James Mays had the honour of making the first ever shot this year on Cooke Municipal Golf Course, as the course re-opened after renovations required to follow COVID-19 provincial guidelines. (Jeff D’Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Early Birdie Gets The Worm

Mays couldn’t wait any longer for Cooke to open

May 22, 2020 | 11:12 AM

Golf courses in Saskatchewan had to wait until May 15 to start their seasons during the novel coronavirus pandemic, which was already a long-enough wait. But those who prefer to swing their clubs at Cooke Municipal Golf Course had to wait an extra week, due to renovations needed to adhere to COVID-19 re-opening plans put together by the province.

James Mays made sure he didn’t have to wait any longer than that.

He acted quickly to make sure he was on the course on the first day. But he booked his tee time so quickly he actually ended up in the day’s first group and shot the first-ever ball of Cooke’s season.

“I didn’t care if I was first, last or tenth, I was golfing this morning,” Mays said. “It’s just a bonus to see the sun up. It’s just nice to be out and doing something kind of normal.

“It was a little tougher waiting because everybody else was open a week or so ago. We had some issues opening up, but we’re here now.”

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Mays didn’t play any other courses in the province or the area, and made sure he waited to play on his preferred course. Mays has golfed at Cooke for such a long time, he’s lost track. He gave an extremely rough estimate of “1,000 years” that he and his friends have met at the course to hit the links together.

“We have a group of half a dozen guys that have golfed together for quite a while, off and on, the same guys. It’s good. It gives us a reason to get up in the morning,” Mays said.

Rick Willie was also in the first grouping. He was starting to run out of things to do while waiting for Cooke to finally open up for the year.

“We’ve all worn out Netflix, and there’s no sports or anything else to watch. It’s nice to get out and do something, that’s for sure,” Willie said.

There are adjustments of course to make sure golfers and course workers stay safe, and adhere to the provincial guidelines.

Tee times are spaced 12 minutes apart, golfers are to book tee times prior to getting to the course and will be ushered onto the course by a greeter at the front of the clubhouse, making sure each player knows all the new guidelines.

On the crisp Friday morning, Cooke assistant professional Ryan Wells took on that honour as the course opened.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW