Highwood Golf Course has officially reopened today (May 3) after originally opening last Thursday (April 25) but had to close their doors after the crazy snow and rain hit the area.

While they had to shut the course down for a bit, the weather actually helps the course in keeping the course green, Dan Warwaruk the head golf professional explained.

"In the long run it's a good thing for the course, because we had such a dry winter. In early January we had no snow, period. Then we had a record snowfall in March, so it just got backlogged all the moisture. So, it's good for the golf course," Warwaruk said. 

"In the long run it's a good thing, just skip two or three days now but to have good playing conditions in May, June, July, August, etc. It's a deal we will take every day."

"Because the ground is not frozen any more it just soaks in."

With a potential drought hitting the Foothills area this year, Highwood Golf Course is going to take any wet weather as they prepare of the possible drought.

"Who knows what is going to happen with water restrictions, so to have natural water coming from the sky, we just don't know what the future is going to hold as far as people not being able to water their lawn, and all that kind of stuff. The more help we get from mother nature the better," he said.

"Basically, every golf course is going to have to dial it back and unfortunately the expectations of golfers is going to have to change, it just will. What you see on TV is just not the norm under the drought conditions. You are just not able to put the water on the property as extensively as you want to and we get it because farmers, other lines of work and industries need the water too. So, what will have to happen is we have to triage the course essentially and just take care of the essential areas. The non-essential would just get secondary water, if any if is available. So, it will be a little bit more brown compared to a normal year, it's something that golfers will just have to accept. If they were to tour around and play other golf courses, they will find out we aren't the exception, every golf course will have to do it."

The Highwood Golf Course held its 65th anniversary last year and saw a climb in their membership numbers, that trend has continued with 60 new members joining this year. Golf has seen an upswing in numbers ever since the pandemic hit with people having extra time on their hands, wanting to get outside, and having people who may have dropped golf as a pastime rejoin the fun in playing the sport.

"The pandemic obviously helped the golf industry as a whole just with new golfers coming in, people returning to golf because golf was one of those activities that you could do. People who may have given up golf in their younger days have now said I can't do anything else, so I better start golf again," Warwaruk said.

"I'm happy to report, since 2022 when the pandemic was quote-unquote over, we've maintained and actually increased those business levels. Those people have stuck around which is very exciting. Generally, as a rule, the golf industry is in a very positive state right now, which is great for us. We were one of the few industries that benefited from the pandemic. It's really changed how everything is done here. I have been here since 2010 and the business levels and the revenue numbers that we are spinning are the highest I have seen. You know something bad that happened in the world has netted out to be extreme positive for the golf industry and specifically us."