Not only have they managed to weather the storm that was the late start and unusual pandemic-affected season last summer, they’re actually expanding their offerings to give regular patrons of their 18-hole par-three layout more options to play.
In addition to their regular green fees, punch cards and range buckets, the course will now offer full nine-hole and 18-hole memberships as well as driving range memberships -- meaning you can now golf Deer Ridge without having to worry about how many rounds you have left on your card before you run out.
“That’s something we felt would be good to introduce because lots of people couldn’t get on other courses where they played regularly and there were people who played here regularly enough that having a membership made sense,” said Denise Corrin with Deer Ridge, adding that most courses in Saskatoon have gone to a similar system.
“Your average person that only plays once or twice a week will still just buy their punch card, but the person who plays four or five times a week will buy a membership. You end up with your weekend golfers and your retired golf-every-day golfers so it works out well.”
If it means more friendly faces on the course on a regular basis, all the better -- and especially with how things are shaping up for the new campaign.
The driving range opened on Apr. 2 and was a popular stop until the spring snowstorm hit and shut things down for 10 days. Things have picked up since, with workers in action uncovering the final greens on April 23 and the course officially opening for the season during the week of April 26.
Restrictions will still be in place, of course. Masks must be worn in the clubhouse, social distancing is in place, sanitizing is a regular occurrence, all the regular precautions that were in place last year are back again this time around.
That includes staggered tee times, only now they’re down to around eight minutes each. That’s all fine and well, though, if it means players can at least play.
“Even when we started late last year, people were happy to be outdoors, happy to be able to see their friends and just be happy to do something with their families,” Corrin said. “It was one of the few things we were allowed, people were excited to be doing something, and we’re hoping they’ll feel the same this year after a long winter.”
Now, the family-owned course is just looking forward to another good season, regardless of how things shake out on the pandemic front.
“We’ve been a family owned and family-run business every since we’ve opened and we’ve dealt with whatever we’ve had to every year,” Corrin said. “We’ve dealt with floods, we’ve dealt with COVID, drought, we deal with whatever Mother Nature dishes out and that’s all you can do.”
For more information on the Deer Ridge Golf Course, including prices for green fees, punch cards and everything else involving the course, you can visit their website at www.deerridgemj.ca. For the latest information, check out their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/deerridgemj.ca and to book a tee time or for anything else you’d like to know, give them a shout at (306) 693-4653.
