The two Kananaskis Country golf courses were ruined in the recent floods and are closed for the season
Provincial governmentowned facility shut down at least for this year
Brian Bygrave looked out his window, sighed heavily, and then winced at what was left of the two Kananaskis Country golf courses after the worst flood in Alberta history ravaged and pretty much destroyed everything in its path.
“It’s heartbreaking to see the golf courses that way,” said Bygrave, one of the directors of the Alberta government-owned courses, Mt. Kidd and Mt. Lorette. “We have a colossal situation on our hands.”
The hardest-hit golf courses — some 10 others in southern Alberta also incurred significant damage — both Kananaskis courses have been shut down for at least this year.
“A week after the floods subsided in other places we still had water running. To call it a flood is almost an understatement. It was almost like a tornado went through here. Both courses have been torn apart,” said Bygrave. “High-, raging-, out of control-, debris-filled water just cut a swath through everything. They left channels six feet deep and 20 feet wide in some places.
“There was water eight feet above what is left of the greens on No. 9 Kidd and No. 18 Lorette.”
Always rated by SCOREGolf as two of the top 100 courses in Canada and with its relatively low $78 green fees for Alberta citizens, Lorette and Kidd have also come out on top as courses with the best values.
“I just hope the government has the will, the foresight and the resources to bring these courses back to what they should be and what they were.”
Particularly painful is that Kananaskis just redid 29 of the 36 greens over the last 14 months.
“Those greens were doing beautifully. The course was so much better than it was a year ago when we had massive ice kill on most of the greens. And then this,” said Bygrave. “The course looked so good this spring. We were back to where we wanted to be and now it’s gone. It’s a hard pill to swallow.
“All the time, effort and money that was spent restoring the two courses … and then to see it turn so quickly into this mess. It didn’t even take a day to destroy it all.
“There’s a lot of emotion. I’m hoping for the sake of everybody that has anything to do with Kananaskis — and the public which have always enjoyed our course — that it will get rebuilt or restored.
“Quite simply, one of the jewels of Kananaskis Country is the two golf courses. Not to mention that they are the economic drivers of the area. Hotels are already wondering what they are going to do.”
Some of the other courses affected by the floods in the Calgary area are Cottonwood, Inglewood, River Spirit, Highwood, Redwood Meadows, McKenzie Meadows, the Calgary Golf & Country Club, Hidden Valley, Valley Ridge and the Glencoe Golf and Country Club. The 45-hole Glencoe was just about to open their completely renovated Forest Course.
“We got hit hard, but compared to Kananaskis, we got off easy,” said associate general manager Mike Kenney.
Scene
Sherwood Park’s Broadmoor Public Golf Course is finally on all 18 greens after severe winter damage forced the course to resod 10 of the greens.
“I’m really happy to be back. We’re getting better every day,” said general manager Trent Wright.
Even though all 18 holes are on permanent greens, for the time being, Broadmoor is continuing to offer 25 per cent off their green fees.
Noted
❚ This week’s list of holes-in-one are topped by the Edmonton Petroleum Club’s Geoff Carew, who aced No. 12 from 192 yards — in the middle of a rainstorm — during last week’s Alberta Open at RedTail Landing. ❚ Speaking of the Pete Club, Alex Lee aced No. 13 there while playing with fellow member Brian Batsch. ❚ New Edmonton Country Club member David Ofield aced No. 13 with a seven-iron from 172 yards as part of a wicked back nine. He also birdied the other two par 3s — holes 11 and 18. ❚ Julie Lewis got her first hole-in-one when she aced River Ridge’s 15th hole from 107 yards with a seven-iron. ❚ Cougar Creek had its first hole-inone of the season when Michelle Erdmann aced No. 14 from 134 yards with a five-wood. She was playing with Arnet and Michelle Pachal. ❚ The Roya l Mayfair finally had its first holein-one of the season as well. Myrl Coulter broke the drought with an ace on No. 16 from 100 yards with an eightiron. ❚ At Leduc, Don Murray aced No. 8 from 152 yards with a seven-iron. ❚ At Cardiff, Don Davis got his first holein-one on No. 15 using a five- wood from 143 yards. ❚ Lori Mortson got a hole in one at the Sherwood Golf & Country Club. Hers came on No. 5 when she drained a six-iron from 116 yards.