Golf a week or less away as Mill Woods course reopens driving range

Spring weather has meant people have been able to get out to the golf course to break in the driving range as the season is close to beginning.

It’s a fore-gone conclusion: when the snow starts to disappear, Edmonton’s driving ranges arguably become the city’s most popular destinations.

The Mill Woods Golf Course saw a long queue of golfers waiting to swat balls once it reopened its driving range on Saturday. The southside course had opened it a couple of weeks ago for a few days before Mother Nature dumped a foot of snow on the city March 27-28.

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“It was packed lineups back to the door type of thing,” Todd Paquette, the Mill Woods course superintendent, told CTV News Edmonton on Monday.

“People are getting into it.”

As far as how soon golfers can expect to be able to book tee times at the course, Paquette said he’s hopeful for next Monday, April 14, but is also “hopeful for earlier than that” depending on how the weather cooperates to rid it of snow.

The prognosis? It’s looking good. Following a chance of showers on Tuesday with a forecast high of 13 C, Edmonton is expected to see sunny skies through the end of the week and temperatures rising every day well into the double digits.

And Paquette said not much ice formed on the Mill Woods course this winter, which “was great.”

“The biggest problem for superintendents is the ice (that) forms on fairways, tees and greens,” he said.

“We have a tarping system that kind of eliminates that on greens, but it’s hard on fairways. (Still) it was a great winter for turf. We’re not out of the woods yet, but at this point, we’re happy with what we see.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Darcy Seaton