Winter golf offers silver lining to this year’s mild season

The weather gods have again smiled on the weekend duffer, and we very well may have a mountain beaver to thank for it.

As the snow and ice of winter dissipate, for now, public golf courses throughout the Inland Northwest are abuzz in preparation for a weekend of golfers emerging from hibernation. On Tuesday alone, five Spokane-area courses – The Creek at Qualchan, Esmeralda Golf Course, Downriver Golf Course, Liberty Lake Golf Course and Hangman Valley Golf Course – officially announced they would be open for play in some capacity this weekend. The Fairways Golf Course at West Terrace is also open.

Prairie Falls Golf Club and The Links Golf Club in Post Falls have been open for weeks now – more than 350 rounds of golf were played at those two facilities last Sunday alone. So much for those weekend home projects that were awaiting the end of football season.

“Everyone has been stuck inside and they’re ready to get out and play,” Prairie Falls owner Billy Bomar said. “If the weather is the way it’s supposed to be, I think it’s gonna be another good weekend.”

Despite the fact that Prairie Falls is “pretty much always ready to open” once weather permits, quite a bit of preparation is in store for most of the area’s golf courses, according to Nautice Pham, finance manager for Spokane County Parks, Recreation & Golf.

“We still have to do a ton of cleanup to get the courses ready to play,” said Pham, who cited everything from clearing debris from the fairways and greens to mitigating every golfer’s true nemesis: goose droppings.

Pham said Liberty Lake and Hangman Valley are planning to open for the three-day weekend only, and only the front nine will be playable at Hangman Valley. On the other hand, Spokane city officials said that Esmeralda, Downriver and Qualchan will remain open as weather permits. Other area courses that will be open for business this weekend include Deer Park Golf Course (opened Tuesday); StoneRidge Golf Course in Blanchard, Idaho; Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman; and Sun Dance Golf Course at Nine Mile Falls, which is offering a 1-dollar-per-hole winter special through Feb. 28.

And while greenskeepers scramble to get their facilities up to par, there are some things you should know before driving to the course for a winter round.

Many of the courses may not allow for the use of carts until turf conditions improve, and those that do are likely going to be “cart path only,” so get ready to burn some calories. And unless you are in peak physical condition, you should probably spend some extra time in preparation before playing that first round, says Palouse Ridge assistant golf professional James Billings.

“This time of year, it’s a good idea for golfers to stretch out and warm up a little more – hit a bucket of balls – just because they haven’t been out in four or five months,” said Billings, who is preparing for Palouse Ridge to open today. “It’s really easy to go out and get all excited about that first round of the year and pull a back muscle.”

Billings said you should temper your expectations regarding your early spring score, as well, because the courses won’t be in their best scoring shape, and neither will you.

“You’re not going to get nearly as much roll, and the greens might be a little slower,” he said. So who, or what, is to blame?

While some weather forecasters attribute the unseasonably warm temperatures to the El Nino phenomenon, others choose to heed the opinion of something more supernatural – Rufus the Mountain Beaver.

Sure, Punxsutawney Phil got all the attention when he was interrupted from his winter slumber on Groundhog Day to give us the bad news – six more weeks of winter. But weather here often filters in through the Cascade Mountains, where the non-hibernating mountain beaver reigns.

When Rufus, who lives at Seattle’s Discover Park Environmental Learning Center, emerged from his dwelling on Feb. 2, his shadow was nowhere to be found. For many, that means only one thing … time to tee it up.