OVGA Amateur Golf Tour

The next event brings the OVGA Tour back to Snow Hill Country Club. While the drive for many includes going down the hairpin turns on 350 and driving through Cuba, one will find one of the best courses in the area in terms of layout and conditioning. The course features a good mix of short and long holes for each par and rewards good shot placement. For those who play from the white tees, don’t get overconfident when 5900 yards appears on the scorecard. The course plays to a par 70 and easily plays to an equivalent of 6200 yards.

The two holes that stand out are the 3^rd and the 4^th. The 3^rd is a 606 yard par 5 that will be the third longest hole on tour for 2008 (and if you want to get technical, it’ll probably be the 2^nd longest since we don’t actually play the tips at Stonelick). There’s nothing fancy about the hole. An elevated tee leads to a hole that plays slightly uphill. The driving area and layup areas are wide, but then narrow the greedier the player gets. It’ll take three long, straight shots to hit the green in regulation. Last year, this whole averaged 6.98 – close to two strokes over par – and yielded only one birdie (Bert Phillips).

There’s no rest after that beast. Next is the 442 par 4 4^th. This hole is all up hill and last year played into the wind. The player has an option of fairways with which to play. The left fairway is the safer option, but provides a more difficult second shot. To play the smaller fairway to the right, the player must contend with the creek on the left and O.B. on the right. The author’s playing group contained two of the tour’s longest hitters. One hit driver, 2-iron hybrid and was still short of the green. The hole also played to a two stroke over par average of 6.03. And like hole 3, only yielded one birdie (Michael Heim). Most players will be happy to take bogey and move on to the next hole.