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I've played Wheat City four times and havent played anywhere else so like you, I can't really compare. I think its in pretty decent shape considering what the course has been through. I'm supporting the city course because its been through some tough times. I like the layout and I love the location. And although its not in midseason form I would beg to differ with aome of the feedback you have heard. Maybe go check it out yourself!

 
 
Edited by JackAzz, 2016-05-08 10:08:48

Why is there no water being applied to this course. 28 degrees and windy, 100's of golfers on the course. I give it 1 more week and it will be totally unplayable. It's pretty much concrete now. Please hire someone who is qualified in course maintenance to look after your golf course!! If you have someone get him doing his job.

want the sprinklers turned on during the day when golfers are on the course. More than likely, the sprinklers are on at night. And the OP is only basing his opinion on second hand opinions.  
 
I haven't been there this year or since before the flood in 2011.

The sprinklers have been going on every night around 9:30. Give the course time, it was under major construction mid summer less than a year ago, only to open earlier than it should have to make the golfers happy. Good courses usually have a year or two with no traffic to grow in.

BogeyGolfer said "I have an honest question for all Brandon golfers. Why is everyone playing Wheat City Golf Course? Please correct me if any of this is wrong as I haven't had a chance to play the course but I am hearing the course is in flat out awful condition and that they don't even have water going on the golf course. I understand the price is right but I'm not paying any amount to play a course that has concrete pads for greens and chewed up fairways (again just what I am hearing from anyone I ask, haven't seen myself). You can't blame the flood for this mismanagement leading to these poor conditions. I've played Oak Island, Shilo, Neepawa and Clear Lake all of which are in either fantastic shape or extremely good conditions for this time of year and to me, that matters. I will pay for quality. Am I in the minority on that? What is Wheat City and the City's excuse for this? I heard from a friend that the Wheat City has been packed with golfers this spring. Thats great because Brandon needs a quality golf course but I hearing that quality is at the very bottom of the list of adjectives used to describe the Wheat City Golf Course. So again I ask, Why Wheat City? "

Not sure who you are hearing the bad reviews from. I have played it several times and although it's not perfect it is pretty good considering all it's been through the past 5 or so years.  
It is the only decent 18 hole lay out without having to leave Brandon. It is easy to go and play after work for those 9-5er's living here.  
I've been down there early in the morning and see crews hard at work. I would think if they are watering it's at night not during the day when it's full of golfers.  
I grew up playing the Wheat City throughout its hay day and I'm thrilled to see it back up and running and I have no problem supporting it.

BogeyGolfer said "Every person I have talked to says it is horrible. So this thread is the first positive I have heard aside from "its better than when it was under water". I did figure the water/irrigation rumor was false. I would be terribly concerned for a number of reasons if that were the case. I get the convenience thing during the week which is why I think their $16 green fees are a joke and they are robbing themselves and the tax payers but thats an entirely different story! Maybe I am in a serious minority but I really don't see 20minutes to Shilo, Glen Lea or 35 to Oak Island as much of an inconvenient drive to play something of quality. "Good considering" only goes so far and in my opinion, its not going to get better having 200 people a day trample it for $16. Things will get worse before it gets better. "

Nobody is forcing you to play it. Not sure what your gripe is exactly. Play the other courses then if you want? It sounds as though you might be a bit biased so perhaps people are telling you what you want to hear. Go and play it for yourself.  
Wheat City is busy for a reason and people seem to be coming back and I do not think it is due to the cheap green fees for May.  
It is more like 30-40 minutes door to door for most people to goto Shilo and an hour both ways to Oak Island so not ideal during the week.  
I've never head anyone say Shilo is a 'great' course. Personally I find it boring but it is in good shape. Oak Island is awesome and definitely worth the drive for a weekend round.

and they utilize the Shilo course, they are serious golf nuts so pretty sure it is a "great course". BTW, they don't like WCGC.

It depends on who you asked. If it is an avid golfer, he/she will prefer to play other courses that are in better shape. A weekend or once a month golfer won't care.  
I'm an avid golf and played the Wheat city, Glen Lea and Deer Ridge courses the past week. The WCGC and Glen Lea are both dry but WCGC is way cheaper and is right in town. Deer Ridge is in good shape, the greens are awesome, except for hole 5 which the fw is always dry.  
However said, if the WCGC is crowded, I rather go somewhere else.

BogeyGolfer said "No gripe I'm just amazed that's it's busy when people are telling me it's awful. I don't play it bc it's never been a great course and I strongly disagree with the city's recent management decisions and waste of my tax dollars. And perhaps I am bias for those reasons as well. Again that is JUST MY OPINION and it is not shared by you Tim and that's the point of this post is to ask why people feel so strongly about WC. From what I've heard so far it's convenience over quality? No gripe, just asking bc it's not something I cannot wrap my mind around. "

It amazes me why you are so concerned over your taxes and yet you appear to be trying to turn people away from the course. Do you maybe have a financial interest of some sort in one of the other courses that you have named.  
 
As another post said Shilo is a pretty boring course with lots of poison ivy which is not good for bogey golfers. Glen Lea is a course where you can spray your balls wherever you want and play your hole from different fairways and yet come in with a 70 to 75 score which makes a bogey golfer like yourself feel good, but does nothing for your game.  
 
The Wheat City course has a great lay-out is picturesque and does not allow for spraying your ball all over the course. The WCGC will once again become the course of choice and the only negative I see is that eventually it will be like the old days and hard to get a tee time.  
 
