Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (May 22/02) - The wind is blowing at slightly more than 30 clicks out of the northwest.

A golfer prepares his approach shot, sitting less than 92 metres from the green.

Selecting a seven-iron, he lifts his shot into the teeth of the wind, trying to keep from overshooting the green and running into water trouble.

So, this a story about the opening of one of southern Canada's thousands of golf courses to mark the beginning of a new season?

Not quite.

This approach shot catches a crack in the ice, veers widely off to the right and almost ends up in this week's garbage at the local dump.

It's golfing Kivalliq style, and a former Coral Harbour resident is hoping to spread golf fever throughout Rankin Inlet.

The number of golf courses in Coral has risen to five during the past 15 years and the hamlet boasts a growing number of would-be Tiger Woods.

Noel Kaludjak has recently moved to Rankin from Coral.

He says building the Coral courses was fun, challenging and distinctly Kivalliq.

"We used old carpets to create the greens and that was hard work dragging them to their different spots and putting them in place," says Kaludjak.

"The carpets work like real golfing greens, with some being slow when you putt and others really fast."

Kaludjak is on the lookout for old carpets these days in Rankin.

He plans to start a golf course and the hamlet's first golfing club.

He says once he gets a course completed, getting a club properly organized is the key to a good local golfing scene.

"There's a number of golfing clubs in Coral now and that's the key to the game being fun.

"When it's not properly organized, it's kind of boring.

"But, once it's organized, it's really a lot of fun."

Based on his Coral experiences, Kaludjak says he's confident the game will catch on in a big way in Rankin.

"You just wait and see. I'll get this going and get my brothers and friends out playing and they'll fall in love with the game.

"Before the end of the year there will be golf balls bouncing all over the hamlet."

Fore!