By RYAN MCCRACKEN on May 2, 2020.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com

Golfers can finally get out on the local links, with four courses in Medicine Hat opening this weekend under the provincial governments relaunch plan.

Although it comes with a number of strict guidelines, Medicine Hat Golf and Country Club general manger Cam Jacques says there will be very few changes to the golf itself when they open to members and public on Sunday at 9 a.m.

The key thing is were just trying to eliminate as many touch points as possible, thats our mandate, said Jacques. Since were not going to be raking the bunkers theres no rakes there because its a touch point if your ball rolls into the bunker and its in a big hole or a foot print because it hasnt been properly raked by the person before, were letting people use a preferred lie. So you can pick up your ball, put it in a nice lie, hit your golf ball out of there and then just use your feet to smooth it. Otherwise, the golf except for that will be regular golf. There will be regular tees, regular greens, the golf course is in really good condition.

Rakes wont be the only thing missing from courses. In an effort to cut down on contact points, garbage cans, ball washers, and benches will be removed or out of use, while tee times will be spaced out further, carts will be restricted to one per household and flags cannot be touched.

The flag stays in the whole time, said Jacques. The ball goes into the hole and theres a little hook about six inches up from the bottom of the flag. You just use your putter to pull it up and the bottom of the cup just rises up and your ball just comes out of the cup. Voila.

Connaught Golf Club will also open up on Sunday, while Desert Blume and Paradise Valley are moving forward with Saturday launches.

The plan is definitely to open, said Desert Blume general manager Trevor Ellerman, adding the club will only be open to members. We have a list of recommended ideas from the Alberta Golf Association, so were going to follow that to start with. It starts with tee times the intervals will be more spread out at least a 15-minute interval, which then puts us at about 12 people per hour who can play.

Cottonwood Coulee will wait until Monday. General manager Mac Baker says theyre holding off to ensure all provincial guidelines are met.

We have some guidelines from our own association that were planning on following, but the government said (Thursday) in a tweet that part of their guidelines would be available Friday afternoon, said Baker, adding tee times are already filling up. Weve had a lot of people calling and booking tee times. Were open to the public. For the first week, were allowing our members to book three days in advance and the public can book one day in advance.

Redcliffs Riverview Golf Club has decided on a Wednesday start, noting in a Facebook post Thursday night that they had expected a mid-May date to coincide with what Saskatchewan had announced.

As for driving ranges, Cottonwood Coulees will remain closed, while Desert Blume hopes to have its range open for warm-up and MHGCC will operate its range at half capacity.

Only every second stall will be open, said Jacques. We have 10 stalls regularly but theyre only about six feet apart, so well just have five stalls open. That way theyll be 12 feet apart.

Jacques added staff will be out supervising to ensure proper social distancing guidelines are met. Golfers also must remain in their vehicles until at least 15 minutes prior to their tee time, then they can finally get out and enjoy some socializing under the sun.

I think golfers are just so excited, said Jacques. Im sure Ive had 55 calls since (Thursday) at 5 p.m., since the announcement. People are just so excited to be able to go outside, play golf, see some of their friends and just get outside and go for a walk in the park.

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