In Praise of Winter Golf Course Walks

Roughly 200 yards from the 12th green at Bonneville Golf Course, you’ll find a series of ski ramps. One leads to a large PVC pipe, presumably used as a homemade rail. Two others appear to be designed for maximum air. Still another ramp has an upturned plastic box behind it. I’m not entirely sure what the box is for, but who am I to question the architect?

Bonneville is in the East Bench of Salt Lake City, Utah, about as far east as you can go before running into the Wasatch Mountains. The golf course was redesigned in the 1950s by the father-son duo of William P. and William F. Bell, designers of many courses on the West Coast. Playing up and down foothills, Bonneville is an excellent affordable public option for SLC golfers. And while the Bells are to thank for the course, I suspect a group of middle-schoolers in the adjacent neighborhood deserve credit for the ramps in the 12th fairway. In the winter, families from the surrounding area convert the 18th hole into a sled hill, and a few kids use the 12th hole as a terrain park. On other holes you’ll see cross-country skiers and snowshoers.

Funny thing about snowshoes: if you put them on incorrectly, they’ll launch snow up the back of your legs and you’ll end up soaking wet after just a few steps. I learned that the hard way.

During Christmas week, I made four snowshoe trips around Bonneville Golf Course with my fiancée and her parents. We must have provided a lot of amusement for the passing cars on our first attempts. Anyway, those excursions were our “workouts” for the week, justifying many hours of wine and cheese consumption.

Bonneville Golf Course in the winter

I’ve spent a good portion of my life on golf courses, with either a club in my hands or a caddie bib over my shoulders. Yet those walks around Bonneville were among the most enjoyable on-course experiences I can remember. Our focus wasn’t on birdies and bogeys, but on each other and our surroundings. We enjoyed some relaxed conversation, and in quiet moments, I thought about how the routing of the back nine worked around the hill. I also thought about avoiding cramps in my calves.

So I can’t recommend winter golf course walks enough. At the risk of being sappy about it, not hitting golf shots has a way of grounding you in the land of the course and deepening your appreciation for the beauty of the game. Just watch out for the terrain park.