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Area Public Golf Courses Getting Ready to Start the 2012 Season; 3 Opening this Weekend, 1 Already Open

By Paul T. Choate

March 26, 2012. Spring is here, the weather is nice and it is golf time in the High Country! Several area golf courses will be opening soon for the 2012 season.

“They’ll be coming out like the swallows of Capistrano,” said Tom McAuliffe, golf director of the Sugar Mountain Golf Club. “We’ll be able to open with good turf development . . . I think this will be the best year in the 34-year history of the Sugar Mountain Golf Club.”

The Sugar Mountain Golf Club opens their course Saturday, March 31. McAuliffe said this is 7 to 10 days earlier than in the last two years.

For rates and additional information about the Sugar Mountain Golf Club, visit seesugar.com/tourism/golf.

The Boone Golf Club will open Friday, March 30, according to Art Adams. Adams said this was about the time the club usually opens, with opening dates of April 1 and April 9 the past two years.

Adams said groundskeepers have been working on the course for the past two months and he expects everything to be ready Friday.

“There’s been a lot of excitement,” said Adams. “It’s going to be a good year.”

For rates and additional information about the Boone Golf Club, visit boonegolfclub.com.

The Mountain Aire Golf Club in West Jefferson is already open. According to Philip Shepherd, the club opened on Feb. 27. He described the early opening date as “unusual” and attributed it to the unseasonably warm weather.

“It’s been great,” said Shepherd. “We’ve had a lot of our members sign up already.”

For rates and additional information about the Mountain Aire Golf Club, visit mountainaire.com.

The 9-hole par 3 Willow Creek Golf Course, located at the Willow Valley Resort in Vilas, opens Sunday, April 1. Golfers are not required to schedule a tee time at the course and are encouraged to “just come out and play!”

For rates and additional information about the Willow Creek Golf Course, visit willowvalley-resort.com.