With phenomenal views of Saddle Mountain, lush greens and a record number of junior golfers, Nakusp’s centennial Golf Club is getting the attention and community support it deserves, according to one of its biggest boosters.
“You have to see this golf course to believe it – this is the nicest place in B.C. It’s a showcase for our community, is what it is,” said Joe Williams, a six-year convert to what author Mark Twain called “a good walk, spoiled.” Williams is also president of the course board.
“This is my sixth season golfing - I didn’t start golfing until I was over 60, and now I’m completely addicted,” he said. “We run such a tight budget - we try to keep our membership and green fees as low as we can. We’re still working down long-term debt we’ve had for years and years.”
Naturally blessed by precipitation and irrigated with water from Nakusp Creek and a water hazard complete with fountain, the 37 lush acres set on former farm lands up the hill were dotted with golfers last week. The club had a membership of 215 in 2010, a figure that represents about 13 percent of the population of Nakusp.
Williams is excited about new irrigation sprinklers to be funded by the Columbia Basin Trust, the first time the foundation will provide about $10,000 in project funding for the course, part of a package approved by area residents in a community vote just over a week ago.
“Last year we put in two sprinkler heads - now we want to put in five or six,” he said.
Getting public funding for the course has meant countering public perception about who the course is for, who really uses it and the very frugal non-profit efforts to make it accessible to golfers from all walks of life, Williams said.
“This means we can keep our dues and green fees down - if we didn’t have the grant, we’d have to borrow money to do it, and then average families couldn’t afford to golf,” he said.
The main strength of the golf course is a tremendous base of volunteer support from others who love its nine holes, from individual volunteers and businesses to the B.C. Ministry of Transport.
“Last year we gave it a real good uplift - all volunteer - we raised a lot of money to do it locally. We weren’t using the fee money - these extra things were all done through volunteers, members and non-members,” Williams said.
“The thing that I’m so proud about here is that we now have that golf course in such great shape - we have members in Calgary, we have people taking their holidays here to play golf,” he said, noting the course attracts golfers from as far away as Vancouver, Edmonton and Washington state.
“It’s one of the best golf courses for its size anywhere ... we have booked two major tournaments out of Vernon. One is going to bring 60 people,” he said.
The renaissance at the course extends past the ninth hole, William said. With new management and culinary talent, the club house restaurant has been attracting positive reviews from diners with a diverse menu that ranges from burgers to traditional fry bread and evening dinner entrees and salads, Williams said.
“We have a great restaurant. The menu is just fantastic,” he said.
The next generation of Arrow Lakes golfers has begun to pick up their clubs, he said.
“We have more juniors this year than we’ve ever had. We’ve already signed on 60 juniors for the junior program. The driving range is right next door, which is privately owned but we work together,” he said.
In a flattened economy and with travel to recreational venues more expensive because of hikes in gas prices, Nakusp Centennial has the right idea, Williams said.
“With all these other things that area getting expensive, I’m happy to say we can keep our costs low so that the whole family can get involved. That is because of all the volunteer stuff we do - that’s how Nakusp works, and years ago, that’s the way it was,” he said, citing the extensive time contribution of Alfred Chilton, the “heart and soul” of the club. Then there was one area resident’s donation of sand, and another business who gave some concrete abutments to help out in the parking lot. This year, one big project is the flower gardens, Williams said.
“That’s how it happens, eh?” he said. “It doesn’t just end there. If somebody’s golfing and they need a hand (with a project), that’s what you do - you give ‘em a hand.
“I’m excited about where we’ve come from and what we’ve been able to do in the last couple years. I give total credit to the staff, to George MacIntyre and Richard Henke - they do an excellent job,” he said. “Our greens are second to none in the country. We have people coming from executive golf courses and telling us how great our greens are. That’s a pretty good compliment.”
Williams has heard regional chatter of interest in a major golf resort development in the Nakusp area. Noting the financial stressors faced by golf developments in places like Victoria’s Black Mountain, he had a note of caution for the project but said he wasn’t worried about the “competition.”
“Bring it on,” he said.
“I think if they bring in this huge executive golf course to Nakusp,
(visiting golfers) will do their course one day and our course the next day. It will bring our golf course more business. I’m not afraid of it,” he said.
Board member Jim Davidson applauds Williams for the way he has whole-heartedly taken on the club’s cause since becoming a golfer there six years ago.
“He’s a guy who puts his whole life into Nakusp, and when gets into a project, he sinks his teeth into and he doesn’t let go,” Davidson said with a grin.
Chuck Dinning may be the closest thing to an institutional memory for Nakusp Centennial.
He came to Nakusp around 1965, back around the time the clubhouse was
an old residential house moved to the site when the government flooded the lake with the creation of the dam, and the club’s fortunes were kept in an old coffee can.
Dinning was treasurer of the club for two decades.
He recalled the niche for the course being etched out with D-8 earth
mover machines, their drivers on weekend breaks from making the dam.
The name, Nakusp Centennial Golf Club, was part of the deal for the grant for the original irrigation system and pond – get the project IF you name it in honor of Canada’s 100-year jubilee in 1967.
Nakusp Centennial it was.