Northern Utah golfers: 'What winter?'

OGDEN, Utah -- Winter golfing in northern Utah is not for the faint of heart.

Steven Rawlings recalls one time golfing with his son in the dead of winter.

"My son and I went out on a Jan. 1 morning one year, and it was probably 2-below," the 68-year-old said. "It was so cold, after we hit the first ball we just looked at each other and said, 'Let's not do this.' "

But they at least finished the hole, right?

"Oh, no," Rawlings said. "We just left the ball. It was that cold."

The two men learned an important lesson that day.

"You know it's too cold to golf when you can't get the tee in the ground," Rawlings said.

An avid golfer, the retired Riverdale man says he tries to play three or four times a week during the warmer months. And the rest of the time?

"I try to play during the winter, if the courses are open," he said. "And you can usually find one open."

Rawlings says one advantage of golfing in the winter is that the water hazards are usually frozen solid. What's more, a tee shot will bounce and roll much farther across the cold, hard ground.

But there's a trade-off, because you can't get as much power behind the ball.

"You have to put on more clothes, so it hampers your swing a little bit," he said.

None of this, of course, has been a problem this year. Golf professionals and managers at local courses say they've never seen a winter quite like that of 2014-'15. Relatively snow-free valley floors -- combined with record-warm temperatures -- made for a winter golf experience unlike any other north of, say, St. George.

Indeed, this must be what it's like to be a golfer in Arizona.

"No question," said Todd Brenkman, a PGA professional and the golf division manager for Ogden City. "This has been the warmest and driest winter, as a whole, on record."

Brenkman said the two courses he oversees -- El Monte Golf Course and Mount Ogden Golf Course -- were open right up until Christmas Eve, closed down for a time after the big Christmas Day snowstorm, and then opened again on Jan. 19. Save for a few days here and there, one or both courses have pretty much been open ever since.

"In all the years I've been doing this, the is the longest golf season I've ever seen," Brenkman said. "I've worked in the golf business for 25 years, and this was really something -- to have that many decent, playable days during December, January and February."

It was the unseasonably warm weather that floored Brenkman.

"I've been open many times in January, but that was golfing in seasonal, cold temperatures," he said. "But this year, to have customers playing in shirt sleeves in February? I couldn't get over it."

Brenkman's fellow golf pros around northern Utah were equally pleasantly surprised by the winter's mild weather. Mike Garrison, head golf professional at Glen Eagle Golf Course, in Syracuse, says his course was open almost the entire winter.

"I might be able to count on both hands how many days we were closed this winter," Garrison said, "while in a typical year, we'll be closed anywhere from 25 to 40 days."

Because his golf course is on the west side of the valley, Garrison says he's open more than some of the other courses.

"We have a longer season than most," he said. "Typically, when some of the east-bench courses are covered in snow, we're open."

The same is true at Swan Lakes Golf Course, in Layton. Chad Romney, the general manager there, says courses closer to the mountains may not see this many playable days, but Swan Lakes is used to being relatively snow-free.

"Historically speaking, we've definitely been open more this winter, but it's not really an anomaly for us," Romney said. "The real advantage has been that it was so warm."

Romney said Swan Lakes is closed maybe 60 days in a typical winter. This year? About 21 days.

"There's lots of regulars who will tell you that they've played golf here every month of the year, for years," he said. "But they were playing in 25-degree weather. It's been unique this year because it's been so warm."

Ernie Schneiter, golf pro and owner of both Schneiter's Riverside Golf Course, in Riverdale, and Schneiter's Bluff Golf Course, in West Point, says he's never seen anything like this winter's temperatures -- and he turned pro way back in 1950.

"We probably had twice as much golf played this February as most Februarys," he said. "And it was because of the temperatures, not just because of the lack of snow on the ground."

But the best part, Schneiter says, is his courses are in great shape. The winter was so mild that he saw no winter kill in any of the grasses.

Eric Bumstead, head golf pro at Eagle Lake Golf Course, in Roy, said it's been good to have the extra revenue from golfers this winter, but that there are some negatives to increased use over the winter. He said his driving range, in particular, is looking "pretty beaten."

"And since we've had 20 times more people on the greens than we usually do in the winter, they don't look quite as good," Bumstead said.

However, Bumstead points out that the course is already quickly bouncing back as the weather warms this spring.

Schneiter says grass is much hardier than you'd think.

"Have you ever tried to get grass out of your flower beds," he asked. "Grass is a noxious weed."

Over at Swan Lakes, Romney says his course is in good shape, thanks to a mild winter that's allowed groundskeepers to keep up on winter maintenance.

"We've been able to work through the winter and do the stuff we're ordinarily frantically doing in March and April once the snow comes off," he said.

While golf courses saw more action over the winter, Bumstead predicts that fact may actually work to lessen the typical spring rush of golfers.

"Usually, there's a big blitz at the end of March and early April when we have the first warm days and golfers can finally get out on the course," he said. "But with the warm winter, it spread out the opening of golf season. Winter didn't cause quite as much cabin fever."

Jeff Cliften, the golf pro at Ben Lomond Golf Course, in Harrisville, said bad weather isn't necessarily bad for business.

"Sometimes you need a little bad weather to give folks a sense of urgency," he said. "Because that gets them out to the course when the weather finally turns good."

Winters seem to be getting milder here in northern Utah, according to Brad Stone, golf pro at Davis Park Golf Course, in Kaysville.

"That seems to be a trend," he said. "Our winters just haven't been as tough, and the last five years we seem to be open more in the off-season."

Stone says, even with the milder winters, there's still a much smaller window for that season's golfing here.

"You can't really get on the course until 9:30 or 10 in the morning -- it's too cold before then," he said. "And then, because the days are shorter, we shut the tee off around 2:30 or 3 p.m."

So, who golfs in the typical winter? Only the hardcore, according to Stone. But this winter, apparently even some of the occasional, fair-weather golfers were enticed to play.

"Most guys who play here in the winter are avid golfers," he said. "If a guy is playing in early January, at 40 degrees, he pretty much likes golf."

The only real downside to the winter of 2014-'15, from a golfing perspective, was the lack of precipitation.

"As long as we have water in the summer, I'd love to have weather like this every winter," Bumstead said.

Adds Romney: "Truthfully? The only reason I'm not jumping up and down over this winter is because of the water situation."

Brenkman worries about drought, too.

"Do we get into water restrictions? Because golfers want that golf course to be green," Brenkman said. "If you have to let the fairways go dry, it can have an effect on your business."

Schneiter worries about water, but he says courses will simply need to adjust.

"What may happen this year is we're not able to water the fringes of our course," Schneiter said. "But as long as golfers hit the ball straight, they'll be OK."

And if the golf professionals had their way and could order the weather? Romney offers his ideal recipe for weather: "I want it to rain every day from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., and then be 60 degrees during the daytime."

Sometimes, the golf courses actually get what they want -- sort of.

"Like this week," explained Cliften. "It was great on the weekend, then Monday and Tuesday the weather was bad. If I could do that all year long, I'd be happy."

Brenkman acknowledges that when a Utah winter is good for golf it's probably not so good for the ski industry, but he thinks both benefited this year.

"I actually met a lot of people at El Monte this winter who came to town to ski -- to escape the brutal winter back East -- and then also got the bonus of sneaking in some golf on the trip that they didn't expect," he said. "They were still coming and getting their skiing in up to Snowbasin or Powder Mountain, but they were deciding to maybe cut their day a little short on the slopes and play some golf, too. So that was a nice thing."

This article was written by Mark Saal from Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.