Ongoing rain a challenge for local golf courses

Local golf courses have been struggling with the ongoing rain here in southeastern Manitoba. 

La Broquerie Golf Course General Manager Pat Gauthier says it has been a challenging year to say the least. 

“We’ve been managing, we’ve been trying to stay open as much as possible to allow golfers a place to play. We’ve been trying to follow, for the first time since I’ve been here, strict cart path rules when available. We just want to try and keep golfers out there, enjoying the course when we do have sunny days.” 

It’s a similar story over at Maplewood Golf Club in St. Pierre. General Manager Alex Edney notes “The boys are just unbelievable out there with pumping. They’re out there 24 hours pumping from one pond to the next and just drying it out for us. We dry relatively quick, but a couple days ago, we got another two inches, so that definitely put us out of commission with golf carts, for sure for a day.” 

Fortunately, both Gauthier and Edney say their patrons have been very respectful of the rules they put in place to protect their courses. 

Edney notes “I have been very impressed with people. I think they understand that they’re just tearing up the golf course for other people if they’re not adhering to those rules. I won’t lie, I was really worried on a few of those days that we weren’t going to be able to contain some of those golfers, but people have been very respectful and it’s very appreciated.” 

On another note, Edney says the wet weather this year has seen an increase in mosquito populations compared to the last few years which were relatively dry. 

“They are out there in a few places. I wouldn’t recommend hitting the ball in the bush because they’re definitely in there and they will follow you out, but generally speaking, a little bit of breeze out, a little bit of sunshine, they don’t like that, so they’re not as bad as people think.” 

All things considering, Gauthier says he is also surprised the mosquitoes aren’t worse at La Broquerie Golf Course. 

“I’ve been out a few times here in the evening and the mosquitoes aren’t as bad as we were thinking they would be. We are trying to stay progressively active here to try and treat the mosquitoes if we can.” 

He adds “Make sure you bring your bottle of bug spray with you, but it’s been manageable. On days where there’s a nice breeze, you don’t notice them.” 

Looking forward, both Gauthier and Edney say they would like to see less rain. 

Gauthier says “To get ideal conditions we would need a couple weeks of hot, sunny, dry weather here so that we can start getting back to doing some of the repairs to the damage that has happened on the course.” 

Though Edney says they haven’t seen much damage, a few warm, dry weeks would really benefit the course and golfers alike.  

“Once we get some nice weather here, because people have been respecting the course, it’s going to be in really good shape.”