INNISFAIL – Mathew MacDonald had hoped for an early start to the 2023 golf season but with the sudden and recent unseasonably warm and sunny conditions he’s now all smiles.
“The weather has been so perfect. We really can't complain,” said MacDonald, the head professional of the Innisfail Golf Club, who noted the club officially opened for the season on April 28. “Very clearly, we would have loved to have gotten to open early.
“The truth of the matter is everybody's just so excited to be out there and really they want to get out and play some golf, especially when the temperatures are as good as they've been,” he said, adding the greens and fairways are in “immaculate” condition.
“Our grounds crew has done a phenomenal job between overseeing the construction projects that are out there on the golf course and making sure everything is up and running.
“We've been running the irrigation systems when we can but we're running a little bit low in the pond right now. We definitely need a little bit of rainfall.”
The 2023 season also begins with club membership at a solid and healthy number of around 450.
For the third year in a row the club will be a year-round recreational facility; golf from spring to fall and a facility offering cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and golf simulators in winter, not to mention Divots Restaurant any time of the year.
There is also a new general manager to lead the club with preparations for the 100th anniversary milestone year of 2024; Kendall Keeley, who was lured away last December from the Eagle Ranch Resort in Invermere, B.C.
“He (Keeley) is a person who really cares about people,” said MacDonald. “He definitely has a lot of great ideas to help us move forward into the future and I couldn't think of a better person to lead us.”
In the meantime, club workers are not just sitting around enjoying the fine sunshine. Crews are hard at work doing upgrades to three course holes; Aspen 5, Spruce 4 and Hazelwood 4.
“Not massive changes or anything like that but just upgrades and just trying to make the golf course better in the long run,” said MacDonald.
Part of the reason for course upgrades is that the club will once again host the Alberta Men's Amateur Championship from July 4 to 6. The event is the club’s “flagship” golf event this season and the first time it’s been held in Innisfail since 2016.
“It’s nice to have it back,” said MacDonald, adding there will be up to 120 of the top amateurs from across Alberta coming to compete. “Alberta Golf has always been very courteous in allowing us to host, and very, very quick with praise about the golf course and how well it sets up for their events, especially it being so central.
“It’s so cool that it comes the year before our 100th anniversary.”
MacDonald said preparations are already well underway for the club’s big centennial celebration in 2024.
This will include a “flagship” event the club will host for members and the public to come out and enjoy the course and all its amenities.
“It is a huge milestone for any golf club,” said MacDonald, adding he celebrated a centennial celebration at his former golf workplace, Lethbridge’s Henderson Lake Golf Club. “It's truly a very neat event. It's just very cool to know that 100 years’ worth of history have been built here.”
MacDonald is clearly proud of the fact the Innisfail Golf Club has always been about inclusivity, a place where ladies and juniors were and still are always welcome to come and play.
“From the photograph taken from the 1930s you can see it wasn't just the men playing, it was the women, the children, and the men as a whole,” said MacDonald. “I think what the last 100 years has told me from looking into the history is this is a hub for the community.
“It's not a place where people are discriminated against or made to feel as if they don't belong,” he added. “We're a welcoming place that allows anyone to join.”
