The York Lake Golf & Country Club was first known as the Yorkton Golf Club which was formed in the Spring of 1921. The 9 Hole course was first laid out by John A. Scott on land owned by Dr. T.V. Simpson on the site of what is now the Deer Park Golf Course. The 2995 yard Par 36 course opened on May 24,1922.
The Executive of the Yorkton Golf Club felt the sale price for Dr. Simpsons land was too high, so in the Spring of 1924, a decision was made to purchase land owned by Edward Spice of Winnipeg, on the current location of the York Lake Golf & Country Club. During this process the Yorkton Golf Club changed the name to the Yorkton Country Club.
Brigadier General Alexander Ross, chairman of the greens committee of the Yorkton Golf Club, and John Scott, the club professional, together with an architect visited the new links and completed the layout for the new 9-hole , 3123 yard course by the end of August, 1924. Sufficient land was left for the extension to an 18 hole course without much alteration.
First play on the course was on May 24, 1926, with Albert Kam as the club professional.
In 1937 the club re-organized as "The Southwood Golf Course". In the mid-1950's the Southwood Golf Association donated the land and golf course to the crown for "perpetual use as a golf course", which ultimately would become part of the York Lake Regional Park and would later be incorporated as " The York Lake Golf & Country Club Inc.'
Following a series of floods, beginning in 2010, the back nine became unplayable and efforts to restore the back nine were squashed with another devastating flood in 2013. York Lake operated as a 9-hole course until the Spring of 2019, when 3 holes from the previous back nine had been re-constructed and incorporated into the front 9 to make the York Lake Golf and Country Club the first 12-hole golf course in the community.
*The above information was derived from historical information compiled by Donald J Childs*
