Seventh and Eighth Golf Games in 2005

Games seven and eight were part of our week in Vermont.

We are joined on our annual trip to the great north by my golf-buddy Andy Southmayd and his family. Andy and I try to get out for several games on various courses around the Tyler Place. Andy is great at researching what courses there are in that area and finding ones somewhat off the beaten path.

Our first game, on the Monday, we went across Lake Champlain to Rouses Point, New York, and played at the North Country Golf Club. We played with Rich Catanese and Rich's wife's brother-in-law Paul, who were vacationing with their wives' family further down the Lake at a place called Eagle Camp.


North Country is a pretty wide-open and forgiving course. We had a fairly good time and my play was only moderately bad; I had a few good holes and scored at least one par.

We got caught-up in the middle of what appeared to be a week-day women's tournament which went off as a shotgun start. We found ourselves ahead of a fast-moving threesome and ended up skipping several holes to get out of the way.

On Friday, we headed out again. This time, we went east to Richford Country Club, a wonderful nine-hole course just about a few thousand feet south of the US/Canada border.


What I love about this course is its rolling, up-and-down, wooded, mountainside aspect. None of the nine holes is at all flat. The views are sweeping. There are woods and exposed boulders to challenge you.


This is the eighth hole, looking back downhill towards the tee. This green itself appears on the Google Maps site to be about 1,500 feet from the border.

When we played here several years ago, the woman in the pro shop told us that, before 9/11, Canadian members used to simply hike over the border and through the woods to play. Now, they have to go through the border-crossing at Richford just west of the Country Club.

Another fairly good round. Andy was hitting well and I was starting to find a short, but straight and dependable, drive with my three-wood.

Once again, we didn't manage to make all 18 holes. This time, things got crowded and slowed down and we wanted to be back at the Tyler Place in time for lunch. We quit after 15 holes.

For the last 6, we teamed up with an older, retired couple from Canada. Very nice people and course regulars from who we had a few tips.

Golf in Vermont. I can recommend it!