TWIN LAKES GOLF RESORT MEMBERS SITE
HISTORY OF THE GOLF COURSE
PASTURE
TO RESORT
The Twin Lakes Golf Resort was
once a scrub
pasture owned by George and Katherine Learne who tried to make a living
dry
land farming on it from 1933 to 1945. They raised a few turkeys and had
about a
dozen milk cows but Mrs. Learne remembers their farm as being a
"starvation place". They had no way to keep their milk
from souring before they could get it to town
to sell, so she made butter out of it. She recalls churning all day to
make 35
pounds of butter and once a week she would take her butter to Penticton
to be
delivered to private homes and sold to Craigs store on Main Street. The
Learnes
sold their place to the Sutherland family in 1945 and moved to the
Keremeos
area, where Mrs. Learne still resided in 1994.
The Sutherlands were running
the Twin Lakes
Dude Ranch at this time and they used the pasture as the 'maternity
ward' for
their mares and a large old hay barn, built before the Learnes arrived,
came in
very handy for storing hay for the winter. They also found that the
area made a
lovely evening ride for their guests. In 1959, deciding they had "had
enough of horses and women", as D. Sutherland says, they sub-divided
their
ranch, selling the dude ranch to the Johnson family and the cattle
ranch and
pasture to R. A. Wassman. Mr. Wassman drilled two wells on the north
part of
the pasture and, through irrigation, turned the pasture into a
beautiful
hayfield. Around 1968 he started to develop the golf course and at the
time of
his death in 1970 he had partially completed the first nine holes and
had the
lodge framed in. The golf course was run by a caretaker until it was
purchased
from the Wassman Estate in 1975 by the Shillitto family.
When the Shillittos purchased
Twin Lakes Golf
Course they had a dream of what they would like it to become, and were
determined to reach their goal on their own. With a lot of hard work
and by
putting all the profits back into the golf course, they are now seeing
their
dream becoming a reality. This has been a family run business with Ken
at the
helm as General Manager, son Rick as Superintendent of the Golf Course,
daughter Debbie as Bar Manager and Lil supervising the famous Friday
Night
Smorg. They spent the first five years, from 1975 to 1980 finishing the
original 9 holes and the lodge. In 1984 they started plans for the
second 9
holes at the south end of the property and in 1986 Twin Lakes became an
eighteen hole golf course. In
1990 an RV
Park was added for the convenience of the travelling golfers, and this
has
become more popular each year.
In
1987
Ken's brother Francis, a share holder not involved in running the
business,
sold his shares to Tanlin International Inc. which brought Bill Kaiser
into the
family business. Bill recently took on Marketing and Development.
Anyone
travelling the White Lake Road will have noticed the beautiful new
homes being
built at the south end of the course. These homes are a part of a new
subdivision being put in by the Golf Course, with an additional six
lots
becoming available in April. Future plans include accommodations in the
form of
cabins or a lodge, and a large recreation centre - complete with indoor
swimming pool, tennis courts, weight room, etc. In other words,
everything a
resort requires to attract the travelling golfers will be offered at
Twin Lakes
Golf Resort. All of these additions and improvements have been
carefully
considered with the needs of the community in mind, such as the
installation of
a new watering system, which will save a considerable amount of water.
Debbie
has also been working at forming a volunteer fire department for the
Twin Lakes
area.
The golf course has been a
major employer in
the Twin Lakes area over the last 20 years, employing local talent
whenever
possible. This means that most of the local teenagers are able to find
employment
and at the same time learn the wonderful game of golf. At present a
full time
seasonal staff of 20 to 22 and around 8 part time people are employed.
The
number of employees will grow along with the expansion of the Resort
area.
Twin Lakes Golf Course opens
officially on
April 1st and the first Friday Night Smorg for this year will take
place
on Friday the 22nd
of April.
Congratulations to the
Shillitto family - that
old scrub pasture is no longer the "starvation place" but is now a
favourite area for golfers and diners alike.
Addendum
The golf course was sold by the Shillitto family in January 2008. It was bought by a private group that plans on developing the adjacent properties for housing. The two majority share holders include a commercial real estate developer, Suki Sekhon, who lives in North Vancouver with offices in Vancouver, and Chris Couzelis, an accountant with offices in Richmond, BC. According to published articles, Richard Zokol and his partner Armen Suny, golf course designers, have had preliminary discussions with the new owners on redesign of the golf course which will depend on the housing phase of the development commencing.
On March 18, 2010 Greg Pidlaski was appointed Manager/Head Professional. Prior to his new role at Twin Lakes Golf, Pidlaski served as Head Golf Professional at Kelowna Golf & Country Club for 19 years and is a former touring professional on the Canadian, South African, European, New Zealand and Australia Tours.
