P.A. Golf & Curling Centre unveil first title sponsor in its 58-year history

“This was the first time we had the chance, and somebody applied to it, so we took the opportunity to invite them on board,” said Pat Bibby, speaking on behalf of the board. “We have a lot of sponsors, but not a title sponsor.”

She added that they send out a sponsor package to businesses around the city annually, and Lakeland Towing were the first to step up and take the title sponsor after being approached with the idea, becoming the first since the centre’s inception.

With the new guys on board, Bibby said that the name change is the only move happening for now as they’ll head back to the drawing board and round table within the following months.

“We’ll work with them and work out some things that they would like to see get done.”

According to Lakeland Towing owner Mike Schroeder, he and the board had several discussions about the renaming and said it’s the beginning of a broader footprint the company wants to have locally.

“It’s mostly just to give back to the community,” he said.

“We don’t know where it’ll go, we’ll figure that out when time comes,” when asked what the next steps are.

The roots of the Prince Albert Golf & Curling Centre can be traced back to 1909 when a group of Scottish immigrants formed the Prince Albert Golf Club and laid out a small nine-hole course southeast of the city. In the 1920’s, plans were made to upgrade the course to an 18-hole course.

Hubert Cooke became the club’s first golf professional in 1925 and took the reins over the course, as the expansion of the course was eventually completed in July 1935.

It wasn’t until the 1960’s when the decision was made to combine the golf and curling operations in the city, and 1967 was when the construction of the Prince Albert Golf & Curling Centre officially began. The building was completed a year later and successfully brought the two sports together under one roof with a curling rink, restaurant, pro shop, locker rooms, and spaces for meetings and banquets. At the time, it was touted as one of the top curling centres in the province.

Since then, the centre has hosted more than its fair share of top tier tournaments. In curling, some of those notable championships include the Canadian Senior Men’s Championship in 1972, the Canadian Junior Men’s and Women’s Championships in 1987 and 2019, and the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship in 1984, 2005, and 2022.

For golf, Cooke Municipal Golf Course is widely regarded as not just a top course in the province, but across the entire country as it was most recently ranked #66 on SCOREGolf’s ‘Canada’s Best Public Golf Courses’ list for 2025.

Today, the course hosts its own prestigious tournaments like the Northern Championships as well as major provincial and national championships, like the Canadian Club Champions Championship in 1999. Cooke Municipal also hosted a qualifying round for the PGA Tour Canada Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open in June 2023, the first professional event to be held at the course.

The Centre celebrated its 50th anniversary in Sept. 2018 and underwent major renovations in 2020 to transform and improve the Rock & Iron Sports Bar, as well as the curling rink itself which needed surfacing repairs and roof work.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

by Logan Lehmann

P.A. Golf & Curling Centre unveil first title sponsor in its 58-year history

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