RENFREW -- When Henry Krekur saw the forecast for Thursday six days ago, he know he had to book his tee time at Dragonfly Golf Links in Renfrew fast.
"We looked about a week ago already and knew that tee times would be scarce. As soon as we saw there was some good weather on the horizon we booked our tee times," said Krekur.
It’s a good thing Krekur booked in advance too, with Dragonfly about 90 per cent booked up until Monday. The packed links and bonus rounds of golf all thanks to a November heat wave settling over the capital region for the next several days.
"This is more typical of what you see in the summer time in terms of the pattern," says Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips. "The Bermuda high which sits there gives us some hot to humid days. It’s like a heat pump. It’s driving this warm air northward to us."
According to the weather service, the average temperature for Nov. 5 is 7.6 degrees. At 1 p.m. Thursday Ottawa recorded a high of 19C, but no records are expected to be broken over the next several days.
"This time last year we had temperatures of minus 10C, snow was falling," says Phillips. "This is really a pick me up kind of a situation."
At Dragonfly Links, the course usually closes for the season Oct. 31. General Manager Chris Needham says these bonus days of golf really put a smile on everyone’s face.
"Everybody is super excited," says Needham. "It’s like Christmas all over every day for them. They can’t believe that they’re getting to come and play in this weather in shorts, so it’s amazing for them."
Needham says as soon as the call was made to open past the usual end of the season, the calls started coming in.
"Today we got 148 golfers, tomorrow we’ve got 190 golfers. I believe Saturday and Sunday we’re at 170, and even Monday so far we’re booked into about 140 golfers as well. And it didn’t take long; the phone has been ringing nonstop with people begging to get tee times."
Needham says everyone at Dragonfly feels so grateful the season has been extended that they’ve decided to pay forward the good feeling, with a donation to the Child Poverty Action Network and their snowsuit drive.
"We started it with the extended season, and every day that we’re open, we’re going to take a dollar from every paid green fee and try to get some snow suits out there."
