Nearly all Carson Valley golf courses have opened

After being closed for most or all of December, nearly all the golf courses in the Carson Valley are open for business.

Carson Valley Golf Club in Gardnerville has been open since Jan. 1, while Empire Golf Ranch opened this past Monday. Both courses at Eagle Valley opened on Tuesday and neither have any cart restrictions. The back nine at Dayton Valley opened Thursday, while the front nine is expected to open today or by the weekend.

According to reports, Genoa Lakes has opened both of its courses, but calls to the pro shop were not answered. The status of Silver Oak also is unknown because calls had not been returned by the golf course staff.

Rob Harbottle, the head pro at Carson Valley, said it was a strange winter in the sense that Gardnerville usually gets more snow than Carson. Carson Valley was shut down for only 31⁄2 weeks. He opened the back nine on Jan. 1 and the front nine opened the next day. Golf rates are $30 with a cart.

"We had a lot of play the last week and a half," Harbottle said. "We saw some record days for January. We had a lot of people from Reno come in to play. I know there were a lot of golfers that went over the hill (to Auburn and Sacramento)."

Jim Kepler, the general manager at Eagle Valley, said he had about 20 players on Wednesday and about 50 on Thursday.

"We're open with no cart restrictions," Kepler said. "Sometimes winters can help you. We had very little, if any, damage. After a couple of weeks (when we were closed), we used a snowblower on the greens. We cleaned off all the greens. Greens are expensive to replace."

The rates, at least for a couple of weeks, will be $25 for both the East and West courses.

Rick Vaughan, the head pro at Dayton Valley, said the back nine opened Thursday. He said the front side opening has been delayed.

"We had a number of water lines break on the front side," Vaughan said. "We hope to have them fixed so we can open the front tomorrow (Friday)."

Vaughan said winter rates are in effect, $30 during the week and $40 on weekends. Twilight rates are $30 and start at 1 p.m. each day.

Sunridge, which has had snow on its course since Dec. 4, finally has its entire course open. John Heldman, who works in the pro shop, said the back nine has been open since the start of the week.

Terry Gingell, the head pro at Empire Ranch, said business has been pretty good since the course re-opened on Monday.

"Weather permitting we'll be open seven days a week," he said. "People have been antsy to get out and play."

Empire rates are $25 including a cart, and include a $5 coupon for the pro shop or the restaurant.

The only courses that won't be open seven days a week are Genoa Lakes and the resort course at Genoa. Both courses will be closed every Monday and Tuesday.

While golf course management is happy to be open again, the joy could be short lived. A bad weather system is expected to hit the area Sunday night or Monday and last several days.

Rain would enable the courses to stay open for a short time, but heavy snow could shut everybody down again for a few days.