The La Vérendrye Golf Course will not be closing any time soon.

Struggling for years to generate solid revenue, the La Broquerie-based business was scheduled to close at the end of this season. However, that all changed very recently.

“Worst case scenario, it would have been tilled up and turned into farmland,” suggests developer Ken Tallaire who says he did not want to watch the facility die. “I wanted to make sure we saved this golf course.”

Tallaire is both a longtime La Broquerie resident and the owner of T&T Properties. He says his company bought the 160-acre property towards the end of last month. Not an avid golfer himself, Tallaire admits he did not buy the land for nostalgia’s sake but rather as a business venture that will benefit his community.

“The goal is to keep the golf course running," he indicates. "It is hopefully going to stay as an 18-hole golf course for a long time yet, but we are looking at doing some development to make it more profitable.”

With a bit of beautification work and a few tweaks to the general landscaping, Tallaire believes the space may offer both recreational and residential opportunities.

“A couple of holes might become a little bit shorter, but there is a lot of land to develop in between the holes and in the current driving range,” he elaborates, “so we’ll be doing stuff like that.”

La Vérendrye golfers will be able to enjoy the grounds for many years to come.While he was the one to seal the deal, Tallaire was not the only one interested in acquiring the land. Indeed La Broquerie Council had, in their budget for the year, planned to purchase the $900,000 piece of property with money from their reserves. Under that initiative, they would have leased out the golf course to its owners, allowing it to continue to operate as usual.

Nevertheless, Reeve Lewis Weiss, says he was glad to learn of Tallaire’s intentions and relieved his council could scratch the expense from their books.

“I was very pleased to hear it,” remarks the reeve. “As an RM, I don’t feel that we should be in competition with our local developers. We wish them all the best!”

Weiss believes that any new housing units T&T properties plans on building in the area would be a great asset to the municipality.

The La Vérendrye clubhouseOn Tallaire’s new management team is Mitch Tétrault, a former La Vérendrye Golf Pro who is also very much in favor of the plan. To Tétrault, all of this is nostalgic.

“I started here as a ball collector when I was 12 years old and this was my whole life,” Tétrault recalls. “The opportunity to come back and to be involved in the future of this golf course is very very exciting for me.”

Part of Tétrault's role will include public relations. Already, he has been mulling over ideas on how to best maintain the facility’s the strong men’s league, create a ladies’ league, and host an increasing number of tournaments.

Meanwhile, La Vérendrye’s own Darren Dundas, will remain in his present station as superintendent.

All three men, Tallair, Tétrault, and Dundas, share a vision: that the golf course and surrounding land may be enjoyed by the people of La Broquerie for years to come. Tallaire will assume total possesion of the land in January of 2021.