(Editor’s note: Throughout the remainder of the summer, MontanaSports.com will be visiting golf courses to feature ‘signature holes’ or holes that tie in to what makes the courses unique. To view more courses highlighted in our Signature Series, please click here. Harlowton’s Jawbone Creek Country Club features a cemetery on the par-5 first.)
HARLOWTON — The par-5 first at Harlowton’s Jawbone Creek Country Club has quite the history. The hole doglegs around a pond that’s surrounded by trees, but it’s what’s on the other side of the pond that makes it so unique.
“The cemetery, and that’s probably the biggest thing we have is a cemetery that is within our course that was from when the railroad came in. It was a Japanese community where they had their cemetery,” Harlowton golf coach Gregg Wasson said. “I don’t know how many graves are in there, but that’s where a lot of those people were buried.”
Plenty of tee shots get lost in the water short of the cemetery, but the longer hitters can wind up losing their ball in the graveyard. The pond and cemetery serve as the course’s protection on the first hole, as does a west wind, leading many players to lay up short.
“A lot of times it depends on the wind, and we do have wind here in Harlo, but if you fly the ball about 220-230 yards, on a nice day you can carry the pond and sometimes get out to the fairway cutting the corner of the pond out there to the other side,” Wasson said. “On a day like today where we’ve got a pretty good wind out of the west, a lot of people will lay up in the middle and make it a true par 5, a three-shot par 5.”
The pond also serves as irrigation water for Jawbone Creek Country Club, which has been extremely green and lush this season. The course also features some beautiful scenery throughout its nine holes, as every hole has changes in elevation.
“What I would say is, for our community it’s a wonderful little golf course. The greens are in good shape, the tee box, fairways are all in good shape. For us to have a course like this, it’s wonderful,” Wasson said.
This course is one of the 51 courses included in the 2019 Golf & Go Summer Pass, which is available through MTNDeals.com for $99. To purchase a pass granting you access to 18 holes at each of the 51 courses, please click here.
