The Athabasca Golf and Country Club is gearing up for its 50th anniversary.
On July 24, the club will host a celebratory tournament, with supper to follow.
According board member Trevor Martin, the fee to enter the tournament is $50 per person, which includes a cart rental and supper.
Tee time is 11 a.m.
“It is a shotgun start, and that is Texas scramble,” he said. “It is best ball; you can join as an individual or as a team.”
Martin said the course is offering $50 golf all year Monday through Thursday to commemorate the anniversary (18 holes, including cart rental); the regular cost for Monday–Thursday golf is $65.
Martin said he has golfed at the Athabasca course since the late ‘70s.
“It has come a long way,” he said. “There was a nice expansion a few years ago, and it is now 18 holes.”
The course was first built in 1960 and had three holes to start.
“The fairways are being cleared of brush, and breaking and root picking have been done,” a newspaper article from that year states. “All that remains is work to the broken land by discing and floating. They plan to sow the land to grass.”
The cost of creating the three holes was low.
“The total cost to date for work has been under $300, thanks to the many generous contributions of machinery and labour,” the paper states.
Many labourers were offered shares of the club for their volunteer efforts.
“Membership fees have been set at $5 per year, entitling a holder to all club facilities,” the paper read. However, two years later, the membership fee had jumped to $20.
The course was expanded to nine holes in 1962.
“President Glenn Osment this week was in a cheerful mood as he reviewed the progress made by the golf club on the course this summer,” another paper article states. “The fairway seeding has been completed, and Mr. Osment predicted that some time in August the course would be playable. Nine holes are expected to be completed by that time.”
In 1981, the club underwent major changes, including the improvement of underground watering systems, along with the installment of grass greens in place of the old sand ones.
“The changes were to make the course more challenging,” an article stated.
“Hole one: presently the hole is straight away with green on the crown of a hill, leaving the golfer not much of a chance of a good, rewarding shot,” the article states. “Proposal: to move the green to the left of the present green. There is an ideal setting for an elevated green surrounded by large pine trees. The green will be moved back, gaining 25 yards on this hole. The trees at the corner to the left side of the fairway will have to be cut back.”
When the course expanded to 18 holes in 1995, Aaron Jones, then 77, who was the oldest member of the club, was given the honour of being the first to play the new nine holes.
The course has since been rated the fourth-hardest golf course in Canada, and golfers have encountered foxes, moose, deer and the odd bear while playing it.
With files from the Athabasca Archives.
