Golf under the midnight sun

And golf is popular – if eclectic – north of 60º, with more than 25 courses to delight sports fans. Of course you have to watch out for the ravens – they sometimes steal the balls. Here are some of the highlights of Canada's arctic golf scene:

The Yellowknife Golf Club
http://www.yellowknifegolf.com/
This club, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2008, has to be imbued with the spirit of golf. Fifty golfers first brought the game to Yellowknife in 1948, with the boyish sense of adventure and innovation that settled the country: 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. But as its website reads, “We have yet to lose a golfer.” Visitors are welcomed at the club, whose most famous tournament is the Canadian North Midnight Classic, played on the June 21st weekend of each year. Golfers tee off at midnight and play as long as they can - in 1970, Sandy Hutchinson made club history with 171 holes of golf played during a 33.5 hour marathon.

The course is carved out of the Canadian Shield: a sand golf course of eighteen holes, set among beautiful Jack pines and beside Long Lake.