WELCOME!
Moose Meadows Golf & Country
The desire to build my own golf course began in 1994 when I was Edmonton with some buddies wanting to go golfing. We decided to go to Victoria Golf Course in the River Valley and we had to pay about $20 per person for eighteen holes. I recall we were not even using the permanent greens, but holes they had bored in the fairways. We had a great time and I decided that I should build a course as well!
I wanted to put a couple of holes in front of my parents' house, and after the fire of 1995, I decided to go to the land by Red Deer and build a few holes. I can recall using 5 gallon buckets that we hit towards and these became my future greens. Then I began cutting the "greens" short with my regular grass mower set at the lowest height. My dad made cups out of sewer pipe and made flags with metal poles with Canadian Flags on them. We used this set up for the next 2 years and I began the arduous task of landscaping. A fellow teacher, Bob Forsyth, had a tree farm outside of Bentley, AB, and needed to "thin" his trees. Myself, and James Ward, would go to Bob's and dig White & Blue spruce that line plenty of the fairways today on the course. I still marvel when I look at my Spruce Trees as I can recall it was not long ago when they were less than a foot high. Later I began the "back-breaking" task of digging sand traps with a shovel. These still line greens #2 & #4 and provide excellent practice for sand shots. I still tell people that the most important thing to building a course, after the land, is having a great supply of sand; we have a natural sandpit.
About 1998 was the year that I decided to start planting bentgrass on the greens. This was very expensive as the seed alone is costly and very tough to initially get established without a constant water supply.
I first started using water from the house's well and later shifted to Hazlett Lake with a pump. I initially cut my bentgrass greens with an antique reel mower and graduated up to a Jacobsen Tri-plex riding greens mower in 2000; my back forever thanks me for this!
The fairways were initially an old hayfield used by my grandfather, and we used my Dad's swather to first cut them short. Later we dragged an old sickle mower out of a fallen shed and began to cut with this. In 2001, we purchased an F-10 Jacobsen, 'gang mower' from 'Calgary Golf & Country Club' for a great price. It still cuts the fairays to this day.
Over the next 10 years I've added a few berms and tee boxes to add more challenge to the course. Flower beds and different shrubs line several of the fairways to add to the beauty of the course.
It has been with much help from many of my family and friends, that has allowed the course to still operate. I always enjoy the 'Moose Meadows Invitational Golf Tournament' as it provides a celebration and an opportunity to experience the fun the course has to offer.
Jason Hazlett
