If you believe Wikipedia, snow golfing is at least a 100 years old and that it was Jungle Book author, Rudyard Kipling who was one of the first players with partner Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_golfThey fabricated “holes” in the snow using jam jars during the freezing Vermont, USA winters and used red golf balls.
There are world championships and European championships.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GAcfYjRtvoIn Switzerland, snow golf, also known as “Winter Golfing”, has existed since the late 1970s with the first Engadine Golf Tournaments played on snow at Silvaplana and St. Moritz. This event followed by many elegant social activities is usually held in January every year at St. Moritz.
As a golf course architect I was asked to make a layout on 3 different Snow Golf events in Zermatt on the glacier at 3’000m above sea level, Leukerbad at 2’300 m above sea level and Obersaxen 1’500 m above sea level (home of world cup winner 2009 Carlo Janke).
Generally the course was only a short 9-Holes with maybe a Par of 30 as 18-Holes requires a lot of space!!
We flattened the snow for the fairways with snow cats. I even tried to model the greens with the bull dozer blade of the “snow caterpillar” and then smooth it out with the groomer at the back of the “snow caterpillar”.
The corduroy imprint in the greens, or “whites” as we called them, were smoothed out with a board mounted on a broom stick handle.
The hole and flag were from a standard golf green.
We left a “board with handle” at every green so one could smooth out footprints before putting.
The soft snow was considered as a lateral water hazard with virtual red stakes(not marked).
I was surprised how close to grass golf the ball reacted.
When the ball landed on the fairway or green it bounced similarly to grass, not disappearing in the snow or rocketing off.
Playing the ball from the Tee required was no problem with the right shoes – I played with ski boots which complicated the rotation!!!
Playing from the fairways was like playing out of a bunker – hit the ball first or the ball won’t go far.
Putting could sometimes be Stimpmeter 14 depending on how frozen the “whites” were, but generally ok.
Snow golf in the Alps is usually a one-off fun event, as the preparation is quite intensive/expensive and bad weather can obliterate the course quickly.
Tourist Offices like to provide some alternative entertainment for the visitors and locals, so they get sponsors and organise champagne, dinners and often the competition is combined with a ski race the following day.
Don't forget your dark glasses and sun cream!!!
