SUNDRE – Golfers itching to get back into the swing of things will soon be able to satisfy their craving at Sundre-area courses.
Both the Sundre Golf Club as well as Coyote Creek Golf and RV Resort open Friday, May 2, while the latter opened its driving range Friday, April 25.
And anyone who couldn't wait, might have considered hopping over to the Forest Heights Golf Course, which opened April 25.
“Everybody’s been knocking at the door,” said Ted Bach, head pro at Forest Heights a few days prior to opening.
“We’ve got a bunch of our spring work done already now,” he said, adding they planned to pull the tarps within days.
“It’s looking ready to go,” he said, adding the course is in great shape.
“We actually had a fairly mild winter this year,” he told the Albertan on April 21 when a late wet spring snow blanketed the region.
“The moisture is nice,” he said. “We were kind of waiting for this because we had fertilizer out with all our spring starter. So it’s nice to get a good snow.”
The situation at the Sundre Golf Club was also looking good.
“It fared very well again,” said head pro Scott Shouldice about the course. “It’s looking in really good shape and I think it will be really good conditions for opening.”
Shouldice echoed a similar sentiment about the mild winter.
“It was actually a very good winter,” he said.
“There wasn’t really any ice at all. That’s the main thing,” he said, adding “what can damage the grass is ice build-up.”
With the exception of certain shady spots in the trees, the past season’s accumulation of snow had mostly melted away when he spoke with the Albertan.
“Except for this new stuff today. But that’ll melt quick,” he said, adding the moisture was good for the course.
While the club always aims to and has occasionally even managed to pull off April openings in the past, those hopes usually get dashed by the weather with most years getting started in early May, he said.
Trent Wright, the new head pro at Coyote Creek who just started on April 1, was crossing his fingers for warmer temperatures.
“By all accounts, the golf course wintered really well,” he said.
“We just need a little heat and a little rain, but mainly some heat to get the greens sort of out of hibernation,” he said, adding there’s “nothing like heat to get grass germinating.”
Upcoming events
From annual club tournaments and group fundraisers to big title events, all three courses have quite a bit on the docket.
On Monday, May 19, the Sundre Golf Club will once again be hosting the Alberta Best Ball Championship.
“It was a new event they created a couple years ago and was such a big success that they booked it again this year,” said Shouldice.
And just a couple of days later on Wednesday, May 21 the course will be hosting a Golf Canada event.
“We actually have a Canadian Open qualifier event, which is pretty exciting. That’s something new we’ve never had before,” he said.
“It’s kind of like a local Western qualifier for the Canadian Open,” he said, adding a contingent of the top contenders will go into the next qualifier for a chance to secure an opportunity to play in the national championship that takes place June 4-8 in Ontario.
As well, the course will be hosting the 2025 Alberta Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship on July 15-17.
While there aren’t any provincial events lined up at Coyote Creek this season, Wright outlined plans for member tournaments and fundraising events.
There was also a meet and greet on April 26 as he is the new head pro as well as to introduce the club’s new food and beverage manager Kim Harrison.
The club plans to host a Canada Day tournament on Saturday, June 28 with the annual Play 4 Sundre Kidz fundraiser scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 19.
Over at Forest Heights, Bach expressed enthusiasm at opening the course’s revamped practice area.
“That practice area has always been down there, but it’s a little more enhanced now because I built a better green in there,” he said.
He also looks forward to unveiling the redesigned Hole No. 18.
“It’s dogleg left now, it used to be a dogleg right,” he said, adding further plans include rebuilding the men’s tee box at Hole No. 9.
“It’s just had some roots grow in it,” he said.
While there aren’t any big provincial tournaments on this season’s calendar, there are some club events and fundraisers as well as plans to host the 2025 Central Alberta Interclub Championship in July, which includes 14 member clubs such as Innisfail, Olds, Sundre, Rocky, Lacomb, and Wolf Creek, he said.
“We’re in a rotation, so every three years we get to host.”
And the annual STARS Renegade fundraiser is lined up for Sept. 5 after returning to the course last year.
“Everybody really enjoyed coming back,” he said, adding the event was initially hosted at Forest Heights for years before rotating out to other area clubs.
“It’s nice to get that tournament back again.”
The Forest Heights open scramble tournament takes place in June, and to celebrate their 30th anniversary this year, the course will also be hosting a two-day men’s tournament on July 12-13, he said.
“That’ll be our championship,” he said.
“It’s our 30th anniversary, so it’s kind of fun to kick it up a little bit more.”
