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LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
It was every golfer for themselves on the Seven Spruce Golf Course last week.

Steven Lenoir watches closely to see if he's made a successful putt on hole five during the first day of the Club Championship at the Seven Spruce Golf Course in Fort Simpson. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The Club Championship was held on Aug. 24 and 29. The event was the second golf tournament of the year in Fort Simpson that followed a stroke play format with each golfer competing individually, instead of in pairs or foursomes.

Climate Muyambo won both the men's gross and net divisions. Muyambo's gross score was 172 and his net score, which takes into account a player's handicap, was 136.

Muyambo has only been playing golf for three-and-half years. He took up the sport while living in Yellowknife after he went for lunch at the Yellowknife Golf Club, swung a club and was told he had a good swing. After that, Muyambo started to go to the driving range.

Muyambo said he enjoys all of the greenery at the Seven Spruce Golf Club where he started playing this summer. Just looking at the course is enough to make you want to play, he said.

"Yellowknife is different," he said. "It's like playing in a desert."

The first day of the Club Championship was a bit tricky because it was windy, which affected ball flight, said Muyambo. The weather was calmer on Aug. 29.

"It was a good round. I was pleased with the results," he said.

For Muyambo, hole seven is the most challenging of the course. Because the green is on top of a hill, you risk not having the ball roll all the way up or over shooting and having the ball roll off the green, he said.

Second place in the men's divisions went to Roger Pilling for a 188 gross score and 152 net score.

In the women's category, one person also took both divisions. Sheila Pollard finished with a 212 gross score and a 156 net score. The closest competitor was Val Gendron with a 230 and 158.

Pollard said her round on Aug. 24 was challenging.

"I had some interesting shots that I had to recover from," she said.

In one case on the fourth hole, Pollard found her ball in an unplayable lie against the base of a tree, just off the green. She took a drop and managed to salvage the hole by chipping in for a par.

For Pollard, stroke and scramble format tournaments are equally enjoyable.

"There are different challenges and different strategies, but they're both lots of fun," she said.

The tournament started with a good turnout on Aug. 24 with 16 men and six women, said Pilling, who organized the tournament together with Gendron. Last year, about 12 people participated in the tournament.

Unfortunately, bad weather on two following days meant that the second day of the tournament had to be postponed until Aug. 29 and not everyone was able to make the second day, he said.

Pilling said next year, he hopes to implement a clearer system for determining handicaps at the course because some golfers weren't sure what their handicap was.

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