Course Name and Location: White Deer Golf Course (Vintage course) in Montgomery, PA (10 minutes south of Williamsport)

Type of Course: Public

Course Designer: Kenneth J. Polakowski (1988)

TLDR: The White Deer Golf Complex has two courses (Vintage & Heritage). The Vintage is the shorter, easier, and (in my opinion) slightly less exciting of the two. The course is tucked away, with views of nature and the ridges in the distance throughout the course. The conditions were excellent for this time of year. Staff is always friendly, and I always leave a round here having really enjoyed the course.

While out for a round a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a sign at the clubhouse for a 2-man scramble coming up. I took the chance to call up a buddy and get us entered.

The forecast was calling for rain in the afternoon, so I had my fingers crossed that we’d be able to make it through the day before the weather rolled in.

Check-in was easy, and John and I rolled some balls before heading off to the range to loosen up. The practice green was on the slower sign, but rolling pretty true.

At 10:00am, the tournament kicked off and we headed out to the 154-yard par 3 17th (we were playing from the whites). The team we were paired up against had a couple fellas that would be playing the golds and reds.

It’s always a little tough starting out on a par 3, and we turned what should have been an easy one into a situation that we had to go up and down. Luckily, we did some handy work from just off the green to leave ourselves with a short two-footer for par.

Hole 18 brings you back to the Clubhouse, as an uphill par 5, playing dead into the wind. Neither of us had really found the driver yet, and we were left with 230 to the hole with a little tree trouble. We chose a green-side bunker, and found out quickly that the sand was wet and dense. Squandered a scoring chance and left with par.

Hole 2 was another of the many doglegs that you’ll find on the Vintage course. It was a fun and very scoreable par five, with water along the right side. We played this hole well, missed a long eagle putt and made our way off the green with our first birdie of the day.

The third hole is a short par 4, with a green that is protected by water. This is certainly a fun hole, and a normal round would leave you with some choices as to how to play it.

We started finding our form on the round and made another birdie.

Hole 5 is a short, downhill dogleg left which plays 372 from the blue tees. You’ve got a nice look out to the ridge in the distance (see below), and everything about his hole screams birdie. It was a fun hole, but left with another par.

As you keep playing your way through the front nine, you’ll get to hole 8 which is a short dogleg right. As long as you keep your drive in the short stuff, this hole should be one to keep your round going well.

Hole nine is another dogleg right, flanked by trees that were just in the thick of their early bloom. Pretty hole for sure.

Hole 10 greets you with a reminder of some of the rules of golf, and we’re back to swinging away 😂

It’s another dogleg left, and I think you’re starting to see a theme here. We’re putting together a middle-of-the-road round, with a few birdies and couple bogies mixed in here.

Hole 11 is a longer par four that can really be a tricky hole. As you look out at it, you’re not exactly sure what the best aggressive angle to take is. Seems like a nice drawing 3-wood would be the play, and we play one beautifully here. Even with that, the look at the green isn’t an overly easy one.

Hole 13 is a short par 3 with water on the right. You just really need to pretend that it’s not there. Look straight ahead and fire away at a flat green 🎯

Hole 15 is a par 5 with a relatively thin fairway. We both went right, but got the ball pretty well out there. We were left with the shot above, 211 yards from the green with tall trees in front of us. The hole was playing downwind, so we wanted to get something high enough into the breeze and see if we could carry it there. We both went 7 iron, and I hit a nice one right to the edge of the fringe.

The pin was in the back of this green on a ridge, and both our chips left something to be desired. We missed a 10-footer, and left with a highly disappointing par.

On the drive off 15, this fella greeted up – a nice sized snapping turtle 🐢

We approached 16, which would be the last hole of our day at 2 under. We figured we were well off the lead, but had a side bet with another group on the course, so figured that every shot would still count.

I hit the drive of the day for me on this hole, and the look above was what we had left. Nice to pump one 300+ into the wind, hah.

We chipped to 10 feet, and my partner drained the putt with a center cut stroke to bring us into the Clubhouse at -3.

The Team at White Deer was awesome, and a simple but tasty lunch of burgers and hot dogs was waiting for us. We didn’t take home any hardware for long drives or closest to the pins. They started to announce the winners, with a 3-way tie for first place at… wait for it…. 4 under!

So we were 1 stroke off the winners, and felt like we definitely left a few out there.

All in all, a really fun round. Since I only live around 25 minutes away, I plan on making it a point to bring a group here one day this summer for a morning and afternoon round, with one at each course!