Golf courses scrambling to get pieces in place for weekend opening

“Our phones started ringing about a minute after they announced it,” said Connaught Golf Club CPGA head golf professional Brian Oliphant. “So, it’s been hectic.”

All golf courses will have to follow strict physical distancing guidelines set forward by the province including delays of up to 15 minutes between tee times, a limit to one person per pull or electric cart, closing pro shops and clubhouses, and limiting touching of pins and garbage cans.

While it’s news that local clubs have been waiting weeks to hear, only two will be able to welcome golfers onto their greens and fairways on Saturday.

Desert Blume Golf Club and the par-three course at Paradise Valley will be the lone local operations to officially open on the first day of eligibility, with Paradise Valley briefly opening before the province-wide shutdown of golf courses.

Bookings for local clubs will take place either online or by phone, including Paradise Valley as they welcome the general public for the second time this spring. As for Desert Blume, only 16 golfers per hour will be allowed to hit the course at any time.

According to Desert Blume general manager Trevor Ellerman, they will be limiting play to only members over the next few weeks.

“We’re going to really limit that aspect as well,” said Ellerman. “We feel the membership has the knowledge of the golf course and they should be able to respect the pace of play a little better.”

Medicine Hat’s two largest public and semi-public courses will each wait for a Sunday opening, that being Connaught Golf Club and the Medicine Hat Golf & Country Club.

MHGCC head golf professional Wayne Mattson said the course is in prime condition, however the short notice from the province caught them a bit by surprise.

“We’re just not quite ready yet,” said Mattson. “Just a little too fast for us and we don’t have our carts up. So, we just doing those last minute things like cleaning to do and some preparation that way.”

All league play and tournaments have been suspended or cancelled at MHGCC, including their spring premier event in what would have been the 65^th Victoria Day Classic.

“It’s the first time ever that it’s been cancelled,” said Mattson. “We do not think it’s going to be ready for clubhouse usage by the 17th and 18th of May, we’re pretty sure the government is not going to allow that.”

Both club members and the general public will be allowed to tee off on Sunday at MHGCC, however just one group of non-members will be permitted per hour.

Connaught Golf Club will focus their attention to members only on Sunday, before opening up the floodgates to the public in the afternoon on Monday.

“The first week we’re going to limit tee times to members and guests before 2:00 and then open the tee sheet up to the public from 2:00 on,” said Oliphant. “We’ll keep that policy for the first week and then we’ll just get back to our regular members booking five days in advance and the public three days in advance.”

Drink carts will not be used at the local courses with many electing for smaller walk-up windows near their respective clubhouses to serve drinks and packaged food, while marshals will be set up to make sure pace of play remains consistent.

Oliphant said their top priority has to be the safety of all golfers and staff in the coming weeks.

“We’re going to have a marshal that will be driving around just to make sure everybody is following the rules because we don’t want to get shut down,” he said. “So, we want everybody to be safe and enjoy the time they’re out here.”

Cottonwood Coulee Golf Course will officially open up on Monday morning at 9:00 am, while Riverview Golf Club in Redcliff confirmed they’ll be welcoming golfers on Wednesday.

The stress of lining up logistics in the span of days has put many of the local managers and golf professionals on edge, however are glad to provide one of the first recreational services available to Albertans during the pandemic.

“The government felt that we could offer a safe environment and it’s something we felt we could do,” said Ellerman. “Now, it’s up to us to show that we can do that and to make sure people feel safe when they do come out.”

by Scott Roblin

Golf courses scrambling to get pieces in place for weekend opening

Our Community