The start of the May long weekend is just days away which means camping, barbecue, a trip to the local Garden Centre and full tee sheets.

On the weather front farmers, homeowners and greens superintendents could see some much needed precipitation as rain is in the forecast for the Victoria Day long weekend.

How much rain is anybody’s guess.

“It’s a balance for sure,” said Brian Guenther who is into his 17th year as the head professional of the Steinbach Fly-In Golf Club. “Nobody wants to be closed for the day but those warm rain showers sure do help with everything growing and getting lush and healthy. We would like the rain but we would also like to be open so if we can have rain at night and sunshine and beautiful temperatures during the day, that is ideal.”

The Fly-In opened on April 2nd and Guenther says the course is looking great despite the lack of precipitation.

“Turf conditions are excellent on the greens, tee boxes and fairways. The golf course is in really good shape.”

One year ago the Fly-In suffered a disastrous start to the season.

Guenther and greens superintendent Rob Fast saw ice damage on not just a couple of greens – but all 18.

“Last spring and summer we did four different applications of overseeding,” noted Guenther. “Obviously we watered and fertilized to get those conditions back. When you have devastation like we had, the goal is to have good turf for winter so that you can have a chance at good conditions in spring again. Rob and his crew did work extremely hard all last summer and we’re seeing the rewards now with good golf conditions.”

Just like every other golf course in Manitoba, the Fly-In is dealing with COVID-19 protocols again this season.

“Right now with the numbers the way they are in the province, everyone is really concerned about that and they have put more protocols in place that we are following,” said Guenther. “Four people at a time can enjoy coming out and playing golf. It has been busy but it’s also staged very well that it’s separate from everybody else. So far so good and we hope that for all of Manitoba, the golf business and everywhere else, that the numbers come down and things can open up again.”

Golf Manitoba has sent out a reminder that under current Public Health Orders golfers may not share a golf cart unless they are from the same household or an appropriate barrier is in place such as a plastic shield between the driver and passenger.