Kamloops golf clubs healthy despite rising costs, with season off to busy start

“Our rates went up a little bit from last year incrementally, a couple of bucks here and there, and it hasn’t slowed anybody down.”

Kamloops Golf and Country Club (KGCC) general manager Alec Hubert, standing near one of the treed track’s trademark willows, said the golf industry in Canada and across the world is in a growth phase.

“A round of golf might cost more than it once did, but that’s just part and parcel to the price of things going up, the price of labour, price of supplies,” Hubert said. “We’re happy to see lots of golfers out here playing and a lot of new golfers finding a new obsession.”

Each of the courses CFJC visited on Tuesday (April 14) are finding ways to rake in customers: Rivershore is strategizing to reach a younger demographic, the KGCC boasts a classic layout that’s challenging but forgiving and Mount Paul Golf Course offers grub-and-golf deals – a large bucket on the driving range and hearty breakfast goes for $17.47.

“I just enjoy being with the girls and we always stop and have supper or lunch and play cards after,” said Lorraine Corrigan, a few moments before hopping onto the first tee at Mount Paul. “I especially love coming to ladies’ night. I’ve been coming here for years.”

Added Corrigan’s playing partner, Debbie Hay: “I just like being outside and being with people who you know and enjoy being with. It just makes it more fun.”

Oates said golf participation numbers experienced growth during the pandemic, an outdoor sport with less-stringent restrictions, with some new to the game, others returning and many sticking with it.

“We’re looking at our pre-COVID numbers to our numbers now [and we’re doing] twice the business that we were doing,” Oates said. “We got lucky. We know golf is resurgent.”

Mount Paul’s Dan Latin said some of the golfers who came to the game amid the pandemic have drifted away, “but, certainly, it helped the industry without a doubt.”

A mild winter in Kamloops provoked good early-season conditions and springtime congestion on tee sheets.

“Some days, people phone at eight in the morning and say, ‘Yeah, I’d like a tee-time around noon,’” Latin said. “The first available time is 4:45 p.m. and they go, ‘What?’ It’s all about online booking and calling. We try to accommodate everybody.”

Local golfers jostle with out-of-towners for position on tee sheets and tourism dollars are filtering into the city this spring ahead of the summer boom.

Ted Anderson of Abbotsford had time for a quick interview before ripping his first drive on Hole 1 at Rivershore, the second stop on his buddies’ road trip that also includes rounds at Big Horn and Tobiano.

“We got a good deal – smoking deal – for three rounds of golf, two nights hotel at the Best Western and you get breakfast included,” Anderson said. “It’s a chance to get out of the house, get some fresh air and maybe have a few pops on the way on the course.”

by Marty Hastings

Kamloops golf clubs healthy despite rising costs, with season off to busy start

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