Cold, wet weather delays Kitchen Creek opener

Due to the wet, cold conditions of late, the opening of Kitchen Creek Golf Course has been delayed until this weekend at the earliest, new club pro Steve Wood said Tuesday.
An early spring had many people thinking of an early opening for the local course but the recent mix of rain and snow has put those thoughts on the backburner.
In fact, the course may not be ready for another week to two.
“It is not bad,” Wood said. “[But] we’ll be lucky to be open by this weekend. It’s pretty wet and we’re going to have to wait for it to dry up.
“We need some warmer temperatures or some wind to dry it up.”
“With the cold weather, nothing has happened that’s supposed to happen,” agreed greens superintendent Greg Ross.
Wood said if Kitchen Creek is ready by the end of the month, it would be right on schedule compared to past years. He noted the course here usually opens anywhere from April 15-30.
Given the early spring, Ross said he would have guessed a couple of weeks ago that the course would be ready by now. Still, he agreed things are on par with past years.
“Usually, if you talk to the guys who have been around forever, they say May 1,” he noted. “In this country, it’s just an illusion to open April 1.”
Still, Ross said many of the fairways and greens are in good shape at this point–and that should bode well for the course later on in the summer.
Meanwhile, Wood noted season memberships were “down a bit” from last year but he didn’t appear all that concerned with the numbers.
Kitchen Creek had a total of 650 members last year but was just close to 400 as of Tuesday morning.
Wood said he expects adult memberships to continue to trickle in through May, and noted most university-aged kids are not back from school yet.
Memberships cost $550 for adults, $280 for full-time university students (aged 19-25), $210 for juniors (14-18), and $155 for juveniles (13 and under).
In other news, Kitchen Creek will host another free “Demo Day” on Saturday, May 6, featuring reps from such companies as Calloway, Titliest, Cobra, and Wilson.
Players can test out various clubs on the driving range that day.