After a winter that has only grudgingly refused to give up its grip on the region, golf season has finally returned to the Rainy River District.
Both of the 18-hole courses nearest to Fort Frances—Heron Landing and Kitchen Creek—are open and booking tee times. After a late start and despite some of the harshest conditions in years, the playing surfaces at both are ready for golfers thanks to some hard work by local grounds crews.
Heron Landing is “in good shape,” says assistant manager Glen Kellar. “We had a little bit of ice damage done on a few of our greens, but that’s a typical thing with the December we had last year. The guys are out working on them, and we’re overseeding them right now and fixing the problem,” Kellar says.
“We are refreshing our bunkers as well,” adds Heron manager Ashley Bruyere.
The Heron crews have also been doing some course maintenance on its bush lines, Kellar says. “Our sight lines are getting better; we’re cleaning up some dead spot areas and trimming some branches back and clearing brush and making it more eye appealing.”
Heron hasn’t made any changes to the course layout or moved any greens this year.
“Once we get our few greens that got ice damage back to normal, everything will be good to go,” Kellar says. “It’s just dealing with the ice damage from the winter. That’s it. The fairways are in great shape. If you come out and take a look at them, you wouldn’t believe how green they are.”
The restaurant continues to offer a full breakfast and lunch menu, Bruyere says. And there will be a club demo day with Cobra on June 20, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., with more from other retailers expected during the season. For tee times, call Heron at (807) 274-5678 or visit heronlandinggc.ca to book online.
Kitchen Creek Golf Club is also ready for the season, having pushed back its opening day a week to last Saturday.
“I think we’re looking really good so far,” says assistant manager Cassidy Roach. “We had a tough spring for sure, but overall it’s looking really good. The greens look good. Bunkers look good. The grass is finally growing, so all is good here. Over this last season, we got our greenside bunkers redone, so they’re in tip-top shape for this season.”
A drier than usual winter and spring has affected the start-up of most courses in the region, but hasn’t caused any significant damage.
“It was definitely a lot more dry than we were expecting,” Roach says. “We had to hook up our water lines a lot sooner than we were hoping to, so definitely overall, the lack of rain and the frost in the morning was the toughest challenge for us.”
Roach credits the hard work of Kitchen Creek’s veteran grounds crew for winterizing the course thoroughly last fall. “We had a very great season last year, and a lot of our ground crews are back. They’re working the machines just as they did last year, so we hope that our course conditions are the same, if not better, than last year.”
Kitchen Creek’s men’s night will run on Thursdays as it has in the past, and the ladies’ league on Tuesdays. “I’m making a couple of changes to that—we’re hoping to have a glow-golf night for the ladies as well.”
For the uninitiated, glow golf is, as it sounds, playing at night with a glow-in-the-dark ball.
“It’s a lot of fun,” says Roach.
The courses are ready for you, are you ready for them?
If you haven’t started already, now is the ideal time to get in shape for the season, according to golf pro Christin Thomson, one of the region’s most experienced golf instructors and a popular coach for young golfers and old hands alike.
Start slowly, Thomson advises—avoid the temptation to rush to the range and hit five buckets of balls before your muscles reacclimatize to the motions of a golf swing.
“Just get moving if you can, a little bit, get some walking in, some stretching before you get out to the range,” Thomson told The Times.
“We need to be moving our bodies a little bit. I think in general, a lot of us have been locked up for a long time, especially this winter. Because usually people are going to kind of come to the range and want to go full speed right away. But don’t do that.”
Ease into it when you do have those first range sessions, Thomson says. “Hit some wedge shots, some seven iron swings and then when your body starts to warm up, go into the driver, because usually it’s the opposite—you get out there, you want to blast the driver, and then, oh, yep, it’s not working.”
“Go and hit some chip shots around the green, hit some wedge shots, do some putting, and then come back in a day or two.”
Lessons offer a way to get a grip on the season
The ultimate spring warmup for golfers of any calibre is a lesson or two to fix those issues that inevitably creep in, even after a lifetime of playing the sport.
“It definitely helps for all levels,” says Thomson, who offers in-person and online lessons at christinthomsongolf.com. “I have players, people who have played the game for, um, quite a few years, and they just want a refresher at the beginning of the year, let’s kind of just look things over. That’s where I’ll check fundamentals, give you something to focus on and then that relieves a little bit of the stress.”
On the other side, Thomson says new golfers sometimes worry they’re not good enough yet to get a lesson. “And that’s actually kind of counterintuitive, because that’s the perfect time when you want to be learning the fundamentals properly.”
Fortunately, there are at least two experienced instructors in the area who can teach all levels of players, “myself and Scotty Basaraba [facebook.com/truebalancegolf], has been teaching the last few years as well,” Thomson says. “So, there are people who can get you going on the right foot close by.”
If you’re new to golf or returning after a long break and want to avoid the stress of packed fairways as you work out the kinks, Thomson advises calling the course you’d like to play and asking for advice.
“We have a lot of golfers, so the courses are generally busy, and I know that that can be overwhelming to people at first,” she says.
“Generally, there are busier times of the day, and if you’re someone who just doesn’t really want to be there when there’s a lot going on, the courses can kind of advise you on some better times. You’re not feeling the pressure of people watching you or being right behind you.”
Thomson, who competed at the provincial, national and NCAA levels before playing the LPGA Futures Tour, the Women’s Canadian Tour and the Cactus Tour, and teaches the Fort’s high school teams, is a big fan of both of the Fort’s local courses.
“We’re lucky to have two quality public golf courses in a relatively small area. I think people are very aware of that, great grateful for it.
“COVID was a good boom for golf all over the place,” Thomson says. “But just any other area, say, 10 or 15 years ago, we were kind of struggling for participation. We’ve really seen it turn, and golf is booming here.”
Heron Landing, the newer of the two local courses, is challenging; very tree-lined with a lot of water. “If you’re spraying it, you’re gonna lose some golf balls out there,” she says. “It has a few really good water carries.”
Kitchen Creek is another well-designed club, Thomson says. “They have a real mix of some wider open shots, which is kind of good for more of your beginner, your mid-level player, for enjoyment at that skill level. They have a handful of holes that are tree-lined and narrow, and there are a few really challenging greens.”
For those willing to venture a little further afield, there are several smaller—though no less challenging—nine-hole courses within a reasonable drive.
White Moose Golf Club, just north of Sioux Narrows, is a gorgeous par 35, nine-hole course that stakes its claim to fame as “one of the only golf courses in the world where golfers can pilot their boat right up to the clubhouse.” Interested golfers can reach the pro shop at (807) 226-5319 or by email at golf@snnf.ca.
The equally eye-catching Little Falls golf course in Atikokan features a picturesque view of its namesake waterfalls from Hole 7, and views of the Atikokan River throughout the course. “Be prepared to add a few strokes to your game as you make your way through the course of rolling hills, off-camber shots, and creek crossings,” the course website warns. Little Falls can be reached at (807) 597-6638 or via the Town of Atikokan website: atikokan.ca/visit-play/little-falls-golf-course.
Spruce Creek Golf Course is also opening this week in the Morson area of Lake of the Woods, a nine-hole, par 36 course “carved from the natural rugged terrain of the Canadian Shield.”
“Spruce Creek Golf Course features rolling fairways and large, challenging, well-cared-for greens,” according to its website, morsonlakeofthewoods.com/spruce-creek-golf-course. “In this peaceful environment, you may be lucky enough to see eagles, deer, fox, otters or other ‘guests’ while attempting that ‘birdie’ putt.” Call (807) 488-9706 to book a tee time.
