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Hole No. 1 at the Wheat City Golf Course is shown in June 2012.
Golfers will finally be able to play nine holes at Brandon’s Wheat City Golf Course, which was crippled by extensive flooding last year. The city hopes to open the full 18-hole course by fall.
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Hole No. 1 at the Wheat City Golf Course from September 2011. (FILE PHOTO)
The modified course will open Saturday. Golfers will play holes 1, 10, a shortened 12, and then 13 through 18.
Work began last fall to repair the course, said Bryce Wilson, the city’s recreation development manager, with crews reshaping the fairways and roughs, cleaning up the course and moving a significant amount of earth.
"We were excited to be able to open six holes in late March of this year, but then cold and rainy weather in late spring made it extremely challenging to get the course completely up and running at this point," Wilson said.
Several of the fairways that were most vulnerable to high water have been reshaped and should now be drier, even if they aren’t flooded.
"While the dike is there for holding back the water, the fairways were lower than some areas and the water would just come up through the ground and make some holes unplayable," said course chargehand Tim Benstead. "We’ve corrected those."
Benstead added that two full crews will continue working at the course over the summer, and the city is committed to have all 18 holes in suitable playing shape by mid-September.
"We’re fired up to get everybody who supported us before the high water event back on the course. It will be good to be back on the same playing field as the rest of the area’s golf courses," he said.
The Wheat City Golf Course is open through the golfing season seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to dusk.
» Brandon Sun
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition July 10, 2012
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