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Saskatoon golfer David Beck thought moving Wildwood Golf Course sounded like a bad idea even before he heard how much money a city report suggests the city could lose.
City hall would lose at least $20.9 million if it relocated the course and redeveloped half of its land for new housing, the report says.
Coun. Zach Jeffries got narrow support from city council last year for a study into relocating the nearly-century-old golf course to make way for housing and establishing a new one at an unspecified location.
The request sparked controversy and concern among golfers who use the 18-hole course in the summer and cross-country skiers who use its groomed trails in winter.
“This [course] is needed,” Beck said Thursday as he prepared to start a round at the 18-hole course located along Eighth Street in the Wildwood neighbourhood.
“This is essential to the city. It has been … for decades and I think it will continue to be.”
The city report, written by special projects consultant Andrew Roberts, details the costs of building a new course, servicing the land and retaining about half of the current 110 acres for park space.
The estimated revenue from converting the land to housing development and selling it is pegged at $61 million, but the cost of building a new course of similar quality and servicing the land is set at $81.9 million.
The price tag for a new course is estimated at $31 million, including $8 million for buying land and $23 million to build the course and new facilities like a clubhouse.
It’s also expected that converting 55 acres of the current course to park space would cost $6.8 million.
But the largest cost associated with the relocation is identified as the $44 million it would cost to prepare the site for housing development, such as building water and sewer infrastructure and roads.
Bob Lee, treasurer of the Wildwood Men’s Section, poses in a golf cart at Wildwood Golf Club on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026 in Saskatoon (Phil Tank/CBC)Busiest 18-hole course in Sask.
Those estimates do not include the borrowing costs for the $31 million in new spending to build a new golf course nor the operational cost for new park space.
Saskatoon’s three city-owned public golf courses pay for themselves through the fees charged to golfers, but maintenance of park space is paid for through property taxes.
Bob Lee, treasurer of the Wildwood Men’s Section, which boasts about 200 members, pointed to the estimate cited at city council in December that any new course would be 10 to 12 years away.
That means inflation and other economic factors would affect any estimates on the cost of building a new course, Lee added.
“Some of the people were quite worried that, you know, the course was going to disappear,” he said in an interview at the course on Thursday.
“To take away a golf course that’s the number one 18-hole golf course in Saskatchewan and rebuild in a different location that’s probably going to be five miles away, it just doesn’t seem to make sense.”
Lee said the course hosted 42,023 rounds of golf last year, more than any other 18-hole courses in the province. The second-highest number of rounds, 39,124, was played at the private Saskatoon Golf & Country Club.
Wildwood also appeals to both seniors and junior golfers, Lee said, proudly pointing out the sign identifying the course as the home of the 1989 Canadian junior champion.
Council’s planning, development and community services committee will consider the report on Wednesday.
Messages seeking comment from Jeffries and Coun. Scott Ford, who represents the area where Wildwood is located, got no response.
Wildwood Golf Course dates back to 1931. City hall bought it 1964 with the intention of developing the land for housing at some point, but Saskatoon voters twice rejected the idea of redeveloping it, in 1976 and 1980.