Sand traps and water are common hazards on golf courses. But cows?
On Sunday, golfers at a Kelowna course were mildly surprised to see a small herd of cattle making themselves at home on a couple of holes at Mission Creek Golf Club.
One of Mission Creek’s owners, Debbie Welder, said her son walked the course Sunday morning and found six longhorn cows wandering the property.
“We’ve had pretty much everything else, but never cows,” Welder told Global News, adding the course owners don’t know who owns them.
Notably, Sunday was the last day of the season for Mission Creek. Welder said golfers were told to be aware of the new, four-legged hazards.
“So far, they haven’t been threatening,” Welder said. “They seem to be quite comfortable here.”
Peter and Philip Mazur hit the course for a good father-son outing before the course closed.
“It was surprising,” Peter Mazur said of seeing cows on the course. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Philip Mazur said they were on the second hole, “and then all of a sudden, the cows appeared.”
Asked about the extra hazards that cows and cowpies present, Peter Mazur smiled and chuckled, suggesting that golfers be careful not to hit any bovine droppings.
Another golfer, Gerri Kiy, also hit Mission Creek before it closed.
“There are some challenges at this time of the year,” Kiy said of golfing in mid-November.
“There are leaves, standing water in the fairways. And then, of course, the longhorn cattle.”
Kiy said the cows “were friendly. I didn’t hit them and they didn’t spear me (with their horns).”
Kiy said she’s seen deer before on the course, maybe a bear, but never cattle.
“When I hit a ball near one, they sort of started drifting that way,” Kiy said. “I thought they might steal my ball like some birds do, but, nope. They just went to the greener side.”
Meanwhile, Welder hopes someone comes forward and says “yeah, those are my cows.”