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Tahoe golf courses embrace warming temps, project opening dates

❱❱ Kaleb M. Roedel | kroedel@sierrasun.com
Old Brockway Golf Course in Kings Beach has made a name for itself for being the first golf course to open every year at Lake Tahoe.
File photo |

Golf course openings

While you prepare to dust off your clubs, below is a list of projected opening days for 10 North Tahoe-Truckee golf courses. All openings are weather permitting:

Incline Village Mountain Course: Mid-May

golfincline.com

Holes: 18

Par: 58

Yardage: 3,513

Incline Village Championship Golf Course: Mid-May

golfincline.com

Holes: 18

Par: 72

Yardage: 7,106

Tahoe Donner: Mid-May

tahoedonner.com

Holes: 18

Par: 72

Yardage: 7,002

Tahoe City Golf Course: March 31

playtcgc.com

Holes: 9

Par: 33

Yardage: 2,678

Resort at Squaw Creek: Mid-May

squawcreek.com

Holes: 18

Par: 71

Yardage: 6,453

Ponderosa, Truckee: April 16

ponderosagolfcoursetruckee.com

Holes: 9

Par: 35

Yardage: 3,022

Old Greenwood, Truckee: Early or mid-May

oldgreenwood.com

Holes: 18

Par: 72

Yardage: 7,518

Northstar California: May 20

northstarcalifornia.com

Holes: 18

Par: 72

Yardage: 6,897

Old Brockway, Kings Beach: March 25

oldbrockway.com

Holes: 9

Par: 36

Yardage: 3,314

Coyote Moon, Truckee: May 13

coyotemoongolf.com

Holes: 18

Par: 72

Yardage: 7,177

TAHOE-TRUCKEE, Calif. — Every year for the past 3 decades, Old Brockway Golf Course owner Lane Lewis shoots for opening the historic Kings Beach course the same weekend as The Masters, which teed off Thursday.

This year, let’s just say Lewis birdied that shot.

Opening its operation on March 25, one weekend earlier than planned, Old Brockway this year continued its trend as the first golf course in the Tahoe-Truckee region to tee off the spring season.



“We’re so excited that we got an early opening,” said Lewis, who’s been Old Brockway’s owner and operator for 30 years. “The last three years we’ve had early openings.”

What’s more, Lewis said, Old Brockway — a 9-hole course that meanders through towering Jeffery pines and offers striking views of Lake Tahoe at every hole — is in pristine shape.



It boasts the kind of condition that might prompt a golf course owner to pump his or her fist like a putt-sinking Tiger Woods — you know, back when he won majors.

“The course came out in fantastic shape — our greens are in midseason form already,” Lewis said. “We’ve had a great early start and we’re anticipating a great season.”

With Old Brockway rolling into the spring season, in no time other area golf courses will echo the routine “thwack” of the golf ball struck off a tee.

In fact, the 9-hole Tahoe City Golf Course is also in the swing of the golf season already, opening its freshly cut course on March 31.

Meanwhile, for some courses, like Coyote Moon in Truckee, an 18-hole set of links that lies some 6,300 feet in the Sierra Nevada, the snow must melt off first.

With that in mind, Ed McGargill, general manager of Coyote Moon, projects the Truckee course to open in roughly a month — more specifically, May 13, weather permitting.

“We’re really excited, it’s looking good out there,” McGargill said. “It’s really nice to have a snowpack this year, and now it’s disappearing rapidly. We’re working as hard as we can to get it as good as we can for opening day. It’s looking like we’re going to have a good season.”

McGargill said during years when the snowpack at Tahoe-Truckee is especially deep, Coyote Moon has opened as late as June.

“The last four years we’ve been able to open up way earlier, which is nice,” he added.

Most courses in the region are lining up May openings as well. However, such is the case with all courses — even Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, where The Masters is held— Mother Nature dictates when the course is active.


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