‘Tis the season… for golf?
One Winnipeg golf course says it’s taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to do something unheard of on Dec. 7: open up again.
Shale Hector, assistant general manager for Southside Golf Course, told 680 CJOB’s The Start it’s almost unbelievable to be open in December, but gofers are embracing it.
“We did re-open in November as well,” Hector said. “Originally we closed in October, around the 23rd, because we had some snow coming, and then you just kind of keep an eye on the temperatures. If the overnight lows aren’t too low, and we get up to about five degrees Celsius, it sustains for a couple of days… it was just so nice.”
Hector said about 25 customers were hitting the links Wednesday, and at least 10 tee times are booked for Thursday so far.
“We weren’t sure what the response would be,” he said, “but it ended up being a great day. We’ll see how many show up… it should be a good time.”
Because the course is using temporary greens, Hector said, golfers may have to adjust their play, but the hard ground means you might have a couple of career-long drives.
“You’re not getting any spin back… you’ve got to have a little control, you’ve got to hit it and let it run out a bit, but conditions are pretty great.”
Southside isn’t the only golfing facility openly unexpectedly this week — Shooters Family Golf Centre’s driving range also opened up for golfers Thursday.
While it may be golf weather Thursday, it will soon look and feel a lot more like a typical December in Manitoba.
Scott Kehler of Weatherlogics told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg that there’s a low-pressure system moving across the prairies that is expected to arrive in the Westman and Interlake regions by Thursday night.
“Tomorrow it’s going to push into southern Manitoba, bringing Winnipeg and surrounding areas probably around five to 10 centimetres of snow,” Kehler said, “along with falling temperatures as we go into Friday night and then Saturday. So it’s a change to more wintry conditions… it’s really just a return to normal weather. What we’ve seen lately is not at all normal for December.”
Kehler said snow is already beginning to spread throughout central Alberta and Saskatchewan, and is heading toward western Manitoba.