Golfers are taking advantage of the lush green at the Weyburn Golf Club thanks to steady rain this season.
"The course is in wonderful shape. Mother Nature has been unbelievably kind to us and been keeping our grounds crew extremely busy having to cut grass," said General Manager Krystle Fedoretz.
She said they have high numbers in each of their leagues this year as well.
"Our Junior program is seeing over 100 kids participating every week. Our Ladies [league] sees upwards of 90s, and our Men's league, as well, is in the high 80s. So we have a lot of participants. It's wonderful to see."
Fedoretz said a few years ago they revamped their Junior program, which accommodates children as young as six years old.
"Mryglod Steel has very generously donated their time and money to that program. They organized a group of volunteers that teach the youth golf on Mondays, and we are seeing a lot of, I'll call them 'the graduates' of that program, now coming out and being regular golfers."
"It's a wonderful, wonderful program, and it's great to see them all out here. The program is designed for their skill set, and as they develop their skills, they move up and through the program. So the volunteers are excellent in getting them just out there and practicing and learning the game."
The Junior program runs Monday mornings, the Ladies league runs on Tuesdays, with the Men's on Wednesdays and the Senior Men's on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings.
Fedoretz said they host a number of tournaments on the weekends, including their Legacy Member / Guest tournament coming up on Saturday, August 23rd.
"If anybody's interested, they can call the Pro Shop to register, and we can get their team in. It's a four-man scramble, so not overly competitive, more of a fun and social kind of thing."
She said there will, of course, be prizes.
"The community has been absolutely wonderful in supporting us. So when we are hosting these tournaments, you will see holes sponsored by local businesses."
The Legacy Member / Guest tournament, as well as their Par 3 tournament in the spring, is part of an ongoing fundraising effort for the club's irrigation system.
"They did replace the irrigation system on the front nine," she explained. "We are currently fundraising to replace the irrigation on the back nine. We're hoping to get it done in the next five years. It's an extremely expensive project, so we need the funds before we can go ahead. We're looking at around $650,000 to get it installed. It includes all new piping as well as sprinkler heads."
Fedoretz also works with local organizations and does a fair amount of grant writing to help reach this goal.
As for the back nine, currently, the grounds crew handles manual irrigation. This is aided in part by having access to the surrounding water from the Souris River from the Water Security Agency.
She noted they have a dedicated membership of 338 who frequent the Club.
"There's different types of membership, whether it be for a junior or a student or adult, or if you're a new member, you've never been a member before, you get a different rate, and then it depends on if you want a cart lease with your membership, if you want a locker with your membership, if you want a range pass with your membership. We can customize it to whatever your needs are. So if you're not a member, we are a public course. You can book a tee time and play as a greens fee player."
Her advice for getting on the green is to call ahead to book a tee time, then check in at the Pro Shop upon your arrival to pay your greens fee, where regular members also check in and grab their carts.
"If they need any balls or gloves or anything like that, or if they're hitting the range, they grab range balls from here before they head out to the range. Our tee sheet is full, so it is important to call ahead and get your tee time booked."
With tournament season underway, weekends are also in demand at the Club.
"We are definitely doing things differently than we've done them before. We're looking forward to welcoming everybody on the 23rd to our Legacy tournament."
