."
Easy-to-spot green tennis balls substitute for the
smaller white variety. Golfers borrow the balls and
regulation clubs for free from the resort's rec
center, which also boasts a snack bar, table tennis
and other games. There are no "greens" fees or
designated tee times, so players simply pick up the
equipment and play.
"It's just for fun," said Gravdahl, noting that
guests like to send photos of themselves on the
frozen course to friends and relatives in
warm-weather spots. A round on the links can be
satisfying no matter what the temperature.
Josh P. Roberts is a Twin Cities-based photographer
and travel writer. |
