 FEATURE STORY
The Chilly Open:
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The name, of course, suggests that these crazy northerners hold more than one winter golf event. Garrison Keillor would be proud.
Minnesotans are rabid golfers, and far be it from them to let a little thing like winter get between them and their beloved game. For twenty years, armed with golf clubs, hockey sticks, sleds, snowmobiles and tennis balls (which are easier to see in the snow), golfers and non-golfers alike have been traipsing out onto the two-foot thick ice of Lake Minnetonka and playing ice golf.
This year, PGA Tour player and Minnesota native Tim "Lumpy" Herron designed the two nine-hole courses spread out along Wayzata Bay. Each hole is sponsored by a local business, and Edina Realty sets up a hospitality tent for folks to warm up in. This year, the event drew an estimated 1,000 players and spectators.
Sloppy
Open?
This year's tournament should have been renamed the Sloppy Open, as the weather turned unusually warm, with temperatures reaching 50 degrees. With the course turned into one big body of casual water, golfers were forced to use more lofted clubs than in past years.
Players with hockey sticks were at a distinct disadvantage.
Despite the sloppy conditions and 20 mph wind, few folks were complaining about the weather, though. Eight-year Chilly Open veteran Kirsten from Big Lake said she'd never seen it so warm. "Two years ago," she said, "the beer froze."
So what brings people out to golf on a frozen lake? Love of the game, fun, fellowship, and lots and lots of beer.
Scott Regan, one of the founding members of The Spillers Group, has been playing in the Open since it began in 1985. "We used to have 100 people in our group," he says, "but now it's down to 25." When asked the reason for the attrition, Regan gives the same reasons that summer golf has been on the decline: time, age, and family responsibilities. "But the kids are getting older," says Regan, resplendent with his fox hat (complete with legs, tail, and head) and airline liquor bottles filling his mock ammunition belt, "and I think they'll be coming back over the next years."
Keri
and Zack Swanson from Minnetonka have been playing in the Open for six
years. This year, they introduced Bushwood 3 - their latest incarnation
of a custom golf club/beer trailer pulled by a four-wheel ATV. "We make
a day of it," says Keri Swanson. "Our group gets together for breakfast,
then afterwards we have lunch. And this year is the first year I haven't
needed snow pants and a parka." Keri says she usually comes in near
the top of her group in scoring, "Because I drink less than the guys."
First-year participants Team Bob, in full Sponge-Bob Square Pants regalia, are pumped for their 1:30 tee time. "We've got one guy on our team from Texas," says one player. "He came all the way form Texas just to play in the Chilly Open."
Not a bunch of yokels
Despite the crazy premise of the Chilly Open, and the profuse alcoholic consumption, this is no bunch of yokels sliding around on the ice. Wayzata is one of the wealthiest suburbs of Minneapolis, and the shores of Lake Minnetonka serve as home to Minnesota celebrities such as Prince and Bob Dylan.
Wayzata
is filled with well-heeled, high-paid people whose yearly property taxes
outpace the salary of most golf writers. And the local businesses consist
of a surprisingly eclectic mixture of high-fashion, high-brow literature,
and high-end art. In fact, this weekend, the first-ever Minnesota exhibit
of Russian painter Victor Razgulin was held in a gallery in town. Paula
Ramaley, founder of MB Arts ((202) 368-9693) and curator of the exhibit,
was hoping there might be a few art collectors among the Open participants.
"Maybe all the beer will make them more willing to buy a painting,"
says Ramaley.
Each hole at the Open is sponsored by local businesses, including real estate brokers, banks, radio stations, and BogeyPro (www.bogeypro.com), the golf company "for average to lousy golfers." BogeyPro co-founder Arik Nordby is enjoying every minute of the Open. "These are our people," he beams as he takes a photo of a twosome in snowshoes, and another foursome in horned Viking helmets.
BogeyPro sponsored the 67-yard, par-3 second hole. "We have a blind pin here," points out Nordby, "and anyone who gets a hole-in-one gets a free hat." BogeyPro is also giving away "free miniature heaters" - otherwise known as cigarette lighters.
Nordby
spots a player over a shot. In his bag, the guy has a golf club, a hockey
stick, a canoe paddle, a squeegee, a croquet mallet, and a lacrosse
stick. Nordby asks him, "What are you going to play here?" The guy answers,
"I'm waiting on the wind, but it looks like a croquet mallet to me."
OK. So maybe these folks don't play by USGA rules. And maybe the strong winds are turning Tim Herron's strategically located spruce trees into tumbleweeds, and flipping the occasional sponsor's tent. And maybe only Minnesotans would be putting their beers in can-coolers in February (isn't the air cool enough, even in this weather?).
But this is what makes Minnesota - and Minnesota golfers - unique. If you don't believe me, just ask Garrison Keillor.
Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.
