Whether this is the ending of an era, the ending of a small-town Saskatchewan golf course or the ending of a farm diversification project, it is unsure, but it is true the owners and managers of Antler Acres Golf Course will retire soon and end their era.
For a while, small towns in Saskatchewan have been getting smaller and smaller as people seem to be flocking to the cities.
One of the ways to keep people moving to small towns is having good recreational activities close at hand, such as the case with Antler Acres. The course is located 3 & 1/2 miles northeast of Churchbridge.
Antler Acres Golf Course and Country Club was established back in 1989 by Deb Dedels who manages and co-owns it with her husband Dennis. At the time, they decided to diversify their quarter section of land and build a passion they had which was a golf course.
“A lot of people thought we were crazy for building a golf course in our pasture land and it took a few years to really take off,” explained Deb.
This golf course is a gorgeous 9 hole grass green golf course that had a small $75000 start-up cost and years of long hard work that usually has 4 legged visitors from the local deer, thus the name.
“Back when we first opened (the golf course) we would have around 120 deer walking across the fairways morning and night,” claimed Deb Dedels, smiling with the delight of talking about the roots of the golf course.
For many years local residents have stopped by the course to whack at a few balls as they slice and hook their way down the fairways of this cute little golf course to the grass greens.
The Kevin Kaminski Charity Golf Tournament was always a big draw for the course and even brought in the Hanson Brothers, for those of us who have watched Slapshot.
The Hanson Brothers were as entertaining as the golf tournament was, as they joined many pictures with fans including the Dedels’ dogs.
Sitting and talking to the Dedels, one can see the passion and pride they have for their golfing and golf course that for no other reason than health issues they need to finally look into selling. “If it wasn’t for health issues we would still be running this golf course,” said Dennis.
The course sits on a quarter section of land with the house the Dedels have lived in since 1979. The house has been in Deb’s family a lot longer which is why the Dedels wish to be able to live out their days on the 20 acres that they would like subdivided from the rest of the land.
The golf course itself occupies 90 acres of the quarter section and has been well maintained. The course is considered one of the “fun” golf courses to golf at, with course rules not as stringent as most.
That leaves about 50 acres that could easily be developed into more tee boxes, fairways and grass greens or any other sort of recreation including a gun and archery club driving range or even a motocross track or quad trails; the potential is remarkable.
This recreation area is a steal of a deal for around the $550,000 that any investor may make a decent profit at.
Recreation close to a town draws people to visit and moves them to the town. Losing a part of the recreation could have a fair amount of impact on the area. Dedels hopes that someone can carry their dream and passion into the future and have as much satisfaction as it has given them throughout the years.
By Gary Horseman
Four-Town+ Journal