With the lifting of the stay-at-home order for golf courses April 18, Pebble Creek Golf Course has since seen a plethora of Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam wanna-bes at their 36-hole links courses.

“When word spread of golf courses being able to open, the phones rang off the hook,” said Josh Kuha with the City of Becker.

“In the first two weeks we’ve already had four days with over 250 players. We only had one such day in 2019.”

Pebble Creek saw 18,084 paid rounds of golf in 2019.

Kuha says this push has reminded himself of when Tiger Woods stormed onto the golf scene years ago.

“We are getting so many new people coming out to give golf a try, so there is a real opportunity for the golf business to actually grow in this pandemic.”

“The course was all set up for social distancing,” said David Warren of Eden Prairie, who played the first day the course opened.

“Foam was in the cups so you could get a great feel if it was actually holed. Pace of play was fantastic. Highly recommend a round at this track if you’re in the area.”

Pebble Creek is following the state’s “Outdoor Recreation Guidelines” and best practices developed by industry associations. Some of the social distancing measures include removal of shared equipment on the course (benches, ball washers and rakes). Golfers are not to remove the flagstick, so Pebble Creek has placed foam inserts into the cup to make the ball easily removed by the player.

“We have put a lot of safeguards in place to make the golf experience very low risk,” Kuha said. “It’s important that the players do their part to maintain proper distancing.”

Men’s Club

The Pebble Creek Men’s club offer’s multiple leagues on Wednesdays, year-long match play events, plus multiple weekend events with the first one teeing up Tuesday.

Plus, the club has teamed up with the women’s club this season to offer the “anytime league” where one can play at anytime as long as the player is with a men’s or women’s club member.

Signing up for this season is virtual. All memberships (full and ala carte) include a handicap allowing one to play tournaments anywhere. Just go to pebblecreekgolf.com/mens-club/ to download the form and then either call the Pro Shop and register over the phone or bring the completed form to the check-in window outside the Pro Shop where payment is credit/debit card only. League’s start May 13.

Women’s Club

The Pebble Creek Women’s Club offers many golf-related events and social activities to members.

The club has both nine and 18 hole events. These include weekly events, the Ringer Board, the Birdie and Par Tree plus singles and doubles Match Play competition.

For more information and to download the membership form, go to pebblecreekgolf.com/womens-club. Make checks payable to Pebble Creek Women’s Club.

Or, drop completed form and payment off at the Pebble Creek Pro Shop or mail to: Pebble Creek Golf Course, Attn: PCWC Nicole Lane, 14000 Clubhouse Lane, Becker, MN 55308.

“While we are excited to get off to a busy start, we are very aware of the future revenue loss due to COVID-19,” said Kuha. “Every week we erase weddings, graduation parties and large scale golf tournament from our calendar.

"Everyone is making sacrifices and there are many businesses that are suffering during this time. We are thankful for the opportunity to get people back to work and welcome our guests to our property.”