June 21–23, 2024
Welcome to the Kirkwood Memorial Golf Tournament
The Kirkwood is well known throughout New England as one of the premier amateur golf events.
The Kirkwood is well known throughout New England as one of the premier amateur golf events.
Starting this April, Stowe Country Club will be starting work on a multi-year renovation of the golf course led by world-renowned golf course architect Beau Welling. While the changes will be amazing, our tournament will have to be modified until the work is complete and the full 18-hole course is available once again. This is scheduled for the summer of 2026. Stowe Country Club remains committed to hosting our tournament, and the Kirkwood Committee has been working hand in hand with the staff to ensure a sound future for our tournament for years to come.
This year’s Kirkwood format will be new to this event but one you may have seen at other events you have played. Field size will be limited to 30 two-man teams for a total of 60 players and will be organized into four flights by combined team handicap index. If the difference in the two players’ handicaps is greater than eight strokes, the high handicapper will be reduced to create an 8-stroke differential. The 6-team flights will then compete in a series of five 9-hole matches where each team will play against every other team in their flight. The goal is to keep the spirit of The Kirkwood at the forefront, and this year, we want to maximize camaraderie at the tournament and within the flights. We will assign official flight colors to build a sense of team and pride by wearing your flight colors throughout the course event.
Once the matches commence, the format is a team-best ball, where the best score from the two team members on each hole is taken as the team’s score. Points are allocated based on performance on each hole: a team earns one point for winning a hole and half a point for a tie (known as a push).
Once the dust settles the teams that earn the most points within their flights will move onto the Sunday Shootout.
We will still have all of our fun course contests, such as closest to the pins and gross and net skins throughout the event, along with great tee gifts and spectacular food and beverage offerings. New this year, we will be introducing a fun and casual Par 3 Contest after our second Saturday matches, where teams of 6 will take to the course to see how low they can go in this scramble format with its prizes. The tournament will culminate on Sunday afternoon with a six-team— three-hole shootout. The shootout will consist of all flight winners and the next highest total point-winning team that did not win their flight. The winner of this will be crowned Overall Kirkwood Champions. As in years past, you don’t have to be the winner of the tournament to walk away with a share of the prize money. If a representative from your flight wins the title, you and your partner will take home some of the cash just for being in the same flight!!
Registration is now open and will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis at the committee’s discretion. As mentioned above, the limited field will lead to the roster filling up fast, so please don’t delay getting you and your partner signed up for this year’s event. We appreciate your years of loyalty to The Kirkwood and your understanding as we make these necessary changes to keep the tradition going for the 57th year.
