Many golf courses ready to open this week

With high temperatures in the 50s and 60s forecast the next three days, area golf courses fortunate enough to be open are expecting nothing short of a stampede.

“We opened Sunday and did over 100 rounds, and this Friday is going to be absolute mayhem,” Kyle Mullin, head professional at Frog Hollow Golf Club in Middletown, said Tuesday.

Frog Hollow, Back Creek Golf Club in Middletown and Odessa National Golf Club in Townsend were the only courses contacted in New Castle County that were already open Tuesday afternoon. Almost all of the courses in Delaware’s two lower counties, including Garrisons Lake Golf Club in Smyrna, are open.

Odessa National Director of Golf Dale Loeslein said his course hosted about 70 rounds last Sunday and already has 60 booked for Thursday and 95 signed up for Friday, when temperatures could soar into the mid-60s.

“You don’t expect weather this nice in February, that’s for sure,” Loeslein said. “We’re just hoping to take advantage of it.”

Several other courses are making plans to open as soon as possible. General manager Steve Brady said Rock Manor Golf Club in Wilmington hopes to have nine holes open sometime today and definitely plans to have the full 18 open on Friday.

Ed Oliver Golf Club in Wilmington plans to be fully open by Saturday, with the possibility of some walking-only rounds Thursday and Friday. Delcastle Golf Club general manager Justin Smith said his course was about 70 percent snow-covered Tuesday, but he still hopes to open Friday or Saturday.

Chisel Creek Golf Club in Landenberg, Pa., hopes to open Saturday, in time for a tournament that already has 40 golfers signed up. In Maryland, Chesapeake Bay Golf Club Director of Golf Andy Barbin said the shady, tree-lined North East Course will not be open this weekend, but he hopes to have the more open Rising Sun Course open by Saturday.

White Clay Creek Country Club in Stanton has begun accepting tee times for Saturday and may be able to open Friday. No one could be reached in the pro shops at Deerfield Golf and Tennis Club near Newark, Inniscrone Golf Club in Avondale, Pa., The Golf Course at Glen Mills in Glen Mills, Pa., and Bittersweet Golf Club in Elkton, Md., on Tuesday afternoon, an indication that those layouts may still be closed.

The best advice for golfers looking to get out is to call around, because conditions at each course will be changing rapidly the next few days. But tee times are filling up fast everywhere for Friday, so plan ahead if possible.

Source: www.delawareonline.com