Courses in Illinois, Iowa and Michigan reopened with reduced rates for the weekend of December 13-14, to take advantage of demand for play as temperatures rebounded into the 40s and 50s.
Another winter of bizarre and unprecedented weather patterns has already started to unfold even before the official start of the season on December 21, with California being deluged by historic rains, Buffalo recovering from record snowfall and one late-fall day seeing every state, including Hawaii, reporting below-freezing temperatures somewhere within its borders.
But in much of the Midwest, the second weekend of December brought nothing but favorably unseasonable weather—and an unexpected bonanza for golf courses—several media outlets reported.
In the Quad Cities region of Illinois and Iowa, television station KWQC TV 6 of Davenport, Iowa reported, more than 100 golfers headed to the Duck Creek Golf Course in Davenport on Sunday, December 14. The course had planned to open between 8 and 9 a.m. that morning, but there was already a line at 7:30 a.m, KWQC reported, and at one point course management reported a 45-minute wait at the first tee.
While golfers told the station it was odd to be able to play at that time of year, they were more than happy to take advantage of the opportunity. “It’s really weird how I can golf the day after I ski,” one said in commenting on the fast-changing weather patterns the region has seen.
Duck Creek representatives told KWQC that the course would remain open as long as temperatures stayed above 40 degrees.
In western Michigan, forecasts for temperatures near 50 had Maple Hill Golf Course in Wyoming, Mich., preparing to stay open throughout the weekend of December 13-14 for “first-come, first-served” golfing, WOOD TV8 of Grand Rapids and Holland, Mich. reported.
“It happens every couple of years it seems like, maybe every three or four years, [where] you get a couple of days where it reaches around 50 that people can come out and play,” Maple Hill’s Jason Sanchez told the station. “People like to say they have played every month in Michigan if they can.”
MLive.com, a website for Michigan news, reported that courses like Winding Creek Golf Club in Holland saw the weekend as an opportunity to make up for lost revenue from earlier in the fall.
“That early cold weather and snowfall cut us a little short this fall,” said Jeff VandenBeldt, Winding Creek’s PGA pro. “Now with that little break it gets people pumped up about 45. It’s nice for business.”
The 27-hole club was also taking golfers on a first-come, first-served basis for the weekend, MLive.com reported. “We have three nines here so we can usually fit people out pretty much any time,” VandenBeldt said.
Boulder Creek Golf Club in Belmont, Mich. was also taking tee times to best make use of the limited daylight hours, golf professional Steve Gilbert told MLive.com. “We’ve been getting quite a few phone calls today,” Gilbert reported. “We sent out an e-mail about opening and the sales we have going on.
“It’s always nice to be able to open up in December,” Gilbert added. ‘If the weather cooperates and the golf course is playable, we can open up.”
KCCI News 8 of Des Moines, Iowa reported that the Woodland Hills course in Des Moines and the Sugar Creek Municipal Golf Course in Waukee, Iowa were are among those reopening with reduced rates to take advantage of temperatures that were expected to top out at 56 degrees.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.