Yukon Golf Page 2

Now if the golf course matched my room my 400 kilometers, round trip, to Faro would be a success. Sigh, the Faro Golf Club is nice but still it wasn't really worth a special trip. You pick up your score card at the Interpretive Centre at one end of town then drive 3 minutes to the other end of town and tee it up. No sense in going into a lot of details but I had driven for 2 hours to play an executive 9 hole course. The best thing about Faro's course is the sense of it's belonging to the community. It isn't close to town it is in town. Some holes parallel city streets while others cut by the school play ground. Still others walk you in and out of park like settings in the woods. I could never say "Come to Faro for the golf." But if business or family has you coming to Faro then pack a Sunday bag and play.

Let's resume things back on the highway heading towards Whitehorse, OK? That means having breakfast in Carmacks, a nice village on the highway with full facilities and then driving 110 kilometers to Whitehorse.

Driving in to Whitehorse you will pass by a great looking 9-hole golf course. That is the Meadow Lakes G&CC. It is one step beyond executive length and ½ a step behind being a full length course but it is a great place to play and a beautiful setting to spend a couple of hours. The clubhouse is set up on the hillside and I found myself sitting outside of it staring off at the mountains forgetting what I was there for. Number 1 is a short 300-yard par 4. Downhill then a little up hill and a sharp dogleg left. I have replayed this hole in my mind and I just cannot see how one could drive the green. The fairway runs out about 175 yards out and even a duck hooked tee shot wouldn't stand a 1 in a 1,000 chance of threading the small necked fairway to the green. I love par 3 holes that have elevation changes. The 150-yard number three has a big one. I am not a good guesser so let's just say it looks a mile downhill and has a lake on the left that also guards a ball hit long. I thought my Moe Norman swing was spot on but I carried a little left and when I saw the splash I just smiled and wrote 5 on the card. The card doesn't list any hole ratings but I'd have to give the #1 rating to the 345-yard par 4 eighth. The fairway is narrow and doglegs right. There is water all down the right hand side and bulges out on the right corner of the dogleg. There is a deep bunker behind the green and the green is exposed so it gets both sun and wind and can be one of the fastest greens on the course.

The Yukon has produced only one golf pro, Chris Graham from Whitehorse. Chris is the kind of a guy who seems to be on first name basis with the world and he bears a remarkable resemblance to actor Kevin Spacey, and he is the head pro at Mountain View G&CC. This is not only the best course in the Yukon it could be one of the best courses anywhere.

Mountain View looks like the kind of a course where you'd expect to pay $100.00 in green fees and where you will have to call weeks in advance to get a tee time. But wait! High season is under $50.00 and because of almost 24-hour summertime sunshine you rarely have to fight to get a tee time. Mountain View is the diamond of the Yukon and for the most part tourists never play it. Why? Unlike Meadow Lakes, Mountain View is not visible from the highway and even if you follow the signs it takes a little compass work to find the course. But, man oh man, when you do discover how to get there you may never want to leave.

Forget that the first hole is a wonderful 378 wide-open par 4. Or that their number one handicap hole is a 365 yard par four that doglegs left and one that has a green fraught with danger. Let's get straight to the best hole on the course, that being the 135-yard par three fifth. Why is such a dinky hole one of the best holes? Is there a massive elevation change or is it an island green? No. It is a short straightaway hole that most people will make an easy three on. It's the views you get from this hole's tee box and green that make it terrific. The green has a lone snow-capped mountain sitting right behind it, photograph opportunity number one of many on this great course. Then, if you take a moment to wander off to the left of the tee box and again at the green you will just go crazy with what you see. I know because I did. I wandered off and found myself looking straight down over the Yukon River and off over the whole of the north. In between the snapping of my camera shutter I couldn't help but softly saying a few bars of "How great thou art." Again on the 7th tee box and green I was given the best of the Mother Nature show. The par three 16th was my favorite par 3 in the Yukon. Unfortunately thanks to a cold and wet May this green, and a couple of others, were temporaries but that didn't dampen my day one bit. The 16th is a way down the mountainside golf hole measuring 201 yards. You are playing out toward the mountains and over a deep heavily wooded mountain valley that will leave you no second shot should you come up short or left. On the right the fairway is a sloped downhill sliver of green that has all balls landing on it running back towards the ravine. A par here is a great score.