Golfer's rejoice

Max Vaclav has a bit of a hook in his golf swing, but says being able to hit balls in mid-March is a good chance to fix the hitch early.

Vaclav was one of about 10 golfers hitting balls Friday at the Northern Lights Golf Course driving range, a sure sign spring is officially on its way.

“It’s awesome,” the five-handicapper said. “It’s great because you get a little bit of a jump on the season and golf and stuff, but just to be outside is awesome. The weather is just perfect.”

Snow still lines the fairways at the course, which Vaclav said makes for an interesting back-drop at the range.

“It’s a little bit odd, I suppose. I think they pushed a lot of the snow off of the range, which is perfect. The course still has lots of snow, so it will be a couple of weeks before we’re golfing on the course, but it’s nice to have the range open at least,” said Vaclav, a member of the city-owned courses.

Bill Shewchuk, Northern Lights’ clubhouse manager, said the phone has been ringing off the hook since news broke on Thursday they were planning to open the range about a month ahead of usual.

It’s not the first time he’s seen golf in March, he said.

“Yeah, a couple of years ago we had stretch of weather like this in March. It went to crap in April, so I think we had to close down for a little bit. But last year we didn’t get open until the middle of April almost,” Shewchuk said.

He added it is rare to have both the range and the hockey rink owner Gerald Breukelman also runs, open at the same time.

“Business is good,” he said, estimating if the weather holds as forecasted, the par 3 course could be open in as soon as a week.
“If people want to play, he’ll open it up,” Shewchuk said.

City director of golf Tom Forsythe said the early arrival of spring should lead to an earlier open to the season at Municipal, Strathcona and Chapples golf courses, though he preferred not to pin down an official date just yet.