The 2017 golf season officially came to end at Quarry Oaks on the fourth Sunday in October and so did Darren Hayden's first year as the head professional at the 27-hole layout near Steinbach.

"Coming here I was really, really excited about the management team, new ownership and the facility itself," said Hayden. "Twenty-seven holes is so unique. There is only one other 27 hole course in the province and that's a fully private club. We can offer multiple tee time options on public days and for tournaments. We can have a tournament running and still have the course open for the public or we can host a gigantic tournament."

"Each nine hole golf course is so unique from one another and the practice facility is fantastic. We have five target greens, a natural grass hitting deck, three practice greens with bunkers, chipping areas. For a teacher it's perfect. It's a perfect facility to help people grow the game of golf."

Hayden says year one was a bit of a roller coaster ride - when it came to weather conditions.

"It didn't start off fantastic. April and May weren't the best. June was a very warm month but we did have quite a few rain days. July, August and September were pretty much ideal. You couldn't have better months. They were dry, warm, perfect days for three months in row. Traffic was steady but it's hard to make up for any lost ground you have in spring in a short calendar season like we have in the prairies. If you're on the coast you can maybe make up for it on the shoulder seasons but we can't. Overall I think it was a great year."

Summer really was spectacular.

Dry and warm for three months in a row.

But just how taxing was the lack of precipitation on greens superintendent Wilf Peters and his staff?

"Rain dates aren't the worst thing in the world for the golf course," said Hayden. "When you're that dry for that long it puts a lot of pressure on the irrigation system and the limitations it reaches. You're eventually going to have some dry spots and you honestly just can't keep up. Especially when it's that dry and the traffic is that high because they're here as soon as the suns up right until the suns down so your only watering time is overnight. You're a little limited that way. And that's assuming you don't have an irrigation issue with breaks and cracks and sprinkler heads. We had a little bit of that this spring so it kind of set us back in terms of getting our reach to our golf course complete. We have 27 holes so we have five miles of main line and that's before it branches off. That's extensive because it's a big piece of real estate here."

And now it's over.

The golf course is in the process of being put to bed and the waiting game has begun.

April will eventually arrive.

"Seasons are long and fast and we try to push through as much business in the time frame that we can," said Hayden. "Having said that, it's kind of sad to see it go. You kind of prep yourself for the winter and put everything to bed and start planning for next season."