Pro tour stop to highlight golf season

With the season’s last snowfall hopefully fallen, the time for some springtime “Fore!”-play is at hand once again.
Big hitters and prodigious putters alike have come out of hibernation for another season of swings, shanks, and sand trap saves out at Kitchen Creek Golf Club, which officially began play April 21.
“Usually, we’re shooting to start May 1,” said head pro Steve Wood. “But the weather has been very conducive to good melting. The frost came out of the ground earlier and our course superintendent, Greg Ross, said the course is in the best post-winter condition in 10 years.”
A bonus to the normal itinerary of tournaments earmarked for the local course this year will be the first-ever stop made by the Manitoba PGA (MPGA) Tour on June 23.
“The guys are in for a pleasant surprise,” Wood, a member of the MPGA executive, said about the anticipated 30-40 professionals expected to take part in the event.
“It’s a fun golf course to play.
“It’s a good chance to get Kitchen Creek on the map in terms of getting known in Manitoba,” Wood added. “Once they hear from the pros that they played it and enjoyed it, they’ll come out here and see what it’s like.”
Meanwhile, an attempt to increase participation in the annual club championship will see that event moved from its usual date on the second weekend of September to the long weekend of Aug. 2-3.
“We’re always losing a lot of students who would like to play in the tournament but have to go away for school,” noted Wood, who also understands the risk of staging the championship on a long weekend when many golfers may be more interested in getting to their cabin than getting on the course.
“We’ll try it this way for a year. If it doesn’t work, we can move it back,” he reasoned.
Other highlights of the upcoming season include the Mother’s Day Classic (May 11), the Kitchen Creek Memorial Tournament (May 25), the Fort Frances Centennial Tournament (June 29), Kitchen Creek’s annual anniversary tournament (July 24), the Kitchen Creek Ladies’ Open (Aug. 9), and the Kitchen Creek Classic (Aug. 16-17).
The club also will have to deal with facing competition locally for the first time. The Heron’s Landing Golf Course at Couchiching is scheduled to begin play on its back nine later this summer—with a target of next spring for the entire course to open.
“I’d be lying if I said no,” replied Wood when asked if he was worried about the new club cutting into Kitchen Creek’s membership base. “But I’m not overly concerned. I think two golf courses can survive in Fort Frances.
“The idea has already been thrown around between the two courses that we could team up to offer travel packages,” he added. “I think we can work together to increase the number of golfers we have in this area.”
Wood said membership sales, which have averaged 450-500 in recent years, are ahead of last year’s schedule and are expected to reach normal totals again this year.
He believes last November’s vote to make the clubhouse non-smoking won’t have a severely negative impact.
“I get the impression from those I’ve talked to that we’re just going to get a whole lot more use out of our [patio] deck this year,” chuckled Wood.
“Everyone seems to be pretty co-operative about it, and it looks like it will be an easier transition than anticipated,” he added.
In other golf news, lovers of the links will get to try out the latest tools to lower their handicaps when the eighth-annual demo day takes place this Saturday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Kitchen Creek.
“The new technology seems to be focused on the drivers, which have a ‘trampoline effect’ now that makes them barely legal, and the balls, where they’ve changed the covers to make them more durable and make the ball go farther,” noted Wood.
The club’s junior program also will swing back into action this season, with lessons being given each Sunday in separate divisions for both the 12-and-under set and those 13-and-over.
The Junior Open will be held June 28, with monthly events also being conducted for younger golfers.
Daily greens fees are $21 for nine holes and $31 for 18. Adult memberships range from $650 for an individual to $1,150 for a married couple, while pre-juniors (12 and under) can sign up for just $233.
Tee times can be reserved by members up to a week in advance but no more than two days early by non-members.
For more information, contact the pro shop at 274-4653.