Cold winter leads to golf course struggles

Dave Kuypers is pleased to just be opening his course.

Kuypers, the superintendent of Cutten Fields in Guelph, Ont., has struggled with ice damage on much of the green.

Golfers will be out playing this weekend, he says. They wont be putting on greens though.

Cutten Fields, a historic private course, is one of numerous Ontario golf facilities that faced an unusual amount of damage from ice and the extreme cold that occurred through to the end of March.

READ MORE: Toronto golf courses in the rough, but open for business

Most golf courses are open in April in Ontario. This year many are just opening in coming days, while others have opened with damaged greens that are brown because the Poa annua grass died after being under ice for more than 45 straight days.

Owen Russell knew he had a problem when the smell hit him.

Russell, the superintendent at Markland Woods in Etobicoke, Ont. for the past eight years, ventured out on his course in February, worried about the impact of ice and cold on his clubs greens. Like many superintendents concerned about how the coldest winter in the last three decades would affect his course, Russell drilled through the ice to see what was happening with the grass underneath.

I knew from the smell that we had a problem, he says. It smelled bad, sort of like rotten eggs.

WATCH: Conditions were questionable as Torontos public golf courses opened for the season in April.

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Cold winter leads to golf course struggles