Cross Country Scramble

[CrabDaddy]

Yesterday I played in a fun tournament hosted by my regular course. They have two 18 hole layouts (Lakes and River) that have some adjacent holes at various points along their routing. Each year on the day before Thanksgiving, they hold what they call the Cross Country Scramble where they make up 14-15 holes that use parts of almost all 36 holes, often combining holes from both courses. For instance, one hole was a par 6 where we teed off from #12 tees on the River course to the #16 Lakes fairway, then over to the #12 Lakes fairway, finishing on #12 Lakes green. A rangefinder was an absolute must because you're hitting to greens and fairways at angles that you've never done before and you had to be aware of distances to hazards that never come into play during a typical round. For many of the greens, the approach shots were 90 degrees from normal. It was a blast and very challenging. We really had to think about every shot.

Tough to pick a favorite hole, but one I enjoyed was teeing off on #10 Lakes, then hitting the approach to #6 Lakes green. The approach was not very long, but was over a pond to a green that sloped away from us (coming in from opposite direction than normal) with water that wrapped around most of the green complex.

I'm sure this isn't something unique, although I would think having 36 holes is almost necessary. I'd love to hear of other courses doing something similar, and any notable holes created.