I have talked to people who played last week and they really don't see the problems you are complaining about. So maybe if you want to improve your game you might start thinking about playing a course with a challenge.

I played the Wheat City once last year after they had all 18 open, and I thought it was in pretty good shape for what it went through. It wasn't anywhere remotely close to Western Open shape, but anyone who expected that is out of their mind. It might not even get there this year, and that's still acceptable to me, because of the extensive damage it went through from 2011 to 2014.  
 
I don't agree with some of the changes they made after the first flood on the 8th and 9th holes, but I'm sure they had good reason to make them. Definitely made those holes easier though. I do like how they lengthened the 10th hole though.  
 
I was a member at the Rec Centre for a few years when I moved to Brandon, and then went out to Shilo in about 2009 or so. When the Rec Centre was in tip top shape, it was quite comparable to Shilo. But even before the flood it wasn't in its best shape often. Shilo always has been much better maintained. Shilo is a much harder course as well. I shot a 76, which is the best round I've ever played at, the Rec Centre (so it holds sentimental value to me for that reason) and a few high 70's. I shot a 79 at Shilo last season, which was the first time I've ever went under 80 out there in the 6 or so years I've been out there.

I had a junior membership there and used to play the front nine after school about 4 times a week. What I see being the uproar is the discount green fee rate and cart special. There are two sides to this coin. Sure we all pay our taxes and why not take advantage to something we have and are already paying for in the first place. I believe that this has been brought up before in another discussion but for the city of Brandon to go out and severely undercut privately owned courses through taxpayers dollars is offensive. I would like to play it just because I do like the course but the way the city is going about it's revitalization is wrong on so many levels. Just my two cents

Not sure who you've been speaking to but if you're curious you should see for yourself.  
 
Was there 3 times this week. it's coming along nicely and starting to green up. It's been a rough few years, I think it's great to see it back up and running and full of life again.

Fondue said "It depends on who you asked. If it is an avid golfer, he/she will prefer to play other courses that are in better shape. A weekend or once a month golfer won't care.   I'm an avid golf and played the Wheat city, Glen Lea and Deer Ridge courses the past week. The WCGC and Glen Lea are both dry but WCGC is way cheaper and is right in town. Deer Ridge is in good shape, the greens are awesome, except for hole 5 which the fw is always dry.   However said, if the WCGC is crowded, I rather go somewhere else. "

As I said I've played there 4 times this spring and it hasn't even been that busy when I've been there. Pretty sure we haven't had a round over 3 1/2 hours.

Bogey golfer. You sound like you work for a competing golf course. You have no real evidence the course is bad just second hand hearsay. And many people on here have told you that your wrong. I would just say that the numbers speak for themselves.

I don't even have an issue with the cheap green fees right now. They said all along it's for a limited time. I view it as a grand reopening sale situation.

BogeyGolfer said "No gripe I'm just amazed that's it's busy when people are telling me it's awful. I don't play it bc it's never been a great course and I strongly disagree with the city's recent management decisions and waste of my tax dollars. And perhaps I am bias for those reasons as well. Again that is JUST MY OPINION and it is not shared by you Tim and that's the point of this post is to ask why people feel so strongly about WC. From what I've heard so far it's convenience over quality? No gripe, just asking bc it's not something I cannot wrap my mind around. "

You have stated that you havent played there, just what other people told you.  
Therefore , it is not your opinion, it is ther peoples opinions. For some reason you are unwilling to go play golf and form your own opinion. Please explain.

you also state that you never play there because its not a great golf course!! SO don't play there, go on your way and play elsewhere. I love the Wheat City.

It would seem that you did not grow up in Brandon BogeyGolfer so maybe it's hard for you to understand what the Wheat City being back open means to lots of the residents here.  
Agree with others it appears you have some other motive for starting this post other than just pure curiosity keeping you up at night.

Convenience.

I don't want this to get off topic, but if you read to the end what I am saying will help answer the OP's question.  
 
I will never understand the golfers complaints about the low prices at wheat city. Last year Shilo golf course was $675 for a membership. They raised the prices this year, thats on them, not on Brandon.  
 
Sunnyside course memberships this year are $635. Where is all the complaining that they are undercutting all the other courses.  
 
If you base the cities decision on prices based on all local courses previous season memberships they were right in and around the average. It is likely the course made these price decisions before other courses chose to price weekend golfers out of their courses.  
 
The cheap early bird price at Wheat City was a smart choice. As the OP stated he has heard nothing but negativity about the shape of the course. How does anyone expect a course to get better reviews if people have to pay top prices other courses are charging that have had zero problems over the last 5 years. You get a cheap price to encourage people to try it out and when they realize its not bad they just might come back later at full prices. Seems like sound business to me.  
 
So to answer the OP's question, why golf at Wheat City. The answer is pretty clear. Its a good course, with a great history (minus the flooding) with a reasonable price for a weekend golfer and a good price to encourage daily golfers to try again. That allows people to get their golf fix in without having to fork out extra money for gas to get there.

One other reason that there is some increased traffic on the course to start the year BogeyGolfer is a number of leagues have returned to the Wheat City this year that had moved to another course over the past few years. There is league play there of one kind or another every day week day and two leagues playing some days. Add to that the cheap May prices and the course is seeing a lot of golfers. I think when the price goes up after May 31st it may not be quite as busy.  
 
As for the condition, it is by no means perfect but it really isn't bad. There are some parts that will take some time to come back fully like the areas where the trees were removed along #2 and #4 in particular but overall I don't think it is in bad shape. I love Oak Island golf course as well and even it still has some holes that are not back to 100% since some flood damage.