Golfing in Manitoba

[Taynted_Fayth]

Been thinking about starting this thread for a while,  but keep forgetting.

Just curious where everyone enjoys golfing the most? any hidden gems out there maybe off the radar?

For me the best golf course I've ever played in MB was in Buffalo Point at the Lake of the Sandhills Golf Course (MB/ONT/Minn boarder near Lake of the Woods).  My cousin's husband used to manage it so he invited us out for a free round a few summers ago.  The way they keep the course is simply other worldly compared to most city courses, and even most of the rural ones I've tried. The views over several holes are awesome too, here's an example of one hole;

If ur ever camping around there or willing to do the drive I'd highly recommend it. 

I'm about to try Pinawa Golf Course tomorrow morning for the first time, hope it's a nice course for the drive.

 

 

[bb1]

19 minutes ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

Been thinking about starting this thread for a while,  but keep forgetting.

Just curious where everyone enjoys golfing the most? any hidden gems out there maybe off the radar?

For me the best golf course I've ever played in MB was in Buffalo Point at the Lake of the Sandhills Golf Course (MB/ONT/Minn boarder near Lake of the Woods).  My cousin's husband used to manage it so he invited us out for a free round a few summers ago.  The way they keep the course is simply other worldly compared to most city courses, and even most of the rural ones I've tried. The views over several holes are awesome too, here's an example of one hole;

If ur ever camping around there or willing to do the drive I'd highly recommend it. 

I'm about to try Pinawa Golf Course tomorrow morning for the first time, hope it's a nice course for the drive.

 

 

Pinawa is my favorite. It is probably not the best course in Manitoba but it's natural beauty imo can't be beat! ?

[Taynted_Fayth]

Just now, bb1 said:

Pinawa is my favorite. It is probably not the best course in Manitoba but it's natural beauty imo can't be beat! ?

good to hear! I was told if I was going to Pinawa I should check out some dam while I'm there.  I tried Granite Hills a while back on Lac Du Bonnet, that was a nice course as well 

[Atomic]

Favourite course in the province is Clear Lake.  They keep it in excellent shape and it has every amenity you could hope for.  Part of it comes right down next to the lake.  Total beauty.

Falcon Lake used to my favourite before I golfed Clear Lake.  Another beautiful course that's always well-maintained.

Hecla is awesome, of course.  A bit of a hassle to get there but it's usually not busy for that reason.  Gorgeous.

Honourable mentions to: Teulon, Pinawa, Granite Hills.  Links at the Lake by Gimli won't knock your socks off but it's a decent course as well.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Atomic

[Taynted_Fayth]

18 minutes ago, Atomic said:

Favourite course in the province is Clear Lake.  They keep it in excellent shape and it has every amenity you could hope for.  Part of it comes right down next to the lake.  Total beauty.

Falcon Lake used to my favourite before I golfed Clear Lake.  Another beautiful course that's always well-maintained.

Hecla is awesome, of course.  A bit of a hassle to get there but it's usually not busy for that reason.  Gorgeous.

Honourable mentions to: Teulon, Pinawa, Granite Hills.  Links at the Lake by Gimli won't knock your socks off but it's a decent course as well.

that disappoints me,  I literally lived right outside Riding Mountain in Erickson, Onanole and Minnedosa for about a year and never once thought to try Clear Lake Golf.  I did Sandy Lake Golf Course just west of there because it was free,  but it was nothing worth writing home about.

Though not many of the people I was living/working with out there were into golf so it wasn't really a topic that came up ever, and they certainly weren't the people to recommend anything lol.  Guess if I ever venture back that way I'll have to try it out

[Noeller]

So I'm born and raised in Pinawa and am biased but I believe it's the nicest public course in Manitoba. Stunningly beautiful and really tough to score low, especially if you've never played it. Some long and narrow holes. Bring lots of golf balls and be prepared to get a cart cause you don't wanna walk it! 

 

Clear Lake is nice, but in my mind is overrated. If you're in t Parkland area, do yourself a favour and play Gilbert Plains instead. Gorgeous course!! 

Minnewasta is one of my faves... Gorgeous finishing hole... One of the nicest in Manitoba. 

We have a cabin at Victoria Beach, so we play Grand Pines a fair bit and our little resort 9er in VB... Both are nice for what they are. 

[Taynted_Fayth]

2 minutes ago, Noeller said:

So I'm born and raised in Pinawa and am biased but I believe it's the nicest public course in Manitoba. Stunningly beautiful and really tough to score low, especially if you've never played it. Some long and narrow holes. Bring lots of golf balls and be prepared to get a cart cause you don't wanna walk it! 

 

Clear Lake is nice, but in my mind is overrated. If you're in t Parkland area, do yourself a favour and play Gilbert Plains instead. Gorgeous course!! 

Minnewasta is one of my faves... Gorgeous finishing hole... One of the nicest in Manitoba. 

We have a cabin at Victoria Beach, so we play Grand Pines a fair bit and our little resort 9er in VB... Both are nice for what they are. 

