SUNDRE — Golfers eager to return to the local greens will have to be patient just a little while longer.
Although both the Sundre Golf Club and the Coyote Creek Golf & RV Resort had hoped to open last week, the late snow ended up throwing wrenches into the gears.
“The snow is not great. We were going to try and open to this Friday,” Scott Shouldice, head pro at the Sundre Golf Club, said on Tuesday, April 19 during an interview. “But with the snow, we’ve actually pushed it back a week.”
The plan now, Shouldice added, is to open on Friday, April 29, which he called a late opening for the course that typically gets started in mid-April.
“It’s going to be a little bit of a late opening for us this year,” he said. “But the course is looking really good — it wintered really well. So, it’s going to be in great shape for opening, as long as the weather cooperates.”
Looking at the silver lining, he said the snow is providing some welcome moisture.
Over at Coyote Creek Golf & RV Resort, head pro Dean McBride also said the snow ended up delaying plans to get the driving range open and added the weather has pushed a late opening.
“We haven’t even picked dates yet as far as when we think we can open,” McBride said on April 19. “We’re kind of letting this storm front to go through and seeing how much snow we actually get and go from there.”
Not having an anticipated official opening date “is kind of unusual for us,” he said, adding, “It’s just strictly because of the weather.”
And while the driving range is often open about a week before the rest of the course, that isn’t expected to happen this year.
“Prior to us getting snow today, I would have said probably this Saturday for the driving range,” said McBride, adding they hope to open as soon as conditions improve.
Meanwhile, the course seems to be shaping up following its winter slumber.
“It’s looking really good this year,” said McBride. “We should be open to good conditions.”
Regardless of the delay, he said the moisture was “absolutely” welcome as conditions were becoming dry.
“Any moisture this time of year is great,” he said. “I mean, it would be nice if it was a rain versus snow. But this moisture at this time of year is definitely good, for sure.”
Asked whether Coyote Creek has any major plans, projects or expansions in the works this season, he said, “At this point in time, we don’t have any per se.”
However, he reported that the resort had over the past couple of years done unexpectedly well despite the pandemic.
“In the last few years going through COVID, we’ve sold a tremendous amount of RV lots,” he said. “That’s kind of making the place busier off the get-go. The whole community out here has definitely gotten a lot busier with those sales.”
That development might well have been the last thing McBride would have predicted back in March 2020 when the world braced itself for the pandemic’s impact.
“I mean, going into COVID, who would have thought that would happen,” he said. “It’s created so many lot sales, so many new people, plus their friends and family — the place has gotten so much busier in the last two years; it’s amazing. It’s really changed a lot in the last two years.”
As for special plans over at the Sundre Golf Club, Shouldice said a mix of professional and amateur talent of all ages from all over the province will be headed to town later this summer for the Alberta Open.
“That’s a really big tournament for us,” he said, adding the event is scheduled to run from June 21-23.
“It’s mostly a pro tournament, but they do have an amateur division as well,” he said.
Additionally, the Wade Konschuh Memorial Tournament will also be making a comeback later this spring on Saturday, May 28 following a pandemic-induced hiatus.
“The last couple of years, we weren’t able to do it obviously with COVID,” he said. “But we’re going to bring it back this year.”
