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Golfing under the midnight sun

Broadcast Date: June 22, 1968

Golfers from across the country are competing at the Yellowknife Golf Course in a round-the-clock test of golfing endurance. The course is unlike any other in the country. Players walk a nine-hole course of sand and rock. Hordes of hungry mosquitoes and black flies attack the golfers and a black raven repeatedly swoops down onto the course, stealing balls. It's midnight madness during the summer solstice in the Northwest Territories, as heard in this CBC Radio report.

Golfing under the midnight sun

• Hours of sunlight and darkness vary seasonally, and become increasingly extreme the further north you go. The summer solstice is the point in the Earth's orbit where one hemisphere is most tilted toward the sun. The sun appears to trace its highest path across the sky, and the period of daylight is longest (and night is shortest.) In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice usually happens on June 21/22 (December 21/22 in the Southern Hemisphere.)

• During the summer solstice, the sun shines for 24 hours in areas north of the Arctic Circle. In Yellowknife it shines for 20 hours. But there are also extended periods of lightness at dawn and sunset, so the period of daylight seems longer than the actual number of hours.

• The Midnight Marathon was created in 1952. Each player who walks the fairways of the Yellowknife golf course carries a six-by-ten inch mat from which to drive the ball.
• The rules on the scorecard are much the same as any other course except for the raven rule which stipulates that if a raven steals a golf ball, it must be replaced exactly where it was snatched.

• The sands of the Yellowknife course were originally showered with diesel oil to create a smooth playing surface. Nowadays, players stand on artificial turf. The tournament is no longer played as an endurance marathon. Instead, golfers play all night and wrap up their game approximately 6 a.m.
• In June 2004 a Canadian Forces CF-18 jet mistakenly dropped an unarmed missile on the Yellowknife golf course driving range. The course was promptly evacuated.

• The most northerly golf course in North America is located in Holman, N.W.T. Muskox are frequent visitors on the open tundra, nine-hole course.
• In Nunavut, golfers play on a makeshift course in Iqaluit. CBC Reporter Patricia Bell walked the atypical course made of carpet, sand and rock, as heard in this radio report. "We used to say weather permitting but now it doesn't matter what the weather's like," golfer Don Lalont explained to Bell. "We come out in the rain and the snow."

• Other celebrations in the Yellowknife area around the time of the summer solstice include the annual Summer Solstice Festival, the Raven Mad Daze music festival and events celebrating National Aboriginal Day (June 21.)

Golfing under the midnight sun

Medium: Radio

Program: Sound of Sports

Broadcast Date: June 22, 1968

Host: Bill Connolly
Reporter: Bob Willson

Duration: 2:28

Photo: National Film Board of Canada. Photothèque / Library and Archives Canada / PA-111522

Last updated:
Oct. 27, 2008