The Newsy Neighbour Magazine
www.TheNewsyNeighbour.com
May Issue 115
Article Provided By: Jock Wilson
If mother nature cooperates and everything goes according to
plan, local golfers will be checking out a brand new layout over the May long
weekend.
While golfers in southern Alberta are eagerly awaiting the
re-opening of Kananaskis Country and the new Mickleson National Golf Club,
Serenity has been quietly working away to open the first 18 of their 36 holes.
"May long is our launch date for Dancing Bull,"
says Slade King COO of Play Golf Calgary Facilities. "The second 18, Sun
Catcher will open in 2019 to complete the semi private facility."
Golfers in Strathmore, Langdon and Chestermere will have
easy access to Serenity as it's just 10 min east of Stoney Trail on 22x (just
south of Indus). They are located just minutes from Calgary communities McKenzie
Town, Mahogany and Copperfield.
“We’ve been working on this project for over 7 years,”
explains King. “We started this before Blue Devil was even on the radar, then
put it on pause to finish Blue Devil. We wanted to keep it a little bit of a
secret but that’s tough to do in the golf world.”
The downturn in the Alberta economy certainly didn’t help.
“There was risk and reward,” says King. “It may not be the
best economy to open in but it was a good economy to build in. We look at the
growth in South East Calgary and we’re excited for the opportunity.”
So what will golfers experience when they tee it up at
Serenity later this month?
“Dancing Bull is a parkland style layout with 6 or 7 holes
playing in and out of the trees,” beams King. “We also planted over 2000 trees
(Popular, Spruce and Aspen) to match off the look on the rest of the 18. Sun
Catcher will be a more traditional lynx style course with fescue grass and open
rolling terrain.”
Full construction on the new Mickleson National Golf Club
started in May of 2016 with the first 9 holes expected to be in play in 2018. This
will be the first signature golf course in Canada for the PGA star.
When Phil rolled into Calgary in September 2015 to announce
his partnership with owner Barry Ehlert, he talked about combining a family and
tour experience.
“The expressed purpose is to create a family development
that introduces the game to the young kids and it enjoyable to players all
skill levels, but in the back of our mind to host a tour event that could be
challenging for the tour players and is also enjoyable to the spectator,” said
Mickleson.
If the vision holds then we could see the RBC Canadian Open
held in Calgary for the very first time.
Bob Paley is the PGA of Canada Head Professional at the
Kananaskis Country Golf Course. He told me an interesting story last month.
“I was in Calgary for my father’s funeral the day before the
floods (in 2013),” says Paley. “I got a call from my superintendent at 5:30 in
the morning. He says don’t tell anybody but it’s not good. We could be without
a golf course for 4 or 5 months!”
Of course, at the time, they had no idea how extensive the
damage was to the 36-hole layout. 5 years later, Paley and Kananaskis Country
are now preparing for all 36 holes to be back in play for 2018.
Business owners in the area are
looking forward to golfers gracing the fairways once again. The Delta Lodge at
Kananaskis is undergoing a $26-million renovation that should coincide with the
2018 reopening of the golf courses.
Another transformation on the
Calgary golf scene happened at the Elks Lodge and Golf Club. The 7,037-yard
layout has rebranded as the Winston Golf Club. Same track just a new name so
when your friends say we have a tee time at the Winston don’t get lost.
Hit it long and straight. Make a
lot of birdies and enjoy the 2017 golf season.
About Jock Wilson:
Jock has been involved in the Calgary
sport media scene for over 30 years. He hosts the Calgary Stampeder football
broadcasts on Newstalk 770 and is the host of Sportstalk from 6:30 pm to 8:00
pm.
Email: jock@am770chqr.com
Twitter: @sportson770
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