Golf courses opening early amidst unseasonably warm weather

Golf courses open early

Golf courses open early

It’s February and some golf courses in the metro are open for business, with a golf club in Ramsey opening a record-setting four days ago.

Rum River Hills Golf Club joins a number of courses in the metro to open in what’s typically one of the coldest months of the year.

Golfers started teeing up on Feb. 1, which is the earliest opening date in a decade, according to assistant golf professional Haley Tollette.

Tollette’s already gotten a couple of rounds in herself and says Rum River Hills has been completely booked up all weekend, which is about 150 golfers a day.

Even with the little snow in the metro, any melting affects the grass, so golfers are only allowed to walk the course for the time being to keep it from getting muddied.

But Tollette says otherwise, maintenance has had no trouble keeping the grounds ready for play.

“So in the morning, there’s a lot of frost, we have to go out. I have my maintenance crew go out and make sure that everything is up to date and good before we send any golfers out and we’re doing walking only right now, unfortunately, just because it is super wet down by our river with all the snow melting. But you get to golf in February,” said Tollette.

Rum River Hills will be open through Wednesday and Tollette’s already betting for another opening day in March.