| > | | | | strong sunshine can make it seem slightly less |
| Ice Golf - only the coolest need apply! | | | | cold than that - but not by much! |
| Want to try the ultimate golf challenge on a | | | | The organisers also try to keep the golf course |
| course where you'll have no trouble staying cool | | | | open and accessible for several weeks each year |
| over even the most testing putt? You should | | | | for other open icegolf tournaments. |
| consider taking up Ice Golf - the most amazing | | | | The greens are white and the balls are red. The |
| development that the golf world has seen for | | | | "whites" are defined by a small wall of snow or by |
| decades. | | | | a red line on the ice. Players are allowed to use a |
| Every year thirty six golfers (or lunatics, | | | | scraper to smooth the snow on the white in front |
| depending on your viewpoint) gather in Greenland | | | | of their putt - the only time in golf that a player |
| to play in the World Ice Golf championship. This | | | | can legitimately improve the line of his putt. The |
| year's event takes place in late March and early | | | | snow and ice conditions underfoot vary from hole |
| April. The course is marked out on the ice of the | | | | to hole and contestants need to wear polar ice |
| frozen fjord and you can expect icebergs or the | | | | gloves, artic boots and countless layers of clothing. |
| occasional polar bear for company! As the | | | | Anti-glare sunglasses are also a good idea. |
| organisers say: "if you've played on the greens of | | | | One contestant a few years ago quipped that |
| Europe, then you'll find the "whites" of Greenland | | | | "the only hole in one I scored was when one leg |
| rather special." | | | | disappeared through a seal's breathing hole in the |
| The World Ice Golf Championship was the | | | | ice." There is also a local rule to deal with the |
| brainchild of Mr. Arne Neimann, a local resident and | | | | unlikely situation of a polar bear interfering with |
| hotel proprietor on a small island called | | | | your ball! |
| Uummannaq, off Greenland's North West coast. | | | | The organisers are looking for a new sponsor this |
| He and a friend designed the first course in 1997 | | | | year but in previous years the Drambuie liqueur |
| and the sport took off from there. | | | | company took the lead. Players and spectators |
| The world championship is played on the ice in | | | | were able to warm themselves by sampling some |
| years when the conditions make the ice fields | | | | of the sponsor's finest product. As always |
| safe and predictable. Players compete over two | | | | however, even that feature has a twist to it. |
| days and play thirty six holes of stroke play. | | | | Rather than ice cubes in the drink, the drink was |
| There is a "warm up" tournament the day before | | | | served in "ice cubes" or glasses carved out of ice |
| although "cool down" might be a more applicable | | | | to be more exact. Trophies were presented from |
| phrase to describe the effect it has on the | | | | tables carved out of ice and the scorer's tent |
| golfers. In March, when the world championships | | | | was to be found in an igloo! |
| are held, the average temperature is minus 13.9 | | | | If you get the chance to visit Greenland for a |
| degrees Celsius, but temperatures as low as | | | | game of ice golf then sieze it with both hands. It'll |
| minus 25 can occur. The dry climate and the | | | | be the most unique game of your life. |