My dad was just mentioning earlier today Grand Pines is on his to do list. Will probably hit it up one day this summer - likely a golf/beach day.

Though not in Manitoba, when I spent a summer out in Grande Cache Alberta I tried the golf course there, what an awe striking course strictly for the mountain ranges.  One hole you're pretty much shooting the ball about 50 ft downhill.  Probably a high risk course though, I was working for Parks Alberta at the time and heard of mountain lions attacking people in Hinton, so I have to imagine they see lots of bears and other wildlife at both courses.

I'm a little surprised at the lack of more dangerous wildlife at the MB courses I've tried. I've seen plenty of bears heading to the courses,  but never seen anything more than the random deer and geese... good god the geese! Played Kingswood a few weeks ago and hole 10 was literally an entire fairway of goose poop :s

[Noeller]

We definitely have some nice ones in AB. It goes without saying that the courses in the Mountains (Kananaskis, Canmore, Banff) are ridiculous, but one of the best courses in the whole province (maybe Top 5, for me) is Innisfail, about 15 minutes south of Red Deer. Just incredible. Also, in Olds, we made Golf Digest "Top 50 Courses For Under $50" in North America. Awesome  links style course that's always in great shape. 

[Taynted_Fayth]

You guys were right, pinawa is a very beautiful course, especially holes 8, 9 and 16. The bugs were pretty crazy at 10am but tapered off by hole 5.

Ive never seen carts before with a on-board navigator. GPS tracking so you can see where you are on the course map, and distance from where you are per hole to center of the green. Digital score keeping on it as well as hole previews that give you tips per hole.  that was impressive.

Only lost 2 balls tho, but one I hit a goose on hole 8 and it ricocheted into the water hugging the left side lol

Overall very nice course and challenging.  Id definitely do it again, but prob do a 3 day plan to do pinawa 1 day, granite hills another and lac du bonnet on the 3rd since its kind of in the same area give or take a 20 min drive

[bb.king]

It's not Manitoba, but I played this course once in the late 90's when I was doing some work in the Northwest Territories: http://www.fortsimpsonchamber.ca/featured-post-5/.

It had sand "greens" that you were supposed to rake after you were done, although it looks like they may have changed that now. Every time you stopped for your next shot you immediately had a cloud of gnats and black-flies that would swarm you. But it was worth it so I could always tell my brother (who is an avid golfer) that I played golf further north than him!

[Taynted_Fayth]

7 minutes ago, bb.king said:

It's not Manitoba, but I played this course once in the late 90's when I was doing some work in the Northwest Territories: http://www.fortsimpsonchamber.ca/featured-post-5/.

It had sand "greens" that you were supposed to rake after you were done, although it looks like they may have changed that now. Every time you stopped for your next shot you immediately had a cloud of gnats and black-flies that would swarm you. But it was worth it so I could always tell my brother (who is an avid golfer) that I played golf further north than him!

never had to rake a green but I keep thinking of Mars Sandhills in that they built the entire, or the majority of the course overtop of sand. It's great to reduce water on the course but I seem to remember it slowing down the ball in the fairways and causing some issues on the green.

That cloud of gnats and black flies sounds like what I was dealing with for the first 5 holes. No amount of bug spray seemed to keep them at bay,  I was certain they were Horseflies but they didn't bite so probably just some juiced up reg flies

[Jacquie]

On 05/07/2017 at 1:21 PM, Taynted_Fayth said:

that disappoints me,  I literally lived right outside Riding Mountain in Erickson, Onanole and Minnedosa for about a year and never once thought to try Clear Lake Golf.  I did Sandy Lake Golf Course just west of there because it was free,  but it was nothing worth writing home about.

Though not many of the people I was living/working with out there were into golf so it wasn't really a topic that came up ever, and they certainly weren't the people to recommend anything lol.  Guess if I ever venture back that way I'll have to try it out

When did you live there? When I was a teenager I lived at RMNP (in staff housing) and went to school in Onanole and Erickson. I still know people who live in Erickson. 

[Goalie]

Not in to golf as much as i was... But... Quarry Oaks.. The Larters at St Andrews were awesome. Also i cant recall the name.. Its out near Warren out highway 6... Great course... Rolling hills.. Very England/UK ish... Whats it called... Maybe its South Interlake but not 100 percent sure... I actually like the one well 2 closest to my lake.. Manipogo in St Laurent and Lundar Golf Course in well Lundar... Both out highway 6. 

 

Really liked all those when i played back in the day... Ofcourse Pine Ridge is also pretty sweet and also liked Rat River. Theres actually quite a few really good ones not far away. 

[Taynted_Fayth]

8 hours ago, Jacquie said:

When did you live there? When I was a teenager I lived at RMNP (in staff housing) and went to school in Onanole and Erickson. I still know people who live in Erickson. 

I started out in Onanole in the winter of 2009, was living above the antique shop right next to the ice cream shop, then got a place a few months later on 1st street in erickson. Was there for the majority of my time in western Man then spent a bit of time in Minnedosa before moving back to Winnipeg. I was about 26-27 at the time so I was too old for school