Deer Park Municipal Golf Course

Deer Park Golf Course sits on the western outskirts of Saskatchewan's sixth largest city, Yorkton. Established over a century ago in 1921, this 18 hole, Par 72 course is an example of early Canadian parkland design. In 1999, Canadian golf architects, Les Furber and Robert Kains collaborated in adding some of their refinements to the present configuration. In 2023, the addition of a sleek, modern clubhouse, complete with pro shop and restaurant looks out over the fairways.

With four separate tee markers (black, blue, white and red) on each of the large tee boxes, golfers can select the distance and difficulty that matches their comfort and ability. The scorecard could benefit golfers by offering a blue/white combination.

The course opens with a mid-length, 361 yard, Par 4 that moves gently left and plays slightly downhill to a green that sits 10 yards back of a dry stone creek bed.

Following that comes the stroke index 1 hole on the card. It also plays down hill and turns left to a fairly flat green sitting at the bottom of the hill. The ideal shot off the tee is a baby draw, not the big snap hook I pulled out of the bag.

The third is a demanding 189‑yard par 3, played straight uphill toward a hidden green perched high enough that you’ll need to decide if one or even two extra clubs are required to reach it. After the first few holes, you’ll have a solid feel for the challenges and demands that await you over the remaining holes.

Fairways for the most part are generous, averaging around 30 yards in width. Helping to define those corridors are mature trees that stand to the sides on many. On the short Par 4, 11th, the trees press in from either side making for a claustrophobic tee shot.

Stray from the crisply mown fairways and your ball can disappear quickly, thanks to rough that was noticeably inconsistent. A few balls simply vanished in grass running anywhere from three to eight inches deep. That kind of thick, tournament grade rough is perfectly fine for championship setups, but it bogged down the pace of play for myself and Kent, a golfer visiting from Flin Flon, MB, as well as other golfers playing a weekday round.

The greens have numerous undulations, swales and subtle breaks that required your full attention to score well. Their speed and pace was maintained consistently throughout the round.

The usual hazards include around 40 bunkers that are scattered throughout the course and water hazards that can affect play are only found on three holes on the back nine.

There are a number of memorable holes at Deer Park, holes 8 and 9 on the front and holes 12 and 16 on the back nine. For good measure the course sprinkles in a number of elevation changes, adding just the right amount of variety to keep the golfer engaged.

The course sits on rolling terrain and the routing of the holes follows those contours nicely. Intelligent shot selection and a smooth swing will go a long way towards an enjoyable round. The design of the course feels well balanced with a par 36 on each nine and you can expect to use every club in the bag as the course will test your abilities for accuracy, length and finesse.

Deer Park has always been in nice shape. With their nicely maintained giant greens to fresh cut fairways its a pleasure to play.

Speed if play was great but that could have been because it was 30 C

Great shape

great course

great new club house

food was outstanding

sadly still lots of winter kill

can’t wait to come back later in summer

Have played deer park prior. Always in nice condition

Deerpark was in good early season conditions. The completion of their brand new clubhouse is one of the best I’ve come across in some time. For a municipal course it’s great value and great amenities