The Fernie Golf Club is reporting early momentum this spring, with membership renewals ahead of budget and the driving range seeing heavy use year to date. The strong start follows a landmark 2025 season, when 30,000 rounds were played at the local course. Before COVID, the club would typically see closer to 17,000 to 18,000 rounds in a season, making last year’s total a significant marker of how much golf participation has grown in Fernie.
The trend reflects both the popularity of golf locally and the Fernie course’s long-standing appeal as a community recreation asset. Opened in 1918, the Fernie Golf Club describes its course as a par-70 layout playing 6,556 yards from the back tees, with mountain views, varied terrain, silica sand bunkers and a design that welcomes both lower-handicap players and beginners.
The club’s driving range has also been a focus early in the season. According to the club’s current rate information, the range is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., except Mondays when it closes at 5 p.m. for maintenance. Small baskets are listed at $6 and large baskets at $12, before applicable taxes.
May is also a busy month for youth golf in Fernie, with elementary and high school lesson programs taking place at the course. Grades 4, 5 and 6 from Isabella Dicken Elementary School, along with Fernie Secondary students from Grades 9 through 12, are taking part in five lessons per class. The program is supported by Anne Majic, a Fernie Golf Club member who raises funds from local organizations to cover the cost of the classes, including equipment, range balls and instruction.
The school program fits with the club’s broader junior golf efforts. For 2026, the Fernie Golf Club is offering junior memberships free when sponsored by a current adult member, with each adult member able to sponsor up to two junior members. Junior members are defined as golfers aged 18 and under in 2026, with some restrictions applying.
The club is also continuing to plan for its longer-term water source project. That work remains in the development and permitting stage, with completion anticipated in 2027. The project builds on the club’s ongoing water conservation efforts. The Fernie Golf Club says its Water Conservation Project is intended to reduce water use and create a net benefit for the local ecosystem, and notes that replacement sprinkler heads and conversion motors saved more than 800,000 litres of water in 2023.
With league openings, tournaments and club events now filling the 2026 calendar, the course is moving into a busy stretch. Upcoming events listed by the club include Senior Men’s League opening on May 14, Ladies Opening on May 19, Men’s League Opening on May 20, the Fernie Open July 4–5, the Tony Servello Senior Open on July 16, and the Club Championship August 15–16.
For Fernie, the numbers tell a clear story: golf has become a larger part of the community’s recreation calendar, the range is busy, junior participation is being actively supported, and the club is planning infrastructure improvements aimed at long-term sustainability.
Editor
Images: FGC
