The new General Manager at the Highwood Golf and Country Club is keeping his fingers crossed for good weather and a quick end to COVID-19.

Lane Neilson took over the job at the end of February and says it's been a challenging first couple of months as he tries to navigate the waters of getting his course up and running for the year in the face of a pandemic that has them closed indefinitely.

"We're always a slave to the weather, but this is a whole different kettle of fish. All we can do is move forward with the hopes that we will be allowed to open."

He says if they can open, they'll do their best to keep people safe.

"We'll certainly follow all the guidelines. There's a number of places that have already been open and there's a number of guidelines out there that can certainly keep people safe. But that's the number one priority is staying safe. If we can't operate in a safe fashion then we should not be open."

Neilson says they have a skeleton crew working to get the golf course ready for the season, so if and when they'll be allowed to open they'll be ready to go quickly.

At least one online petition has been started to get the Province to change their minds about golf being deemed an essential service during the flood.

But so far Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, is sticking to her guns saying it's non-essential and clubs across Alberta will remain closed until it's deemed safe to re-open them.

Across the border in B.C. many clubs are already open as they've changed practices on the courses to allow for play as long as social distancing and other regulations are followed.