Hamilton is tough and tricky

There a lot of scenic and beautiful golf courses in Montana. But the Montana High School Association would be hard pressed to find one as beautiful and as majestic to use as the setting for a state golf tournament as the one that’s hosting the Class A state tournament this weekend.

The Hamilton Country Club is set in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley, and the Bitterroot Mountains play a big role in the backdrop of the course, and also with the greens. The course, an 18-hole design with two distinctly different nines, is not too long, but it has a high difficulty rating, and there’s several reasons for that.

Even though Hamilton plays just 6,545 yards from the tees the boys will use this weekend, and a mere 6,145 for the girls, there are key features that really make the course a tough challenge.

The first feature is the trees. Hamilton doesn’t have the towering pines like courses in northwest Montana does, or the large cottonwoods that seem to swallow golf balls for good, like courses in central and southeast Montana, but the trees are still a factor. Very few fairways are treeless, and because a large portion of the par 4s and par 5s at Hamilton are doglegs, the trees are strategically placed to alter wayward tee shots. The fairways in Hamilton are also relatively narrow, meaning precision of the tee is an absolute must.

There’s also plenty of hazards to grab balls, too. Hamilton has a creek flowing through the entire 18-hole layout, as well as several large ponds. And the water comes into play with many approach shots throughout the layout, while out of bounds guards the perimeter holes. For a municipal style course, Hamilton is also well bunkered, especially around the greens.

Then there are the greens themselves. There isn’t a lot of consistency to the greens, as some are large and some are unusually small. But the one constant when it comes to putting in Hamilton is, regulars will say all putts slope towards the Bitteroot Mountains. Having played the course myself, I can say it doesn’t look that way when reading the greens at Hamilton, but according to locals, that’s a general rule of thumb. Most greens at Hamilton are also sloped front to back and many have steep drop offs on all sides, making approach shots a premium for the high school players.

While every hole at Hamilton is also unique, it has not one, but two signature holes. Right off the bat, golfers are treated with a spectacular par 4 that starts with a highly elevated tee shot from right in front of the club house. From there, a 90-degree dogleg left fairway sits below with a strategically placed pond right at the turn of the fairway and trees guarding both sides. Long hitters who dare to cut the corner — clearing the pond and then the trees — will be rewarded with a chip shot in, but players who hit a draw and come up short will likely wind up in the water. Hitting it straight isn’t necessarily good for long hitters either, as they’ll hit it through the fairway and into the trees on the right. It’s a challenging risk-reward hole, and one of the best starting holes in Montana.

There’s also the intense par-3 17th. Playing at 167 yards straight uphill, the hole’s teeing area is just to the right of a cow pasture and most tee shots will sail over out of bounds and back into play. Depending on the wind, the shot is probably another full club up because of the change in elevation, and at the crest, there is a monstrous green with multiple tiers and huge slopes. The entire front of the green is also guarded by a deep, cavernous never-ending bunker, which, if players come up short and are in, will have a blind shot up and onto the putting service. There’s little room to be long, too. More cows loom in a pasture just behind the green, and the 18th tee is just to the right. So, while not super long, the 17th at Hamilton is a bear of a hole and will challenge even the best shot makers in the tournament.

And that’s what Hamilton is really about. It’s a tricky, shot-makers course where accuracy and ball-striking is at a premium. To negotiate it successfully this weekend, players will have to be accurate from tee to green, and if they are, low scores are certainly out there to be had.

The 2014 Class A state tournament runs Friday and Saturday at the Hamilton Country Club. The weather forecast for the tournament calls for perfect conditions with highs in the 70s, plenty of sun and little wind.