Hole 17’s fairway completely flooded after last week’s torrential down pour at Rose Lake golf course. Photo courtesy of Paul Von Bank.
FAIRMONT – It is the season for golf – or at least it should be.
The persistent rain we have seen this year has put a significant pause on multiple courses from opening completely or even at all. Courses like the 18-hole Interlaken are operating with only the back nine available to play.
According to Interlaken club house manager Paul Baldus, there were between 10 and 15 downed trees and plenty of water on the course. Despite these things, the grounds crew has been hard at work to at least keep the back nine of the course open, mitigating profit loss and servicing the golfers who show up to play the best they can.
“Yeah, the course is holding up well,” Baldus said. “It’s just having to close the course to the back nine. So we’ve been able to service the golfers pretty well. There’s been a few days where we’ve been completely closed. Our superintendent’s done a great job getting at least some traffic out here.We’ve lost our share of revenue, but I think he’s held it to a minimum by getting us at least nine holes to play.”
Across town over at Rose Lake Golf Course, their issues were a bit more challenging. Though the course only had to close a couple of holes, they did have to place restrictions on carts and close three holes due to the depth of the water that had built up on the course.
“The weather’s just been horrible,” said manager Jack Von Bank. “I think for golf courses all the way around it’s been very troublesome for all the courses around. So it’s been a tough year. Hopefully we’re able to get some nice weather coming up and we can bounce back and get more people out here interested in golfing and try to get the income back up where we need to be.”
With dry conditions on the horizon, the courses plan to get back to full operation as soon as possible.