A little south of Prince Albert and east of Saskatoon you will find one of Saskatchewan’s most beautiful regional parks and another “hidden gem” golf course near Wakaw.
Established in 1965, Wakaw Lake Regional Park is supported by five surrounding rural municipalities. The park features all the amenities you’d expect from a Saskatchewan regional park including camping, boating, fishing, marina, a beach, swimming, playground, mini golf and a breath taking nine-hole golf course.
“This is one of those hidden gems,” said Gord Asmussen, the golf club president. “People come out from Saskatoon, Prince Albert, southern Saskatchewan, what they find here is one of the nicest golf courses in the province, especially for nine-hole courses. The views and the vistas they get off some of the tee boxes are second to none.”
The course plays between 5,442 yards 6,310 yards over 18 holes and spread across three sets of tees. Long sloping fairways, elevated tees, water hazards and mature tree lines make for a challenging round at Wakaw Lake according to Asmussen.
“I think you get to use every club. The starter is a short par-five, then you have a short par-four guarded by water on the left and trees on the right. The par-threes are reachable for almost all golfers, there is a 590-yard par-five so that challenges even those big ball hitters. There is a little bit of everything. There is one dogleg par-four guarded by trees, it’s a challenging little course,” he said.
With that being said, there is 150 campsites in the park so the course plays family friendly.
“Everybody can play,” Asmussen said. “With the campground here we have a lot of people come out and camp and golf as a family.”
In recent years the course has had flooding issues along their picturesque second hole, but they have alleviated the water issues by installing a 16-inch pipe under the fairway that drains from the bottom of a north hill into a holding pond. The pipe continues along the course and drains into the lake. The work was completed last year, and the stakeholders could not be happier with how the work turned out. Park administrator Rick Kindrachuk said project, led by long-time superintendent Dean Hildebrandt has worked amazingly.
“It was a worthwhile venture,” he said. “The water hazard has added not only some beauty and a challenge to the course, but it’s also taken care of our drainage problems as well.”
The club has over 200 members from nearby Wakaw and the surrounding RM’s and communities. They feature weekly men’s and ladies’ leagues and have junior golf programs in place. There is a full service, licensed clubhouse and the course recently purchased a new beverage cart. The drainage issue was the number one factor for the board of directors that manage the course, but other upgrades are being undertaken. They have built or expanded on five of the tee boxes plus the crew and volunteers built a potentially problematic bunker off the right side of the ninth green.
Kindrachuk said the partnership the golf club board has with the operating body of the park works great and allows for seamless work with everyone involved.
“The park works extremely well with the golf club. We have much more here than the course but with a nine-hole facility as beautiful as this one it looks after itself and we can focus on other things,” he said.
The course also features several tournaments through out the year led by their men’s event that sells out every year and has a waiting list.
For more information on Wakaw Lake Golf Course click here.