OK, tee it up.
The danger, in all likelihood has past.
Wait. ‘Danger?’ What danger?
Golfers, course and driving range owners and operators are chomping at the bit from the first of April, every year, to get going.
And every year as April rolls around, Tim Proctor finds himself telling everyone to slow down.
Proctor is owner/operator of Turf Net in Welland. They’re the go-to guys in Ontario for courses and driving ranges that have nets. The big, giant nets on poles that keep your errant tee shots from landing in someone’s backyard or on a highway or some horse farm or practically anywhere other than the golf course or driving range where they’re supposed to land.
Besides installing the big poles and the netting Turf Net is often contracted to roll the net up for the winter and roll it back down in the spring.
That brings us to why Proctor has been telling everyone to slow down, be patient.
“Being in the netting industry for more than 20 years and watching weather patterns in Southern Ontario, we’ve had ice storms come through the last four years in row between April 12-15,” said Proctor. “We missed it this year but not by much. We only had some ice pellets this year.”
Proctor said he’s had driving ranges call him as early as March asking to have their nets put back up and he’s had driving ranges that have had as many as six poles snap under the weight of ice on the nets.
“Four years ago, we had courses from Windsor to Richmond Hill that lost pretty well all of their nets and poles to ice,” said Proctor.
“Last year we had more than $600,000 in insurance that we quoted out.”
Proctor says after long, cold winters everyone is a hurry to get open and start getting some revenue in.
“And we’re all anxious because we see nice weather. I get it,” said Proctor. “But you have to be patient.”
*****
If you were driving around Southern Ontario this spring and happened to notice greens that looked completely black and it wasn’t a tarp they were probably covered with a black sandlike material.
Chances are there was some ice on the greens and the club was using this black material to get rid of it.
“It’s a biodegradable material,” said Dean Baker the golf course superintendent at Burlington Golf and Country Club.
“Because it’s black it absorbs heat and boy does it melt ice. I’m hearing that some courses north of Highway 7 did suffer some winter damage.”
Baker echoed the frustration of golfers who want to get out in April but the weather just doesn’t seem to want to co-operate.
“It seems that more and more April is becoming a winter month.”
About Sky Line Net Installations:
Sky Line Net Installations Inc. is a 100% independently owned Canadian Company. Specializing in design, engineering, supply and installation of sports and industrial barrier netting systems since 1980, we are considered the leaders in innovative design and performance throughout Canada. Our expertise allows us to match the best pole and line support materials along with the best foundation designs to the finest netting materials for our customer’s requirements anywhere in Canada.
In 2002 we became affiliated with Coastal Netting Systems in California. Coastal is recognized for their excellence in engineering and manufacturing of the finest steel poles for the netting industry in North America. We have hundreds of successful pole and netting systems in place in all types of environments. With decades of design engineering and field experience we stand behind our products and performance with the best warranties available.
Contact:
Phone: (604) 328 – 1474
Email: info@skynets.ca
Web: https://www.skynets.ca