Golfers back in swing of things with early opening at PG&CC
It will be at least four more years before the Penticton Golf & Country Club has a shot at opening as early as it did in 2024.
The 18-hole course opened on the leap day, Feb. 29, without a hitch, according to head professional Kris PaulClark.
“We hadn’t opened up in February in about six years now -- usually it’s the first week of March or the second week of March -- but we decided this year with the good weather to try to get in an extra day of golf,” said PaulClark in an interview Tuesday.
There’s no magic formula for choosing opening day, rather it typically comes down to the weather warming enough so that overnight lows aren’t dipping much past the freezing mark – and a lot of hard work by the grounds crew and other staff, who number as many as 85 at the height of the golf season.
“We wintered really well. We’ve had a lot of traffic locally and from across the Valley and everyone’s been giving us some great feedback,” added Paul-Clark.
The course has also enjoyed an influx of out-of-province golfers who are in Penticton for the 96-team Canadian Sport School Hockey League championships, running March 4-17.
“With this hockey tournament on, we’ve actually picked up a few people from Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary. They were blown away that we were actually open,” said Paul-Clark, who’s now into his seventh season as head professional at PG&CC.
The club enjoys strong support with a full list of 550 members and a waiting list with approximately 160 names on it.
It’s been a more difficult spring for the Osoyoos Golf & Country Club, which required extra work to open after vandals struck in mid-February.
At least two people in trucks cut through a locked gate, then proceeded to drive around one of the fairways, leaving deep ruts and other damage in their wake.
“But the guys have patched it up and we’re moving on,” said general manager Doug Robb in an interview Tuesday.
His course opened March 8 with approximately 485 members and no waiting list, but he was reluctant to draw comparisons to PG&CC.
“We drive a lot of our business through pay-to-play (instead of memberships) for people coming from Vancouver and Calgary and such, so it’s a bit of a different animal,” said Robb.
The first club to open this season in the South Okanagan was the ninehole Skaha Meadows Golf Course near the Penticton airport, which welcomed players back on Feb. 21.
WOW Golf Club just north of Penticton also opened in February.
Nk’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course in Osoyoos is due to open March 15, while Fairview Mountain Golf Club in Oliver is slated to open March 22.
The other local golf courses, not mentioned in this article, were unavailable for comment.