Warm temps keep golfers off their duffs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/11/2021 (1416 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT’S almost as good as a hole-in-one.

Two Winnipeg courses have decided to let golfers hit the links again — before the snow flies — thanks to unseasonably warm November weather.

“For the first time, just due to popular demand, we decided we’re going to do temporary greens and reopen the entire golf course,” said Jaclyn Steep, general manager of Southside Golf Course in Grande Pointe, on Wednesday.

“The fact that we can maybe get a couple of extra weeks here would be great for some of those people who aren’t quite ready to put the clubs away yet.”

Southside closed on Oct. 31 and put up snow fences to protect the greens, said Steep.

But with warm temperatures sticking around for another week or so, the public course is trimming its fairways to build temporary greens for diehard putters to enjoy starting Thursday.

“The phones have been ringing off the hook, so we’re very fortunate for that,” said Steep.

In Winnipeg, Shooters Family Golf Centre on Main Street is extending its fall season until it snows.

“We always take advantage of great weather, whether it’s early spring or fall,” said owner and club president Guido Cerasani.

“Any time that people can get out there and play golf in Manitoba, especially in November, it’s a bonus.”

Cerasani, whose birthday is in early November, can remember golfing in the late fall once every five years or so, he said Wednesday.

Environment Canada meteorologist Natalie Hasell said Winnipeg and the surrounding area will be under the influence of a warm upper ridge throughout the weekend and into next week, before tapering back to seasonal at the end of next week.

While the temperature would normally hover around 2 C during the day at this time of year, the forecast calls for daytime highs of 9 C today, and 12 C on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, according to Environment Canada.

“Considering we’ve had consistently warmer than normal forecasts for the last several months… no I’m not all that surprised,” Hasell said about the warm streak.

“I think it’s becoming more and more usual, though every year is a bit different.”

Shooters got an early start to the season in March, and Cerasani says it’s “fantastic” to get more than eight months on the links this year.

Steep says it’s been an unusually long golf season. Though the sport lost ground over the last decade, the isolation of COVID-19 encouraged people to pick up the game and allowed courses to open as early as mid-March.

“We were fortunate enough to have a record season,” said Steep. “Even with some restrictions.”

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jsrutgers