Point Roberts GC Counting On Canadians Coming Down Again As It Prepares To Re-Open
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
POINT ROBERTS, WA (March 10, 2025) - When we re-open it, will they come? That’s the question owners and staff of Bald Eagle Golf Course in Point Roberts are asking themselves.
General manager Tracy Evans has confirmed the course will indeed re-open this spring. An initial target date of April 1 likely will not be met, but the hope is shortly thereafter the highly regarded layout will be back open for business.
And if the course is to remain open, it must attract British Columbians, who in the past have accounted for 90 per cent of its play. Evans knows the current political climate is not great and many Canadians are vowing not to cross the border. “It’s a concern,” says Evans, a Whatcom County realtor who doubles as GM of the course.
“Point Roberts is definitely being impacted by it already. People are just not crossing the border to come down for gas and other things. The businesses down here are feeling it already.”
Evans hopes British Columbia golfers might give Point Roberts a chance, given its rather unique circumstances.
Point Roberts Hole 13 - Image Credit Point Roberts
The course has had a tumultuous recent history, thanks mainly to the Covid 19 pandemic which closed the border and forced the course to shut down. It reopened in 2022 only to close again for the 2023 and 2024 seásons.
“We are hoping it is not a major concern because golfers are golfers,” Evans says. “We do have a great course and we’ll have it in good shape, even better than it was when we were open in 2022. And I am still getting calls from golfers up there saying ‘when are you opening, when are you opening.’ It gives us hope that we will at least get some traffic.”
The course, which is expected to revert back to its original name, Point Roberts Golf & Country Club, has been doing some hiring. Longtime course superintendent Rick Hoole now has a full-time assistant, a spray technician has been hired and other positions are being filled. The course is even offering accommodation for some jobs.
“You have to find different ways and think outside the box to find employees to come to Point Roberts,” Evans says.
The course is now owned by four off-shore residents who Evans says are committed to getting it up and running in good condition. “We have a new spray technician coming to the course two weeks from now,” Evans says.
“We are getting there. We are just wrapping up some irrigation and drainage we have been working on. And we still need to do some fertilizing and lay out some seed and finish up with the renovations with the clubhouse. We were kind of pushed back a bit with the recent snow and the cold weather which made the ground too hard to work on the drainage.”