By Shane Clausing

Golf courses

Grande Prairie golf courses not yet ready to open despite getting green light

May 1, 2020 | 1:16 PM

During the announcement of the province’s phased economic relaunch strategy Thursday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said that all golf courses in the province would be allowed to open as early as this coming weekend as one of its early steps to easing COVID-19 restrictions.

Despite some excitement amongst the golf community about that announcement, courses in Grande Prairie will remain closed for a little bit longer.

The Dunes Golf & Winter Club, Grande Prairie Golf & Country Club and Bear Creek Golf Club all say that they are still getting their courses ready for the season and want to open as soon as possible. Courses are estimating another 1-2 weeks before they can open.

The courses can’t open as many of them are still too wet from the amount of snow melting from the winter.

While the courses will not be ready right away, the demand for tee time bookings on Friday morning was heard by all the golf courses in the city.

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Bob Martens with the Grande Prairie Golf & Country Club says that his phone has been ringing consistently since he walked into the office on Friday morning.

“It’s been a busy morning. I know that our head professional and myself seem to be answering a lot of calls, so it’s been a good day. People’s enthusiasm is very obvious, it’s something everybody is looking forward to getting back to.”

All three golf courses have not started booking tee times, and most won’t until they get a clear opening date. Golf courses in the city say they could have a projected opening date by next week.

With golf coming back, courses will have to follow different rules and regulations that golfers will have to obey. Details for this are still being worked out.

Some of the new rules and regulations that other provinces have instituted to allow golf courses to operate include being able to only arrive 20 minutes before a golfer’s tee time, raising the hole cups, not touching or moving the flag sticks, removing rakes and benches, and keeping bars or restaurant services closed.

“We’re prepared for what’s being asked of everybody from a social distancing perspective,” said Martens. “There’s some great strategies and we got some good processes in place that are going to allow us to play the game safely and keep everybody including our staff safe. It’s a game that can naturally be physical distancing and I think it’s a game that can be played in a safe and healthy manor.”

EverythingGP will announce opening dates when they are made available.