Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/366073
16 INSIDE GOLF The Calgary courses most affected by the floods of last year are now getting back on their feet. After floods hit Calgary golf courses last June, the general thinking among golfers may have been that any openings any time in 2014 would be optimistic. The reality is a little different. Only 12 months out, three of the courses most badly hurt (Inglewood, McKenzie Meadows and Highwood) are all open for business and look to be in surprisingly good condition. Good weather through last fall, coupled with hard working staffs, crews and volunteers, all made a contribution. The greens at all three are playing like there was almost no damage at all and the fairways are bouncing back nicely too. There is still work to be done however, and some course features have been changed forever. Inglewood lost a significant number of trees along the river, and a cart path on the water side of the 9th tee has disappeared, but the course has used a combination of sodding and seeding to get the playing areas back on track. There is still significant clean up to be done in some treed areas and the rough is still quite thin but give it a couple more months of good growing conditions and those should start to fill in. While the members and regulars of the 92- year old club may miss some of the trees that were washed away, new players would not even be aware of their loss and actually may like the expanded views of the river. A little further south, McKenzie Meadows is looking amazingly good. When you drive through the gates it looks like there has been virtually no damage to a layout that was 90% under water for approximately 17 days. This is due in large part to an aggressive reconstruction program that began last year where McKenzie Meadows went as far sodding a couple of their greens. They also used a combination of sodding and hydro-seeding to repair damaged fairways and tee boxes. In another inspired move, they took the silt that had been deposited and used it to create new mounding on a number of holes. They had been considering putting new sand in the bunkers even before the floods and decided with the course closed anyway, it would be a good time to accomplish this as well. The new white silica sand provides a great contrast to the rapidly greening fairways. The Highwood Golf Course in High River a little further south was arguably the most affected of all. Silt that was up to a foot deep covered virtually the entire golf course and it was only through efforts of members, townspeople and volunteers, literally from across Alberta, that this club has eighteen holes in play today. As part of a plan to help protect the entire town from future flooding, a berm that ran through the course has been both lengthened and heightened turning it technically into a dike. This necessity led to the decision to build four new holes on the "safe" side of the dike so that the club would have eighteen holes that were protected with another four on the river side. ALBERTA NEWS BY JEFF SUTHERLAND & GORD MONTGOMERY Flood Affected Courses Are Bouncing Back MCKENZIE MEADOWS UNDERTOOK AN AGGRESSIVE PLAN TO BRING BACK THEIR LAYOUT. PGA OF ALBERTA HEAD PROFESSIONAL RICHARD HARDY SHOWS THE RESULTS ON ONE OF THE TWO RESEEDED GREENS LAST JUNE, THE ENTIRE HIGHWOOD GOLF COURSE WAS COVERED IN SILT. TODAY THE FAIRWAYS AND GREENS ARE WELL ON THEIR WAY BACK TO THEIR FORMER GLORY Continued on page 44