Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - With the weather beginning to warm up and dry out Western New York, golfers can rejoice, as they look to hit up their local courses for the first time this spring.
For golfers in the City of Buffalo, they're getting some great news this week with two golf courses managed by the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy opening up ahead of schedule. Starting Wednesday, Cazenovia Park and Delaware Park will be open for golfers for the entire season.
"The golf course is currently being cut by our staff, and we're so excited to get started early," said Chris Carroll, Director of Golf Operations for Buffalo Olmsted Parks. "We're about two weeks ahead of schedule from when we normally open. We've had a few soft opening days in February and in March, but this is going to be our full go. We'll be open seven days a week, starting Wednesday from 8 [a.m.] to 7 p.m."
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Carroll and the folks with Buffalo Olmsted Parks couldn't be more excited for the weather to turn in their favor to allow for the courses to open a bit early for the upcoming golf season ahead in Western New York.
"We couldn't do it, obviously, without the cooperation of Mother Nature. But the golf courses are in great shape," Carroll said. "I feel like we're actually in May or June already, the staff has done a great job getting to this point. Now we're just in a waiting game until Wednesday."
In past years, the weather didn't matter much when it came to opening up city-operated golf courses in Buffalo. Olmsted Parks Conservancy always had set days to open the courses towards the end of April. However, Carroll says it was the change over of staff that allowed them to make these decisions based on the weather moving forward.
"The forecast for this week is 50s, 60s, and I think even on Friday it's going to be 70 degrees. So for us, everything is weather-based," he said. "We've been lucky to have the weather on our side, and, like I said, the courses are in great shape. The greens are in fabulous condition right now at both of our locations, and the tee boxes and the fairways, it's almost like we're in like the middle of summer already. The staff is doing just an amazing job to get us ready for Wednesday."
The only course that will not open come Wednesday is the nine-hole course at South Park. Carroll says the historic wet nature of the park there will push the course's opening back to April 28. However, once the courses at Cazenovia and Delaware Parks are up-and-running, the staff will get over there to get the course ready for opening day.
What else may golfers need to know before making their first tee shot of the spring at their local course?
"The only real big change I would say for us is at Delaware Golf Course, we actually re-configured the 18-hole golf course so now after nine holes of golf, you can stop into Resurgence [Brewing]," Carroll said. "You can grab a beer if you'd like or a pop. If you run out of golf balls, which hopefully you don't, you can re-stock up on golf balls. So we kind of re-configured the whole golf course. I think it flows a lot better, and it gives a chance for the golfers to stop and grab a beer, sandwich or anything they'd like after nine holes of golf."
For anyone looking to get their chance at hitting the course early this season, Carroll says you can give any of the locations a call and book your desired tee time.
"Right now, we're not taking tee times online, our system's not ready for that yet. Hopefully that'll be up in a week, but give us a call," Carroll noted. "We can book tee times seven days in advance at our two locations, and obviously South Park once it opens. We're going to have an opening day, May 6 at Resurgence's Brewery [like] we had last year out at Delaware. It's only at the Delaware location. We're going to have a day where they're basically given free beers away, and having contests on the golf course. That's May 6 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., so go ahead and you can actually reserve your tee time now for that, if you'd like. We're just excited to get going here."