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The City of Summerside is thinking about taking up golf.
It issued a request for expressions of interest for partners who are interested in developing and operating a public course in the municipality.
JP Desrosiers, the city’s chief administrative officer, said residents and tourism operators have expressed a desire to have a golf course in Summerside for a number of years.
“It’s a temperature measurement on the interest. We are not golf course experts as a municipality,” Desrosiers told CBC News.
“We see ourselves as a facilitator in this, but this initial phase … is just to determine whether or not there’s interested parties in looking at Summerside for golf.”
A study released in May by Golf P.E.I. and a consultant found that 433,200 golfers teed off in the province in 2025, with 49 per cent of them coming from outside of P.E.I. (Aaron Adetuyi/CBC)
The city’s push for a concept comes on the heels of a report from Golf P.E.I. and a consultant that found the sport has a significant economic impact for Prince Edward Island.
Released in May, the study found that 433,200 golfers teed off in the province in 2025, with 49 per cent of them coming from outside of P.E.I.
“I would argue that, as a result of not having a course within the city, we’re losing out on that value,” Desrosiers said.
He said a group or individual with a history of developing and operating golf courses “would certainly be an asset.”
There are few details related to funding and operations as of now, and Desrosiers said “we are really at the ground-floor level of gauging interest.”
“I don’t think our tourism operators in Summerside are getting the value that they could be out of golf just simply because of our geographical location to the nearby courses,” he said.
“I think this is just one of those pieces of the puzzle that we’re trying to find.”
The closing date for the request for expressions of interest is July 3.