The Early Years

An Idea, A Vision
Jens Nerlien decided in 1962 to convert a quarter section of farm land into a golf course.  Jens and Hazel had built the original Nerlien's North Star service station (later known as Nerlien's Shell followed by Fisherman's Cove) at Greenwater Lake in 1959 as Jens saw the potential for tourism in this part of Saskatchewan.  Although he had little knowledge of the game of golf, he hires as a consultant Tisdale golf pro Brian Greene and subsequently course designer Marlyn Thompson to design and lay out the original course.

The original course was laid out as follows:

• The club house was situated roughly where the current #8 tee box is located.
   
• #1 was similar to the current #8 - roughly 243 yards uphill.
   
• #2 was similar to the current #9 - downhill dog leg left over the creek.
   
• #3 was similar to the current #1 except much shorter - roughly 273 yards.
   
• #4 was originally a dog leg right, through the trees and south to a green located down from the current #4 tee box and short of the current #3 green - approximately 340 years.  #4 was later redesigned to be a Par 3 over the trees with the green in the location of the current #2.
   
• #5 was originally where #4 is now.
   
• #6 was similar to the current #5 except a bit shorter.  The green was in front of the bush.
   
• #7 originally went east of the current #6 tee box down into the lowland near the road.  This was a short Par 3.
   
• #8 was a Par 4 running south to north along the grid road.  The green was in the south west corner of the current overflow campground.  This hole, along with 7 and 9 had to be moved because the lowland was too difficult to drain with the equipment of the day.
   
• #9 was a Par 4 over the hill.  The tee box was in the south west corner of the current overflow campground, the fairway ran over the hill with a dog leg right to a green roughly located where the current #7 green is situated.  An interesting aside, the club house attendant had to be careful as good golfers of the day would occasionally drive the ball past the green and into the club house!

Many hours were spent by the Nerlien family (Jens, Hazel, Andy, Hubert and Brenda) as well as locals Glen Johnson, Jim Adam, Glenn Prybylski and others who worked on the tedious jobs of hand picking stones as small as golf balls and moving and planting trees.  The spruce trees up the hill between the original #1 and #2 were all hand watered for the first few years (many five gallon pails were carried up the hill).  The course had sand greens for many years.  These required daily raking and annual re-sanding.  The sand was local and was screened and mixed with waste oil from the service station and other local farmers' waste.

The club house included rentals, both left and right handed, and sales of balls, tees, pop, chips and chocolate bars. There were no clothes, shoes or club sales.  The rentals were basic 7 club Spalding sets, both right and left hand.  Golf course supplies were purchased by catalogue and/or from a traveling salesman.

Hubert spent most of his summers mowing, raking and managing the course, beginning at the age of 10.  Later Andy and Brenda assumed those duties.  Jens and Hazel managed the store, service station, post office and fried chicken outlet and the welder dealership (located just north of the current Fisherman's Cove).  Jens also farmed the land south and west of the golf course.  He passed away in 1968 and Andy assumed the farming responsibilities.

Some of the early golfers included locals like Merv Miller and Jerry Mathieu.  Golfers from surrounding communities include Harold and Mary Graham, David and Leslie Luciuk, Elmer Logan, Eric Chase (grandfather of current owner Kelly Chase), Jack Fletcher, Gordon and Geraldine Johnson (parents of current owner Gerald Johnson), John Benz, Bud Clarke, Tom Adams (farther of Beryl, Andy Templeton, Lawrence Ford (Father in Law of current owner Vernon Armitage) and Victor Ceslak.

Other early golfers included lawyer Jack Eisner, recalled as one of the best golfers to play regularly in the early days, and Senator Dave Steward.  Of not, Leslie Luciuk was known to play from early morning 'till dusk, never tiring of the game.  Seniors who had never seen the game took it up with fervor.  Of note were Glen Reed (who was believed to chase cattle in the pasture with a golf club and ball in hand) and current players like Ivan Popoff, still playing well in his mid-80's.

The golf course was sold to the Saskatchewan government in 1973 and was managed by the park for a number of years prior to a group from Porcupine Plain assuming management, followed by the current ownership group, which assumed management in 1996.

Jens Nerlien passed away in January 1968.  He would be very proud of the current course, its continued vision of good golf and good service.

"Play well and have fun."