Warm temps, melting snow bring golfers out to county course

SOUTH MILWAUKEE -- You don't always expect to find golf courses open in December in  Wisconsin, but when the rare opportunity presents itself, die-hard golfers and the Milwaukee County Parks System make sure to take advantage.



\"You have to love it pretty much to get out here on a day like today,\" golfer Leon Ols said.  \"Although  today is beautiful.\"



Beautiful may be a relative term, but temperatures in the upper 30s and melting  snow brought lots of golfers out to Grant Park Sunday.



\"We have played in 30 degree weather,\" Ols said.  \"Anything 32 and above, we'll play.  As long  as there's no snow on the course, we'll play.\"



Ols got talked into coming out Sunday morning by his friends.  The Parks Department needed to wait until Sunday morning for the snow to melt off the  greens just to open.



\"Anybody can golf when it's 70 [degrees],\" golfer Ivan Torres said.  \"The real golfers come out now.\"



Torres knows Wisconsin players have a limited season.



\"You can't turn, you've got like six layers on and you don't hit it as far as you  normally do,\" Torres said.



Even so, Grant Park had 45 golfers on the course by 11 a.m.  The clubhouse manager  says all the grounds work was finished several weeks ago, which means almost all  money coming in Sunday is profit.



\"We're excited, we're excited,\" Milwaukee County Parks Clubhouse Manager Jason Rosploch said. \"This time of year it's all bonus for  us, so it looks like we're going to have a great day.\"



Farther north in downtown Milwaukee, it looked more like winter at the ice rink in Red Arrow Park.

 


\"It's such an advantage in the city,\" skater Alan Kimmel said.  Kimmel brought his sons and daughter out to the rink.  \"It brings you downtown, gets you doing other  activities that you may not be doing in the winter and keeps you in the city where  there are other people enjoying similar activities.\"



Dozens of kids skated with moms and dads for free [unless renting skates] Sunday afternoon.  Back at Grant Park, it was mainly men on the course, whose wives chose to stay at home.



\"She just looked and smiled with that little knowing smile that 'You're an idiot.',\" Ols said.

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