bill mulholland

English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson might not have been very long off the tee or deadly on a putting green. But if he were here today, he might be writing about the love that abounds for the sport that involves chasing a little (and usually white) ball.

With spring bringing more nice days to Polk County, interest in hitting the links is starting to increase.

And, when the Masters returns April 7-10 in Augusta, Georgia, golf fever tends to rise even higher.

A couple of local courses already are noticing an upturn in players.

“When we had that first nice day a week or so ago, we were packed most of the day,” said Tim Tarpley, owner of Cross Creek Golf Course.

“Winter play was a little slow,” said Bill Mulholland, pro shop manager at Dallas Golf Club, “but the last two weeks, with the weather drying out, we’ve been basically full every day.”

And Oak Knoll Golf Course, which closed in the winter, was hoping to re-open for public play very soon, “probably this week if it dries out,” co-owner Scott Hicks said.

Many courses in Oregon and elsewhere have experienced a climb in play during the past two years, when the pandemic limited opportunities for sports, exercise and more. Golf was one activity that still could be played, either solo or with friends, as it could be done while social distancing.

Assuming that COVID-19 doesn’t surge again, area courses will see this spring and summer if the momentum in their business continues.

The pandemic “increased our play probably 20 percent,” Mulholland said.

“We’ve changed every way we run the business,” Tarpley said, adding that Cross Creek had to add to its fleet of golf carts and schedule extra workers.

“The number of rounds have gone way, way up,” Tarpley said. “We had a lot of new customers.”

The new clientele even translated into more golf cart accidents, he noted.

“We used to get one every five years. Now we’re getting two or three a year,” he said.

Golfers were more likely to brave the elements during the pandemic, Mulholland said.

“When the weather’s nice and then it isn’t so nice, people often say, ‘We can’t golf in that,’” he said. “But in Oregon, if you don’t golf in the rain, you don’t golf.”

Dallas Golf Club’s nine-hole, par-31 course, which opened in 1990, opens for play at 7:30 a.m. The last tee time is 5 p.m. The layout measures about 1,815 yards, and the facility has pitching and putting greens and a driving range, although the range is “in rough shape,” Mulholland said, because freezing temperatures brought down “most of the nets.” The owner, Wilson Golf Enterprises, is debating whether to replace the nets or use that land for RV parking, he added.

Cross Creek has 18 holes that can stretch to 6,918 yards, with a par of 72. Tim and Kathee Tarpley bought the property in 1996, then built the course and opened nine holes in May 1998. The driving range and new clubhouse came in 2003. The back nine opened in 2005.

The course has rolling hills, mostly wide fairways, some sand and Cross Creek, which golfers must cross on Nos. 1, 8, 10, 11 and 18 (twice on the par-5 finishing hole).

“We get golfers from other courses” during inclement months, Tim Tarpley said, “because we have a lot of good drainage.”

Cross Creek also has a practice putting green and clubhouse with limited menu, including sandwiches and hot dogs.

Cross Creek opens at 6:30 a.m.

Scott Hicks and co-owner/wife Karla are in their fifth year at Oak Knoll. The course has been around for nearly 100 years, and Scott Hicks said the big change for the start of this season is that the front nine will “go back to the original, 1926 nine holes.”

That includes the interesting, 115-yard fifth hole, which has “probably the smallest green in the state,” he said, a surface that is about 15 feet wide and 20 feet long.

The fifth hasn’t played this way since the late 1980s, he said.

Once the grounds dry out further, the back nine will open, giving Oak Knoll golfers 18 holes at about 5,876 yards from the white tees, at a par-72.

The course will be open from 7 a.m. till dark.

Oak Knoll has a driving range and putting green, and the food service for golfers will feature a unique drive-through concessions through wide, garage doors on each side of the pro shop. The doors will allow players to pull in and get something to eat or drink between nines. As of last week, Oak Knoll was waiting to get the doors that will open the pro shop to the patio, Karla Hicks said.

The on-site restaurant is being used only for events, including weddings and parties. The state of work and employment is a factor in that, the Hicks said. “It’s really hard to get good help,” Scott Hicks said.

Karla Hicks said the goal for golfers at Oak Knoll is that they have a good time and have the time to learn and enjoy the game.

“We want it to be a place where a new player can come out and have fun,” she said. “We’re a little different than a lot of courses these days. We tell players to not feel stressed and to take their time, let others play through and don’t feel in a hurry. We want you to actually learn to play. It’s an experience, not just a golf game.”

Oak Knoll also has become known for a different type of golf – disc golf. The disc golf course there gets year-round play and tournament action during the more peak months.

“Disc golfers are here rain or shine,” Karla Hicks said.

Disc golf can be played on the golf course when it is closed to golf, and “in summer the play changes to outside of the course so the two aren’t overlapping,” she said.