The 18-hole Yellowknife golf course will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2008. Stretched across a scenic rock and sand course, the club features a pro shop, club and cart rentals, driving range and a welcoming clubhouse with food and bar service. Visitors are welcome. It’s the location each year for a number of tournaments, the most famous of which is the Canadian North Midnight Classic, played each June 21st weekend, on the longest days of the year.
History
It was a hearty band of fifty golfers who first brought the game to Yellowknife in 1948, before jets streaked through the sky and when a highway north was only a dream. Members hauled an old DC-3 fuselage onto the smooth Precambrian rock and used it as the first clubhouse. Legends surround the course – there are reports of ravens stealing balls, and visits by the occasional black bear over the years. We have yet to lose a golfer.
The Midnight Classic Golf Tournament is a long standing highlight of the short summer season. Originally called the Midnight Marathon, golfers teed off at midnight and played as long as they could. In 1970, Sandy Hutchinson made club history with 171 holes of golf played during a 33.5 hour marathon. Listen here to a CBC Radio Clip on the 1968 Midnight Marathon.
For the first 45 years, the club featured a nine-hole course with sand fairways and oiled greens. In the 1990s, three experimental artificial greens were installed, and by 1995, all nine holes had artificial turf.
In 1999 the Yellowknife Golf Club undertook a major expansion project developing ten new holes with modern artificial turf technology. After abandoning one of the original greens, the course became the existing 18-hole track.
Membership totals just over 300. Activities include: a Junior Program, Ladies’ Night, Men’s Night, Friday Night Mixed Fun Night and weekend tournaments. Private tournament bookings are available. The Yellowknife Golf Club welcomes visitors. The Yellowknife Golf Club is a not for profit cooperation and is run by a volunteer board of directors.