The Waskesiu Golf Course has already hit the fairway in their first metaphorical tee shot of 2021.
The 18-hole facility in Prince Albert National Park announced on Monday afternoon that they would be opening their season on Friday, May 14.
“We put a plan in place a little while ago to have that as our opening date and the phone has been ringing here once we made that official to the public on Monday,” Waskesiu Golf Course general manager Tyler Baker said. “We expect it will be a busy start for us up here.
“The opening date varies from year-to-year but this is about the average for us.”
The only drawback in pre-season preparations up to this point has been the weather, as Sunday marked the first time that the overnight low temperature at Waskesiu was above freezing.
“We have a lot of trees and shaded areas around the golf course, so it takes a lot longer for the heat to get certain areas that have a lot of snow around it, such as the snowbanks on holes 12 and 15,” Baker said.
Like other facilities around the province, the staff at Waskesiu has taken the lessons that they learned from the 2020 season to continue to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re still following all the guidelines that are in place and there are a few rules that are different from last year, such as having mandatory masking in buildings,” Baker said.
“We were able to keep things safe last year and we were probably a little more strict in certain areas compared to other courses. We’re feeling confident going into this year that we can keep everyone safe by following the protocols and making adjustments as the province provides updates.”
One of the biggest changes from this past summer is that the clubhouse restaurant, which was officially named Stanley’s Pub and Grill last July in honour of course architect Stanley Thompson, is open with a limited menu and limited sit down seating.
“That’s a lot different from what we had last year where all we had to offer was beverage service and sandwiches,” Baker said.
“We also have a new phone app for the course and a new food app that provides takeout service and also allows people to pre-order online from Stanley’s and the 10th Hole restaurant.”
On the competitive side of things, the Senior Men’s and Men’s Lobstick tournaments have returned to their traditional June dates after being pushed back to September last year.
“We’ll be using tee times like we did for the events in 2020 instead of having a shotgun start,” Baker said. “We just feel like it’s safer that way.
“We’re already onto a waiting list for the Senior Men’s and Men’s Lobstick. The Ladies’ Lobstick entry list is starting to fill up as well and we’ve already had more entries for the Junior Men’s Lobstick than we’ve had at this point in the past.”
In addition to retaining Coca Cola as a sponsor for the Junior Men’s Lobstick, the club has welcomed Fountain Tire as the main sponsor for the other three Lobstick events.
The schedule for this year’s tournaments are as follows:
- Fountain Tire Senior Men’s Lobstick: June 8-10
- Fountain Tire Men’s Lobstick: June 14-19
- Coca Cola Junior Men’s Lobstick: August 16-20
- Fountain Tire Ladies Lobstick: August 23-27
