Long Snow Melt Delays Start to Golf Season

Technically speaking, spring began on March 20.

But try to tell that to anyone who loves golf and chances are that you’re going to get a funny look.

“So far, I mean, it’s a pretty rough start,” said Ricky Plemel, the superintendent of the New Hope Village Golf Course. “With Minnesota, you never really know. It’s all up to Mother Nature what’s gonna happen.”

In a perfect world, the course would be open for business by April 1. Instead, the greens are covered with snow and the whole operation is essentially on standby.

“The biggest thing we need is the snow to be gone in order to have our equipment on the golf course,” Plemel said. “The second biggest thing we need is the grass to start growing, so you’re going to want to see soil temps in the 50s.”

By this point, mostly everyone wants to start seeing temperatures in the 50s. However, Mother Nature has had other plans.

Until things warm up, the course can’t generate any revenue. Plemel hopes they can that make up on the back end.

“Yeah you hope to have a strong golf season,” Plemel said. “You hope that maybe you get to play into November a little bit, you have a longer season on the back and, absolutely. Otherwise, you gotta get creative with different events and night golf and different things we do out here.”

The New Hope Village Golf Course is currently covered with snow.

Such is life in an industry that’s weather dependent. In the meantime, Plemel is hopeful he can get things up and running by mid-April.

“From sun up to sun down, as soon as we start going, this place is packed,” he said.

Plemel encourages people to pay attention to the New Hope Village Golf Course website for opening date information and to book tee times when they become available.

Trees Removed

Meanwhile, when the New Hope Village Golf Course does open for the season, golfers will notice some changes as they’re walking the greens.

Crews had to take down about 40 trees on the course that were infected with emerald ash borer.

Failure to remove the trees would have created a safety hazard, with the possibility of branches falling on golfers.

While the course will have a different look, the superintendent says golfers shouldn’t notice any changes in game play.

Related: New Hope Village Golf Course: A Place For All Seasons

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