INUVIK - In what may be the largest patch of grass north of the Arctic Circle, volunteers are working hard to ensure golfers have a place to practise their drives, chips and putts.

Inuvik's driving range at the Road's End Golf Course was seeded two years ago and finally has a good, solid, field of grass. - Samantha Stokell/NNSL photo

The driving range at the Road's End Golf Course in Inuvik finally has a 250-yard-long patch of grass finally coming in after seeding two years ago. Although not yet green, the grass is lush and gives promise to the three fairways already laid out.

"We've had a pretty major success," said Conrad Baetz, a volunteer who works at the course. "The seeding of the first fairway has been successful with a lot of work from contractors and volunteers."

The volunteers seeded the first fairway last fall and hope it will be as verdant as courses in the south. Other work done over the winter includes roughing-in of three more fairways by students of Aurora College's heavy equipment operator courses, meaning nine holes have been designed and planned, if not seeded or had greens added.

In the mid-2000s, construction started on this golfers' oasis in the Arctic and it'll likely take another four or five years before there is a complete, nine-hole course available for golfers.

The largest challenge for the volunteers is convincing the community it can actually happen and that it already is. At the May 25 council meeting, Baetz spoke about the difficulty of keeping ATVs, snowmobiles and trucks off the course and asked for a gate to be installed at the course.

"We want nine holes and for people from the community and visitors to come over the hill to see not a gravel pit, but a golf course," Baetz said. "It's difficult to keep people off the freshly seeded fairways. We have kids in trucks doing doughnuts on the fairway and it's taken me three days to repair it."

Volunteers maintain the course, with local contractors donating expertise and equipment.

Work that still needs to be done this year includes bringing the artificial greens into shape, cutting bush, pulling rocks and performing work on the small clubhouse.

Most of the funding for the course comes from the driving range. There won't be a fee for the course until the grass fills out a bit more.

"We can't honestly, with a straight face, charge people green fees," Baetz said. "We're planning on having a facility where people can play the driving range for a private function. We hope to earn our keep that way."

Baetz thinks there is a community of golfers in Inuvik which will increase the more the course develops. He credits Fire Chief Al German with keeping the dream alive and hopes it continues once he retires.

"He orchestrated the whole thing and now we're losing him," Baetz said. "We sure do need perseverance on those June days when it's plus two and snowy. We need someone to say 'I can see a golf course here.'"

Late in July, the course will play host to the Mayor's Classic, a tournament which drew 50 players last year despite two days of rain right before the event.

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