Retired grain farmer sows golf course plans

Old farmers never die. Some may slow down, or in Ted Shipley’s case, the now-retired, long time Glenwood-Alberta area farmer, is finally realizing a long-shelved plan to turn about 100 acres of river bottom land along the Waterton River into a RV-campground and golf course.

 Shipley, who is a confessed snowbird who heads for Arizona “as soon as I see the first snow flake” broke ground this May on a long-planned development about 30 kilometres south of Fort Macleod, on the secondary road known as the Blue Trail.

 He has 30 campsites that he’ll rent out yearly already developed, another 30 in the works, and he’s working with a golf course designer from the Henderson Lake Golf Club in Lethbridge to design a pretty little nine-hole course on a curved flat that borders the meandering Waterton River.

 RV sites, the size of city lots (90 x 110 feet), nestled in the towering cottonwoods, will rent for $1,000 per year ($1,500 for river frontage). Bring your own power and Shipley will have mobile water and sewer services available.

 He’s ordered the grass seed, and with a little Cat work the recently-tilled golf course should be laid out and seeded this fall. On the upper bench above the golf course/campground development he’s built a small driving range, with an aged John Deere combine at the 250 yard mark. It doesn’t appear there is any prize for hitting the combine with a good drive, other than bragging rights that you can hit a golf ball further than the Henderson Lake pro.

 When the golf game is over you can always just rest in the shaded campground or go fishing for trophy trout in the Waterton River, and there’s also a nice beach area near a deep pool for swimming.

 The Blue Trail RV Park/SunShadow Golf Course will be fully open for business in 2010.  You can get more details by emailing Shipley at: tedshipley@gmail.com or visit his website at: www.bluetrailrv.com

 When asked if having his own golf course was a long-time dream of an avid golfer, the jovial Shipley joked “I’ve never golfed and probably never will, but I do like money.”

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