Progress is being made on Emerson's new 9-hole golf course.

Spokesperson Wayne Arseny estimates the course is 80% complete. He said the greens and fairways are finished, and the majority of the work that's left lies in completing the clubhouse. Arseny also noted the dry weather this summer was a challenge for the grass.

"The dry summer has been challenging, we've used a lot of water from our, you might say, man-made lake for irrigation of the greens and getting those into shape and keeping the fairways green. It's a matter of finishing the course but our primary focus has been completing the clubhouse. The walls are up, the roof is on, most of the concrete and plumbing is in," he said.

Initially, the town had looked at using the old Canadian Pacific rail station, but decided against the idea.

"We originally looked at the CP station but found it to be bigger than what we needed and the condition being worse than what we'd anticipated, so we decided on building a new one using a design from our original CN station 80 years ago, so our new clubhouse will look like a railway station," said Arseny.

He added the old building also didn't have the codes and requirements they would need. As of now, he doesn't know of any functional use for it and isn't sure what the railway will do with it.

Arseny said they are still in fundraising-mode, noting last month's fundraising event at the Emerson complex was a success.

"We'd like to raise another $150,000 to $200,000 just to give us the cushion. There's a lot of unanticipated things that happen... we have to look at ongoing maintenance, getting the supplies of what's necessary to get the course open next year, so funding is still something we're doing at an on-going basis."

He hopes for the golf course to be open for the beginning of season next year.

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