It’s time to tee off on 2024, as the City of Calgary is opening up two of its courses for what’s looking like a beautiful weekend.

Golfers can book online starting April 10, at noon through the City of Calgary booking portal. Tee times will start on April 12, at McCall Lake and Maple Ridge Golf Courses. 

“The team has been working hard over the last couple of days preparing the clubhouses, pulling the tarps off the greens and getting ready to go,” said John Faber, Lead Golf Course Operations with the City of Calgary. 

“Both golf courses look really good with an initial look.”

Shaganappi Point Golf Course is set to open early next week followed by Confederation on April 19 and Lakeview on April 26.  

The courses will be on maintenance rates, which offers a slight price decrease, and tee time booking has been moved to 9 a.m., said Faber.

The City had significant success over the winter with a couple of planned spot openings for both the Maple Ridge and Shaganappi courses.

New loyalty product for 2024 golfers

New to the 2024 golf season is the Mi7 Golf Loyalty product. This allows golfers to play unlimited rounds of golf at reduced rates on all seven of the courses in the city. Mi7 is ideal for golfers who play more than 20 rounds per year, said Faber. 

“It’s going to give our customers the opportunity to really choose how much they want to save on a green fee,” said Faber. 

“It’s really geared to those people that are gonna play 20 plus rounds and give them the biggest opportunity to save some dollars.”

Mi7 is available for purchase at $230 until May 15 or while supplies last. This product includes discounts of up to 40 per cent off regular green fees and 15 per cent off clubhouse concessions. 

Faber said that courses are prepared for the possibility of water restrictions, and it will not affect golfers’ experiences on the course. 

“Is it going to decrease the overall golf golfer experience? No,” said Faber. 

“They’re probably going to see some brown grass and things won’t be as green as they normally would be. The greens themselves are valued assets so we will be watering them as required.”

The courses use soil moisture meters that indicate how much water should be applied. Restrictions would go in different phases such as irrigation of the rough, and then reduction of irrigation on fairways and then to the tees.

“We just want all the golfers to get out here and have a lot of fun,” said Faber.

“We’re expecting golfers to flood the online booking system.”