Hay River’s golf course comes with a campground attached – making it a one-stop shop for visitors who are looking to get a few rounds in.
Robert Bouchard, the president of the Hay River Golf Club, called the course and the campground “a gem of Hay River.”
“It’s very quiet,” he said of the 10-stall RV campground, which has electricity, fire pits, walking trails and a pump-out station on-site. “You’re right beside the river.”
Nearby, the nine-hole golf course weaves throughout the boreal forest at a bend in the Hay River. The all-grass fairway features artificial greens to extend the North’s shorter summer season.
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“It’s a beautiful little course,” said Bouchard. “It’s tucked away in the bush, and none of the holes are back-to-back.”
While the course might be spread out, you won’t have to walk. The club has been upgrading its equipment and has new golf carts for rent – as well as golf clubs, so people flying in don’t need to pack their own.
The course has two main features: a fountain and a large hill.
The hill, said Bouchard, is “probably about 80 feet high on the third fairway … that drops down so you have to kind-of go over the top of this big drop.”
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Between holes six and seven lies the fountain, which Bouchard said is so picturesque that people have chosen it as the backdrop for their weddings.
Bouchard said despite historic flooding in Hay River last spring, the club was able to quickly rebound.
“Last year was a really good year and we did really well with the club. Even with the flood, there were still people that wanted to get out and enjoy golfing the course,” he said, noting club members stepped up to help clean up the course.
The club hopes to build on that momentum this year, with plans to bolster a number of programs.
“We’re trying to get everybody involved. We’ve got a couple of ladies that are helping organize the ladies’ league,” Bouchard explained. “We’re hoping to bring in a trainer, just to do some basic training for the juniors, and then we have a couple of juniors that are going to try to go to the North American Indigenous Games for golf this year.”
The club offers 10-game punch passes for people who don’t want to purchase a full-season membership, and that punch pass comes with one free round.
Bouchard noted the campground – recently renamed the Vern Tordoff Memorial Campground in memory of a former town councillor – is already booking up for the summer.
To reserve a spot at the campground, email the club or call 867-874-6290.
This article appears as part of a paid partnership between Cabin Radio, NWT Tourism and the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment celebrating Tourism Week 2023 in the Northwest Territories. To explore more, visit Spectacular NWT on Youtube.
