It’s been a rough year for golfers in Greater Victoria when it comes to booking tee times.
With the recent streak of warm weather, and our lifestyles greatly altered by COVID-19, many are taking to the links to pass the time.
The problem, however, is that there are only so many tee times to go around.
“You have to get up at midnight and even then the tee times are already booked up by 12:02 – 12:03,” said one member of Highland Pacific Golf Course.
The popular track located in the hills of View Royal has been one of the toughest to get on this year.
“If you want to play at 7-7:30 in the morning you can get a tee time or later in the afternoon, but if you want a quality one ifs tougher to get a time,” said another member.
According to General Manager, Jeff Palmer, they sell around 45,000 rounds on average each year, but this year, they’re on pace to sell over 60,000.
“It’s been absolutely full, right now we’re selling out 12 days out, it’s really hard to get a tee time outside of that 10-day window,” Palmer told CHEK News.
Palmer says they’ve seen countless amounts of new golfers filling up their driving range and personal lesson sessions.
“We’re seeing so many new golfers and that’s where we’ve seen a lot of growth, our driving range revenue has doubled,” he noted.
Like Highland Pacific, Saanich’s Cedar Hill Golf Course is also seeing record-type numbers with a major wave of first-time golfers coming through.
“Not only is golf a COVID-19 friendly sport, but we’re also seeing an increased number of community members becoming interested in learning golf for the first time,” said course manager Heather Belecky.
Both Belecky and Palmer say online booking has been the most commonly used method to book a tee time, but both courses are welcoming calls as well
Ben Nesbit
