A week ago it looked like spring was here to stay.  As I write this with snow on the ground and –14 overnight tonight it’s now looking like spring opening will be delayed.  Conditions are quite varied in the province, with 2-3” of snow in the north, mostly bare in central Saskatchewan and lots of new snow down in the south east.

After thinking this was one of the smoothest winter close-ups we have ever had, above 0 temperatures with melting snow and an overnight rain turning into 50-80 kph winds with snow leaves me a bit apprehensive.  Fortunately after checking greens and other surfaces, there appears to be no water or ice anywhere.

Exactly 6 months from opening, we finally had the first day where the weather stopped play.  With an early start this season and great weather into October, many courses have exceeded last year for rounds of which many set records for rounds played.

What a great Don Campbell Research Tournament it was.  With 108 participants, Mother Nature cooperating for us, our corporate sponsors and the great facility provided by Kyle and everyone at Jackfish—it was a very successful day.

The hot dry weather has continued into mid August, although it looks as if we are cooling down this upcoming week. By August 3 we had pumped as many gallons of water as we did all of last season, but at least we have had a couple light rains totalling about 14 mm, which did help out.

After an extremely hot/dry start to July I’m enjoying some cool 28° days before we head towards a predicted hot spell of 30° - 35° weather for the next 7-10 days.  If this keeps up I’m sure July will go down as one of the hottest/driest July’s ever.

With below average temperatures during the days throughout May and with frost up until May 30, it is nice to see summer temperatures starting in June.

Although over most of the province golf courses opened a bit earlier than the average starting dates, but it has been a typical Saskatchewan spring.  Some courses opened around April 9 for a couple of days then Mother Nature essentially shut things down with snow in the south and cold weather over most of the province.  As I write this it is 4°, 30-50kmh winds with intermittent light flurries after being sunny, 20° and a packed golf course 2 days ago.

After a long winter with much of our time spent indoors, it’s great to see the start of spring with warmer temperatures and plenty of sunshine.

The golf season was going strong until the third week of October, then winter appeared with snow in some areas and extremely cold temperatures for that time of year.  For the most part I hear that the majority of courses had or were in the process of putting their golf courses to bed for the winter.  Thankfully for courses that hadn’t finished, the weather was better for about 10 days at the end of October and the first week of November to get things done, and then Mother Nature shut most of the province down for a few days.