‘Everything was unexpected’: Regina golf courses see huge spike in interest

Regina golfers have only a few more days to get in their final rounds before the end of the 2020 season.

This season in particular was extremely busy for local golf courses.

Brian Dueck, the general manager of the Royal Regina Golf Club, says interest in golf has been incredibly high during this shortened season.

“Last year, we did around 25,000 rounds,” Dueck said. “We have had less time this year and we are over 27,000 rounds with our season being cut short by almost a month (due to COVID-19).

“Everything was unexpected. There was no map to determine how things would go. People haven’t had things to do so they have chosen to play golf.”

Paul Schatz, the head pro at the Joanne Goulet Golf Course, said the city-owned course saw more than 25,000 rounds during its season as well. That’s about 6,000 more rounds than the year prior.

“We missed out on a lot of our spring (due to COVID). We weren’t able to open up until May 15 (and) there was very few activities that we were able to do early on,” Schatz said.

“People weren’t allowed to go out for dinner or socialize in that aspect. The only thing people were really able to do in groups of four was to go out and play golf.”

One aspect of the numbers was surprising to Schatz.

“Overall we have seen a huge influx of new golfers,” he said. “The season as a whole was highly successful, the ever-changing regulations (due to COVID) were doable and I hope we can ride this wave of new people choosing to golf into next season.”

The last day for play at the Lakeview Par 3 Golf Course is Monday; the course will be closed for the season starting Tuesday.

The Joanne Goulet Golf Course is to close on Oct. 19, along with the East 9 of the Tor Hill Golf Course.

The North and West 9s at the Tor Hill are to close Oct. 26, as is the Murray Golf Course.

Those dates are dependent on the weather and may change if the long-range forecast calls for alterations.

According to the city, golf bookings at its courses increased by 16 per cent compared to 2019 even though the 2020 season was delayed by COVID-19.

As of Oct. 1, 110,663 rounds were played on city-owned courses in 2020 compared to 95,332 rounds during the 2019 season.