Golf returns to Bearspaw Country Club following surprise spring closure

Golf returns to Bearspaw A local golf course ownership group has stepped up to ensure golf will be played at Bearspaw Country Club this year.

The Windmill Golf Group has made arrangements to reopen the golf course at Bearspaw Country Club for the remainder of the 2019 season, with hopes of buying the course in the future.

"We felt it was important to get the golf course open," explained Barry Ehlert, managing partner and owner of Windmill Golf Group.  "We felt like this has been something that's been unfortunate for the members ,who are the shareholders and owners originally of Bearspaw, but that's extended to the industry. This is really an unfortunate situation for the industry as a whole. We felt like it was a great opportunity to step up, do the right thing, engage with the members and try to get it open as quickly as possible to provide their course back to them."

Ehlert says the current owner is likely a bank through receivership and there are potentially other parties interested in purchasing the property.

The Bearspaw Country Club has been a private golf course for decades and Ehlert says that while it will still be considered private, there will be opportunities for outside play.

"Certainly there's a lot of people that are golfers that haven't had an opportunity to play that will really relish at that opportunity now," said Ehlert. " We will encourage outside play and outside guests to come but it's still a private golf course as far as I'm concerned just because of the level of experience, the culture, the atmosphere and what we want to deliver as a private golfing experience."

Windmill Golf Group, which operates 10 courses, will be offering "substantially reduced dues" to members that come back, "we tried to be as fair as we possibly could", and has reached out to former staff members to offer them their jobs back.

"A lot of the recent staff have found new employment so there will be some new faces without question. There will be a core group of people on the Bearspaw team that people will recognize and know and create some consistency."

According to Ehlert, the course is scheduled to open Friday, June 14 and will begin booking tee times online and by phone in the coming days.