With the waning days of summer on our doorstep and cooler temperatures on their way, area pros are quick to remind golfers not to put those clubs away for the season just yet. In fact, with the summer masses gone, the milder temperatures and the leaves about to turn, now is the time to hit the links.
“Fall golf in Summit County is about as good as it gets,” said Caleb Kehrwald, course general manager at the Raven Golf Club at Three Peaks.
Other area pros echoed his sentiment.
With the leaves changing, “it’s the most beautiful and best time of year to play,” Philip Tobias, with the Keystone Ranch and River courses, said.
And with Labor Day behind us, all area courses are reducing greens fees to fall or end-of-the-season rates.
Perhaps best of the bunch, Keystone is offering a late-summer greens fee four-pack good at either the River or the Ranch course for $280.00 ($65 per round). And the four-pack is transferable, Tobias said.
Kehrwald said the Raven course is currently offering its fall rate ($99 for 18 holes) and a number of mid-week discounts. It also has an end-of-season rate of $65 for 18 holes that will take effect Sept. 26.
The Breckenridge Golf Club’s fall rates start Sept. 9, with additional discounts for “twilight” (after 2 p.m.) and post-4 p.m. starts.
With recent rains, fairways and greens have reaped the benefit.
“All of us (area courses) are in pretty darn good shape,” Kehrwald said.
Tobias said, “nothing beats rain for the conditions of the golf course” and noted that September typically is one of the county’s driest months.
Charity tournament
Summit Daily staff members, along with friends and family of former staff photographer Brad Odekirk, took to the tees at Keystone’s Ranch course Friday to partake in the seventh annual Thomas Bradford Odekirk Memorial Golf Tournament.
Odekirk passed away in 2006, at the age of 41, after an accident that resulted in a fall from a third-floor balcony.
“Brad was a friend of the golf course,” Tobias said. “To lose a talent like that is never easy.”
The annual tournament raises money for the Brad Odekirk Memorial Foundation, a scholarship program operated through the Summit Foundation. Each year the foundation awards scholarships to two aspiring high school journalists. Last year’s tournament raised $4,000 for the foundation, Summit Daily marketing director Maggie Butler said.
Act fast
With fall approaching area golf courses won’t be open much longer. The Breckenridge course has a weather-dependent closing date of Oct. 6. Copper Creek lists its tentative closing date as Sept. 29. Keystone’s Ranch course also plans to close on that date. The River course will stay open as late as Oct. 26.
As for the Raven, Kehrwald said, “I’ve seen Indian summers where we’ve been able to stay open an extra two weeks. If Mother Nature is going to allow us to do it, we’ll do it.”
The Raven’s tentative closing date is Oct. 20, but Kehrwald said he hopes his will be the last area course to close. Earlier this year, it was the first to open.
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.
