His paternal grandfather settled here almost a century ago and Scharf has spent his whole life here. Like his ancestors who carved a living out of the prairie, Scharf has beaten the odds at almost every turn.

He has managed to make a living out of farming, he has created a manufacturing success story in a small Prairie town and both of his boys have opted to stay and build their lives here.

There are not many people in rural Saskatchewan who can brag about any one of those accomplishments, let alone all three.

By any normal economic yardstick, Perdue itself shouldn’t exist, Scharf says. “We’re defying the odds here.”

Certainly conventional wisdom would suggest that an 18-hole, championship golf course should not, could not exist here.

After all, the town of Perdue numbers only 350 people. Saskatoon is 70 km down the road, but there are no other significant population centres close by.

On the other hand, there is a huge market area from which to draw. If you were to drive west from here, the next nearest 18-hole courses would be either Lloydminster, some three and a half hours away, or Camrose, Alta.

Scharf is using the “field of dreams” theory on this project. He’s convinced that if he builds it, they will come. A beautiful 5,000 square foot clubhouse with a huge deck helps. First-class dining and a panoramic view of the course at the foot of the Bear Hills is a nice drawing card, too.

But like anything else, the real test will be in the quality of the product, and on that score, Scharf is confident the Perdue Oasis will measure up.

It was shaped by Calgary’s Glen Campbell, who had good raw material to work with. The course sits on a naturally rolling piece of terrain, so the builders could make it fit the landscape, rather than the other way around.

Scharf and his two boys, Nick, 25, and Mathew, 24, dug six ponds out of old sloughs on the property and have planted some 800 trees on the front nine, which opened last fall.

It’s what you might call “value added” for what was once a field of drought-stricken lentils.

If the weather co-operates, the back nine should be open by the end of May this year. With four different tees it will be short enough for duffers, but also long enough for the big hitters, measuring close to 7,000 yards from the back tees.

Ever the optimist, Scharf has already scoped out where a third nine will eventually go. What gives him confidence is his marketing experience and the knowledge that a good idea properly executed is always popular.

After a slow start Scharf achieved spectacular success with E-ZEEWRAP, a plastic wrap dispenser he designed in 1986. After seven straight years of losses with the initial design, the Saskatchewan Research Council’s Orville Olm came up with a plastic housing for the product, replacing the original metal container. In 1992, sales took off and E-ZEEWRAP became one of the fastest growing companies in the country, notching millions of dollars in sales every year.

Today, E-ZEEWRAP is sold in major outlets like Zellers and Canadian Tire and Wal Mart across the country and into the U.S. From his small assembly plant in Perdue, Scharf figures he has shipped a million units. He’s also had some success with twp subsequent products, a plastic lettuce knife and a plastic bagel knife.

The marketing savvy he learned in the kitchen Scharf is now applying to the world of golf. He’s already put miniature copies of the clubhouse menu in thousands of mailboxes from Provost, Alta. to Saskatoon, and a series of coupon promotions are on the way. Still, he admits that if he’d asked for expert advice on this idea, it likely wouldn’t have been built.

“What we’re trying to create here is a course that’s second to none. A high end course. There’s no sense us doing what every other small community is doing, or we’d starve. There’s no sense doing something you know isn’t working. Of course they also say this won’t work either. But it might.”

If it does, it will be a long term economic boost for the entire community. It will bring more people into Perdue and other businesses will benefit from the increased traffic.

Scharf is a born entrepreneur, a bona fide Saskatchewan success story. He’s a guy the provincial government could learn from as it fashions an economic policy for the new century.

Scharf’s Rule No. 1 would be to let business take care of business. For example, juggling employee’s schedules in order to accommodate available – hours legislation is not encouraging, Scharf says. The ultimate effect will be to stifle investment and risk-taking, he believes.

“It makes you wonder, if you were to do it again, what you would do. It’s not a good thing.”

In spite of that, Scharf is a firm believer the province’s future is so bright not even the government can ruin it.

“Saskatchewan’s got a lot going for it,” he says.

“It’s just a matter of time.”