The Oakview Golf and Country Club near Gretna hopes to be open in the first week of May. The Oakview Golf and Country Club near Gretna hopes to be open in the first week of May. 

Recently elected Club President Ted Klassen said board members started preparing for the season 4 months ago. 

"We started meeting in December of last year and we've been meeting monthly since then," said Klassen, noting the board has 8 board members this year, 6 of which are new.
During their first meeting, priorities were discussed. 

"It was unanimous that we need to do a little work on our greens, and we need to make sure that our fairways and roughs are at the appropriate lengths and that they are mowed at the appropriate times," he said. 

"We are going to be, of course, working on cleaning up the holes. We want to make sure that all of the tee boxes look good," he added. 

Long time volunteers put the golf course to rest in winter. These same volunteers will be mentoring some of the young people that will be hired to maintain to course.  

"This year we have decided that we will run the course with a committee," said Klassen. "We're very optimistic that things will move forward in a timely fashion on the golf course this summer."

Klassen said people can also expect to see the wooden benches, formerly used at the golf course, to make a return.  

"All the holes will have nice new refurnished, repaired benches that do tend to last longer than the plastic ones we had," said Klassen, noting the benches were taken to Blue Sky Opportunities to get redone. 

Three new board members were also hard at work during the winter, raising funds for the course. "They have done a good job of getting 3 year commitments from the corporate community in the area," said Klassen. 

The board is also working on increasing membership and making phone calls to people who've let their membership lapse. Some promotions are also being planned to attracted area golfers.