It was a chilly and breezy start to the first day of golf season at the Legends Golf Club in Warman, but that didn’t stop golfers from coming out to the course on April 23.
Actually, because of the minus temperatures the night before, the first tee time was pushed back an hour and half from the original 10 a.m. start.
But as the day went on, the wind died down to the enjoyment of the golfers. There were some groups that cancelled their tee times because of the chilly weather, but other than that it was a busy day of golfing, according to Davidson Matyczuk, the general manager and head professional at the golf club.
Matyczuk is happy the course is open in April and he his excited for the upcoming season at Legends Golf Club.
“It’s good to get started in April versus in May like we have the last couple years,” he said.
For the first week of the season at Legends Golf Club, the opening tee time will be at 10 a.m., so it gives the maintenance crew time to make sure there is no frost on the course and greens.
Also, if there does happen to be a delay to the start of the day because of frost, there won’t be as many groups waiting. That is exactly what happened on opening day.
“To prevent any kind of backup or gathering we just decided to use the later start time and then that will keep people separate,” said Matyczuk. “If you had your first book in at 8 a.m. and you had some frost, you have a whole bunch of people gathered around waiting for the frost to leave, and then it’ll create a problem, with everything going on these days.”
Matyczuk added that a week after opening day (April 29), the earliest tee time can start at 9 a.m. and as temperatures get warmer, he expects there to be earlier start times not long after that.
Even though the course has just opened, tee times are very limited as people are already getting the jump on the booking schedule. Matyczuk is advising people that it’s best to plan ahead or they are going to need some luck to get a tee time, especially if it’s a nice day.
“Last year, we noticed if you didn’t have a booking say three days out, you were probably not going to get one, and it’s looking very similar this year,” Matyczuk said.
Legends Golf Club members have the opportunity to book tee times within a ten day span, while non-members only have seven days available at a time for golf bookings.
Again, because of the COVID-19 restrictions all players must have a tee time before showing up at the course to play golf, as walk on players are not permitted.
“The days of just showing up and saying ‘hey, we want to get out there,’ (is unlikely) because right now the booking rate is quite high … and that is something that Sask Health doesn’t really want you doing,” said Matyczuk.
Last year, tee times for golf courses across the province were only allowed to be a minimum 10 minutes apart, but this season it has been changed to eight minutes apart.
“It is a bit of an improvement and it gets us an extra group an hour. The demand is high so it looks like it’ll be a good season,” said Matyczuk.
Along with the course opening, the driving range also opened to the public on April 23.
Sometimes the driving range opens a little earlier than the course, but, it took some time to install an artificial turf for the hitting area which is new to the golf club.
Matyczuk mentioned that the artificial turf is great for early and late in the season when there is frost on the grass.
“We’ll only use it if it’s too wet or too dry or when there’s frost,” said Matyczuk. “It’s just something that will help us in the long run just to take some stress off the grass.”
As for memberships, Matyczuk said the majority of members from last year have renewed theirs, while adding that there have been quite a bit of new memberships sold as well.
One of the reasons why people are interested in playing golf, according to Matyczuk, is that it’s one of they few activities right now were people can enjoy each other’s company.
“Obviously, there are still protocols in place but it does bring it back to just you and your buddies out there playing golf and it feels like there isn’t a pandemic at that time, as you get to slip away from reality of it while you’re out on the golf course,” he said.
Overall, Matyczuk expects it to be a busy season at the golf course.
