const timeFormat = "15 Monday January 2006" func ParseDate(s string) (time.Time, error) { t, err := time.Parse(timeFormat, s) if err != nil { // time.Time{} returns January 1, year 1, 00:00:00.000000000 UTC // which according to the source code is the zero value for time.Time // https://golang.org/src/time/time.go#L23 return time.Time{}, err } return t, nil }