Terry Freeman lines up his first drive of the season at Sonora Dunes Golf Course. The season started a bit earlier this year with both golf clubs in town opening in the last weekend of February.
Dale Boyd/Osoyoos Times

Sophie Gray 

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Osoyoos Golf Club and Sonora Dunes Golf Course both had golfers teeing off before March this season in Osoyoos. 

A whopping four weeks earlier than last year for the Osoyoos Golf Club.

General Manager Doug Robb said this is due to a milder, shorter winter than we saw last year.

“Had a nice winter, so we’re in very good shape,” said Robb. “We’re opening four weeks ahead of last year. That definitely is an advantage for us as we get open before all the courses in the Kelowna area so we see people that migrate down to Osoyoos not only for the golf, but then they get exposed to the area so it’s really good for everyone when we get open early.”

Robb is hoping the weather trend continues for this year, as the course and golf season in general are very dependent on sunshine and nice weather.

“It’s a little bit like being a farmer. We’re all dependent on the weather. We’re kind of the opposite of Baldy right? They depend on the weather up there too, they need snow, we need sun,” said Robb. 

The Osoyoos Golf Club won’t be hosting the national tournament again like they did last year, instead focused more on bringing people to the area to play the regular course. However, the club does have a couple exciting events on the horizon for this year. 

“One addition this year is we have the annual RCMP tournament here in September which is three days, and then we have the high school championships here also, April 11.”

The club opened one of their Desert Gold courses Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. Robb says the Club is looking to open their second course, Park Meadows, in the next few weeks or as soon as it’s ready. 

At Sonora Dunes, manager Bernie Richardson is expecting a lot of big groups to come through this year, and eager golfers had already booked up most of the afternoon on Feb. 28.

“Last year we opened on March 20 because winter came, so March 20 was our day. We came back from Arizona to open on the 15th of February, but we got back and it snowed,” Richardson said.

While it has been touch and go with the last legs of winter, Richardson said the weather is looking “really good” from here on out.

-Files from Dale Boyd