Peak TEE TIMES
For great golf, head to the mountains of Vermont
Our New England mountains offer visitors lots of fresh air and awe-inspiring views. There are tiny hamlets tucked into valleys. Wildlife. And some of the best golf you can imagine.
Mountain golf is alive and well in the Northeast, and a trip up north for 18 holes (or more!) is an invitation to a unique and memorable experience.
First, there’s the weather. It is almost always cooler in the mountains, and the fresh
air feels great as you breathe deep before that crucial chip shot. Nights bring cooler air and often dew that feeds the fairways and greens, leaving them lush and healthy.
Then there’s the setting. Mountain region courses are — no surprise — famously hilly, and that’s a good thing. It means you come up and down to different views as you play. It’s a common experience to reach a tee box and just want to stare out at the beauty of the mountain range. That hilliness also means holes play in their own interesting ways (hitting up higher or teeing off to a green that feels way down below — both are a fun challenge).
Every New England mountain state has some great golf choices. Today we will focus on Vermont along Route 100. Because the mountains along that route are dotted with courses you simply must play.
Okemo Valley Golf Club: It’s not just a great course because this author came thisclose to a hole-in-one there (had to slip that in), but also because of the combination of incredible design, sweeping views, pristine conditions and some super cool holes. The Okemo Valley Golf Club is the first “heathland-style” course in New England. A heathland course is a more open, less manicured inland course with gorse and heather, which means a natural feel beside and around the bent grass fairways, greens and tees. Moderate elevation changes, strategically placed hazards and undulating greens keep you thinking the entire round.
The 17th hole earns “signature status,” thanks to its unique setup with water, bunkers and more. The 213yard 17th hole is all about carry on this one-shotter over a lily pond. Even if you make it across the water, a raised, well-bunkered green set in a bowl offers an additional challenge. No worries, though: With six holes that feature water hazards, you’ll be all warmed up and ready to take this on by hole 17.
There’s a sunny and comfortable clubhouse with all a golfer can need. And if a friend or family member isn’t into it? There’s mini golf, zip lining, off-road Segway tours, a mountain coaster and more right at Okemo as well. www.Okemo.com Sugarbush Resort Golf Club: A natural setting, beautiful vistas and a Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed course. Jones, a Hall of Famer, always had a goal of designing courses with the credo that every hole should be a hard par and an easy bogey, and that definitely translates at Sugarbush.
Sugarbush Resort Golf Club’s 18 holes are as unique and challenging as the many trails at Sugarbush resort. The one thing they do all have in common? Plush fairways and marvelously maintained greens. Each hole is worth playing, but a few stand out, like hole 7, where you look into the heart of Lincoln Peak as you tee off very much downhill, and hole 11, a par 3 where you basically tee off a cliff and way downhill. How hilly is it? The club just had to invest in gas golf carts because — get this — the standard electric carts could not handle many of their hills. Holes 12-14 are considered “make or break” for your round, with a combination of water, sand, uphill chipping and a wellplaced apple tree that must be avoided. Now that’s mountain golf.
Pros are available for lessons. For those who don’t golf, there’s tennis, disc golf, zip lines, scenic chairlift rides and more, all at Sugarbush Resort. www.sugarbush.com The Mountain Course, Stowe: OK, so you have to be a member or a guest staying at The Lodge at Spruce Peak, but it is so worth it. This amazing course plays like a championship course for a reason: Bob Cupp designed it. Noted for his many challenging designs, including Liberty National, the site of this week’s PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoff event, Cupp hailed his Mountain Course creation in Stowe as the greatest collection of short par 4s in the United States. Cupp’s distinctly designed course provides players with more than 800 feet of elevation change throughout the round.
The course climbs up and back down, giving players views of majestic Mount Mansfield — Vermont’s highest peak — as they play. As if that beauty was not enough, the course wraps around Peregrine Lake, which reflects the surrounding mountains.
The 14th and 15th holes are the highest points on the course, and offer players views of the Spruce Peak Village and the mountains.
Non golfers will want to hang back at the Lodge at Spruce Peak to lounge by the pool, enjoy the spa or head over to Stowe Resort for some zip lining, gondola rides, indoor rock climbing and more. And right at Spruce Peak there’s always something going on, from concerts to family fun and more. www.sprucepeak.com