On the second leg of our Saskatchewan trip we headed about two hours southeast of Regina to the region called Moose Mountain, just north of Carlyle in the southeast corner of the province.
If you think you had Saskatchewan wrong — that there are actually mountains in the province — well, not quite. Moose Mountain is only a couple hundred feet above the flat plane that is most of southern and central Saskatchewan. So it is hardly a “mountain”.
But that small increase in elevation is enough to give the Moose Mountain area a slightly different climate — not quite as hot, and a bit more rain. And this slightly increased moisture is enough to sustain a dense natural aspen forest.
Near the southern entrace to the Moose Mountain region you’ll find Lake Kenosee, and that is where we spent several days exploring the area and playing its two golf courses.
Virtually across the road from the Lake Kenosee Inn is Golf Kenosee, a course that is part of the park and is maintained by the park itself. I had heard that this course is undergoing renovations. I decided just to go out for a quick round by myself on the day we arrived in the area.
Sure enough, on the back there was a fair bit of hole redesigning going on. Although all the holes were playable, with real greens, there were long stretches of new fairway being built that will eventually lengthen some of the holes significantly.
I was more interested in playing White Bear Golf Course which is back down the road about 10 miles towards Carlyle. This course is located on the White Bear First Nations Reserve, and I had heard it is a notch above Kenosee.
Indeed, that proved to be the case. White Bear is beautifully maintained, with nicely kept fairways, large, challenging greens, and bunkers filled with fine, white sand — pretty rare in Saskatchewan.
Like so many courses in eastern Canada, White Bear is cut right out of the forest, creating a sense of welcome isolation from your fellow golfers (of whom there were very few). But watch out for those mosquito’s!!!
White Bear is certainly worth a visit on your next trip to the Moose Mountain region.
