Moccasin Bend head professional Devere Keller suffered from a severe case of cabin fever for about five months.
The Michigan native played three rounds of golf in 35-degree weather against his better judgment between Thanksgiving and St. Patrick’s Day.
“That’s by far the worst winter I’ve ever experienced,” Keller said Tuesday. “In Michigan, when the snow came in, that meant you could go skiing, sledding or throw snowballs.
“This year, you couldn’t be outside because it was cold and wet and you were stuck inside walls. It was miserable.”
This past Sunday, though, he peered from behind the counter to see about 20 golfers standing around watching the Masters in an area big enough for six people to sit.
The combination of an exciting Masters tournament and warm weather has area golfers flocking to courses after months of keeping their clubs in the closet.
Everybody’s cabin fever has been cured.
“Just seeing the weather forecast gets you excited,” said Lamar Mills, manager of golf and club services at Cleveland Country Club. “That, and the Masters cranking up, for us around here that’s the official start of the golf season.”
Cleveland CC hosted its season kickoff tournament Saturday with 60 competitors. A tournament scheduled for 10 days from today will be filled to capacity, Mills expects.
“It’s almost like we have to retrain our membership to get back in the habit of golf,” said Mills, whose club participation dropped 40 percent in January and February from a lousy 2009. “The weather affected every facet of the club. People found other interests because they couldn’t get outdoors.”
Ratings for the Masters tournament were up 36 percent over last year and had the third highest overnight rating for the final round of any golf tournament since ratings started being monitored in 1986.
More than 150 golfers made their way around Moccasin Bend on Monday, just hours after Phil Mickelson outdueled the field, including Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, Tom Watson, Anthony Kim and Lee Westwood.
“I think that was a direct results of the Masters,” Keller said. “There were guys here I hadn’t seen in a long time. Hopefully it continues.”
The Bear Trace at Harrison Bay recorded the fewest rounds ever in December, January and February since the course opened 11 years ago. Head professional Robin Boyer described the months as horrible.
“You can’t get back the number of rounds that we lost,” Boyer said. “You just write it off. You cut expenses where you can. What else can you do when you have no revenue coming in? But lately, people have been coming out of the woodwork.”
Every course in the area was hit hard by the cold, the rain and the snow. Perhaps no course had more severe weather than Lookout Mountain Golf Club, where head professional Adam Campbell didn’t have a single golfer from Jan. 28 to Feb. 19.
“Oh my gosh, the boredom has ended,” Campbell said, laughing. “I shouldn’t say that because I did a lot of paperwork.
“I kind of feel that I have to reintroduce myself to members. It’s good to see them playing again.”