With four of the nine South Shore golf clubs (as designated by Golf NS) now open this year’s season is well and truly underway with many courses anticipating the best year in recent memory.
Most clubs are reporting they wintered well, with those yet to open planning to open in the coming weeks.
Sherwood Golf & Country Club General Manager Steve Dowling says his course which primarily markets itself as a stay and play experience wintered surprisingly well, “With all the snow at the end of the season we were really impressed with how the club held up and aside from a few downed trees,” Dowling said.
Sherwood is planning to open on April 29.
River Hills Golf & Country Club was the first South Shore club to open, back on April 2.
West Pubnico Golf & Country Club followed a few weeks later opening on April 15.
The latest openings include Osprey Ridge in Bridgewater and Yarmouth Links which both opened today.
Osprey co-owner Bill Samson has high hopes for the season, “We’ve been seeing lots of anticipation for a while now, every time we post on social media there is always a flurry of people saying they can’t wait to get out.”
He also believes many people started golfing for the first time over the past two years of the pandemic as golf was one of the few sporting activities permitted and he’s hopeful there will be plenty of new faces visiting Osprey this year.
The four other South Shore clubs yet to open, have plans to do so in the near future. Bluenose Golfclub in Lunenburg intends to open on April 22, Whitepoint on April 25, and Chester Golf Club on April 28.
Bluenose is one of many clubs seeing the surge in interest. They usually are able to accept new members without much concern but this year due to high demand they reached out to last year’s members for renewals, as this year they are seeing so many applications they will not be able to accept everyone.
In response, the club is in the process of ratifying policies for a membership waitlist, something they have previously never had.
Aspotogan Ridge Golf Course is the only South Shore club yet to commit to an opening date, though representatives from the club say they are targeting an early May opening.
