Spruce Creek Golf Course set to open Aug. 18th

By Ken Johnston
Editor

It has been three years in the making and on August 18th the sound of people yelling “Fore” will echo across Morson’s Spruce Creek Golf Course.
It started with a dream by Ken and Laurie Pentney who live just south of Morson. Running a tourist camp and commercial fishing operation for years they decided that they wanted to help develop the area’s economy in a slightly different way but complimentary to the tourist industry.
In 2004 they hired an architect to design a nine hole golf course and now it is nearly ready for the public to play on.
After two years of major construction the course was seeded late last summer and this summer was nurtured to perfection. Course Super Intendant Greg Ross, who used to work at Kitchen Creek Golf Course in Fort Frances, said it takes a few years for greens to establish and mature so they wanted to be sure they were up to a certain level of strength before letting people play on it. “There are still a few tender areas, but that is common for a new course,” said Ross.
While it is opening to the public on the 18th, the Pentney family, while entertaining relatives at the end of June, were the first ones to play the entire course. In fact Laurie was the first one to tee off. “We loved it but I won’t divulge my score for that day,” said Pentney. Par for the course is 36 and total yardage for the nine holes is 3,450 yds. She did say that some of the holes surprised her including #8 which she said was trickier than she expected. “You see it (the course) developing and I completely ignored number eight. Boy was I surprised at how hard it was for me.”
Every hole features three tee boxes for all levels of play. Unlike courses in the west, this course is not very flat. It has been beautifully carved out of the land and Canadian Shield to pose as a fun but challenging golfing experience.
With the season almost at an end Spruce Creek will not be selling memberships for this year but does have 10-30 round passes available. Otherwise people can book tee times starting at 7 a.m. until dark beginning August 18th by calling 488-9706.
Green fees have been set at $18 for 9 and $26 for 18 holes. They have also purchased a fleet of brand new golf carts that can be rented.
Reflecting on the journey to get to this point Laurie said, “It was 500 times more work than I thought it would be but it is awe inspiring to see what came out of a piece of bush.”
August 18th will see the course open and next year they are planning to have a grand opening.
While the course does not have a licensed club house, they plan to get special occasion permits for tournaments.
“We will see how things go with the course. Then we will concentrate on the clubhouse,” said Laurie.
She noted that a lot of people have questioned the credibility of the course. “Some people figure it is just going to be a field. We would like to invite everyone to come out and see this is a really great course!”