Some of the most avid golfers in the province will be descending into the Valley in just over two months.
The Alberta Golf Association (AGA) has scheduled their annual Men’s Mid Handicap Championship, for golfers between a 6 and 25 handicap, on August 7 and 8. The venue is Drumheller’s Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club.
“Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club has been chosen by the Alberta Golf Association to host one of its provincial championships,” said Tom Zariski. “We’ve secured the championship here to see how things go.”
The tournament is one of 14 held by the AGA. This will be the first time Drumheller had been chosen as host. Nearly 100 golfers are expected to participate.
It is hoped the tournament will produce a considerable economic spin-off for the Valley.
“It obviously helps the economics of Drumheller. It’s interesting to note that golf tourists spend more per capita than most other tourists,” said Zariski. “We will have people, between now and the tournament, coming to Drumheller to play on our golf course, which brings more people here.”
The Dinosaur Trail course is one of the most unique in Alberta. To ease new golfers into the badlands, the order of the holes has been changed. Golfers will do five holes on the riverside front nine, then head to the back nine in the badlands, then finish off with four holes on the front nine.
“Our back nine is quite unique with the badlands. It’s kind of a Jekyll and Hyde, course. The front nine is nice park setting and then you get up to the back nine and there are no trees and different terrain. It really creates a challenge for golfers,” said Scott Westman, general manager of the Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club. “Most people, even if their skill level isn’t the greatest, enjoy the challenge of the back nine, and the beauty and uniqueness of it.”
If all goes well, more tournaments may choose Drumheller in the future.
“It’s kind of a foot in the door. There are people from Alberta Golf who say ‘we will never have a tournament in Drumheller, that course is just too weird’. I’m trying to prove them wrong,” said Zariski. “We could conceivably get on the rotation for Alberta Golf, maybe even all of Canada, and have bigger, better, more important, and more attended tournaments in the future.”
