For many Saskatchewan golfers, and likely more only dreaming of a warm, golf getaway this winter, Golf Saskatchewan had some fun on some sand closer to home.
Pike Lake Provincial Park Golf Course is a nine-hole sand green designed by Bill Kinnear located in park outside Saskatoon, opening in 1922 for the cost of $0.25 a day. The course (now without flagsticks for the season) is free with your provincial park pass, so the cost has actually gone down.
Kinnear is also behind the designs of Saskatoon Golf and Country Club and the host of the 2024 Canadian Amateur Men’s Championship, Riverside Country Club.
This week during an unusually warm December day, Golf Saskatchewan Executive Director Brian Lee played a quick nine at the course, and also took along a Stimpmeter to show how it works, and just how the ball rolls, on the beachy surface.
When courses are discussed among players (it’s a common question, how were the greens?!) the putting surface speed and condition is always among the chatter.
Of course sand green courses will always roll slower than now traditional grass putting surfaces, but for many small communities like The Eddy at Earl Grey), Bengough Regional Park Golf Club, and the Robertdale Golf & Country Club in Radville, plus many more across in Saskatchewan. It’s estimated that 60 sand green courses still exist in the province.
In the end the hole is still 4.25″ wide and the opportunity to play our beautiful game remains, right here at home.
Saskatchewan Sand Green Championship
The Frontier Golf Course has shown interest in revitalizing the Saskatchewan Sand Green Championship by hosting the event, which at one point was the province’s highest attended event of the summer.
The last time the championship was held was 1988. See more details here on the events’ history.
Stay tuned for more details on the potential return of the event.