FORE!!!

If you haven’t had the chance to dig your clubs out of winter storage yet, you might want to get that done before the weekend.

South Ridge Golf & Pub will be back in business starting this Saturday. The city-owned course at 618 West 29th Street got a late start to the season with new management and some long-overdue fix-it work that has kept new manager Adam Sprakel busy this spring.

The late opening will see eight of the course’s nine holes available for play, and the late start and eight-hole layout will offer local duffers an opportunity to hit the links at an affordable price.

“I think we're excited to kind of see the golf course take shape, and we look forward to finishing out the season here with a little golf played on it, because I don't know that initially that that was what the expectations were,” Sprakel told the Dakota County Star.

At $25 for a round with a cart, it’s a great deal for local golfers, but Sprakel said the fees take into consideration that golfers won’t play a full nine-hole round this year and will only be able to play for a few months before the course closes for the winter.

“I just hope that the community is of the understanding of we've set our prices accordingly as far as being open half the season,” he said. “The memberships that we're offering reflect that we’re only open for half the season and even the prices for the green fees and cart rentals are reflective of we're only playing eight holes rather than nine.”

The 410-yard par 4 No. 7 hole will be closed for the summer as work is being done to repair a sprinkler system on the far southeast corner of the course. Sprakel said that the course’s watering system was in need of an upgrade and all but one of the holes have been completed.

“There were some issues with some of the irrigation satellites where some stations had some shorts in their wires and some had lightning issues and weren't operating correctly. Sowe replaced some of those satellites and we’ve got most everything on an automated system now, so everything should be up and going.”

Sprakel will manage the golfing part of the facility, while Dave Meyer has leased the bar-restaurant part of the clubhouse as part of a two-year agreement with the City of South Sioux City, which owns the course via the Community Development Authority.