The 2017 season has come to an end at the Steinbach Fly-In golf course.

Greens superintendent Rob Fast and his staff will spend the next few weeks preparing the 18-hole layout for a long, cold winter.

Fly-In head professional Brian Guenther says once he finishes doing the math, the number of rounds at the Fly-In will be up a bit from 2016.

"We had a slow start," said Guenther. "May and parts of June were not great golf weather. Obviously we had a great summer. July, August and now into September & October has been really good. Great days, lots of warmth, no mosquitoes, no bugs - it's been a great summer for golf."

It was a spectacular summer with no rain and no wind which made for perfect playing conditions.

Everyone was happy.

Except maybe the greens superintendent who along with his staff watched the sun come out and the rain stay away - for days on end.

"Our height of cutting everything here, we need the water and those guys did a great job getting the water down," said Guenther. "Rob had mentioned that he hadn't seen a drought like that for a long time. We were probably six to seven weeks without any rain. The good thing is we do have water here. Our irrigation system is getting old but the water supply we have here is plentiful and we got the water down."

One the highlights of the 2017 season was Adam Guenther, Bailey Funk, Ike Bueckert and Riley Desautels finishing first in the rural division of Golf Manitoba's Men's Interclub Championship at Pinawa.

"It was a great showing for us," said the Fly-In head pro. "It started even with the Provincial Men's Amateur. We had six members represent at the Amateur which is just great that there are guys that still want to play competitive golf and try their best in tournament play. The interclub was good and we also hosted the Senior Interclub here and our group came in fifth there as well. It was a good year for the competitive side."

It was a good year at the Fly-In and Guenther believes the game is on the upswing thanks to a lot of hard work.

"We're trending in the right direction and I think golf is trending in the right direction. As far as participation I think we've hit the low part and I think it's going to start climbing now with juniors, with families and people coming back to the game. Family golf is very important. It's a great place where you can spent a lot of time as a family. Whether it's nine holes or 18 holes, it's great for the family group to play."