Grant funding for Connaught Golf Club’s Pat Vallely Practice Facility in Medicine Hat

The area is an extra 180-yard hole on the course that allows golfers, especially junior ones to practice without having to play on the regular course.

It is often utilized by about 140 junior golfers with Notre Dame Academy, which have been utilizing the driving range during the construction.

Brian Oliphant, a PGA of Canada professional, said the area will be closed for the next two months, so the renovations can be completed.

“We’re going to rebuild the green in the bunker and redo the tee box and some cart path work to get out here,” Oliphant said.

“We’ve got Notre Dame golf academies coming out here and it’s a great practice area for them too. They were a big help in writing us a support letter,” he added.

Oliphant said the course is pretty blessed to have the hole.

“We’re the only one that I know of in Southern Alberta that does have an extra hole that we can make as a practice area,” Oliphant said.

“It’s a great teaching facility and a good place for juniors, especially to come, be able to actually play a full hole.”

The practice hole will be utilized as a temporary regular hole on the course in August, while the green on the sixteenth hole is being rebuilt.

The Pat Vallely Practice Facility at the Connaught Golf Club in Medicine Hat will see some work completed over the next two months. (Bob Schneider/CHAT News)

Dale Vallely is the son of Pat Vallely who the Practice Facility is named after.

Golfers and others might recognize him from his time on the PGA Tour as Abraham Ancer’s Caddie.

Dale said his dad was a huge influence with his golf career, which also included time as a player on the PGA Tour of Canada.

He’s happy to see work being done on the practice hole in honour of his dad’s memory 24 years later from when it was initially built.

“He did really care about the juniors and charity and everything. Everyone kind of knew who he was before. It’s not like it’s a secret,” Vallely said.

“It’s definitely all about the juniors here, so that’s the primary focus, and thankfully there’s a bunch of people that still want to make this stuff happen.”

Vallely said his dad was quite the golfer, being a single-digit handicap golfer before he passed away.

“Unfortunately he passed away when he was 40, and I’m almost 40 now, so it’s kind of crazy to think about that,” Vallely said.

“He loved golf, and going back, my family kind of with my grandfather Garth being the mayor and doing a bunch of charity work in the area.”

“It’s always about the kids. And, you know, I’m starting to realize that more. Everyone needs an opportunity, and so what better place to have an opportunity than a golf course.”

by Jesse Gill

Grant funding for Connaught Golf Club’s Pat Vallely Practice Facility in Medicine Hat

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