“Thanks for the fun, friendship and stories while we were in Yellowknife,” Sherk wrote. “A great life experience as well as a wonderful golf experience.”

The ‘Ragged Ass Road’ sign I have on the north wall of my home office is a constant reminder of that trip, and of the famous Yellowknife street, but it’s when the calendar closes in on June 21 each year that memories of the Canadian North Midnight Classic come rushing back.

Sponsored by Canadian North Airlines, the tournament coincides with the 24 hours of daylight provided by the summer solstice where the sun never fully leaves the northern horizon before rising. This year, 288 golfers from as far away as Florida will participate in up to four scheduled events/formats, highlighted by tonight’s nine-hole ‘Midnight Flight.’

Tee off is at 11:59 p.m.

“I’m already losing sleep thinking about it,” laughed Matthew Gray, Yellowknife Golf Club’s professional and general manager, when I called him earlier this week. “It’s a full weekend. Right now, we have 124 players at midnight between the two nines. Should be good fun.”

Gray, a transplanted New Zealander who has been in his capacity at the club since 2010, fields numerous questions and Facebook inquiries about golf at Yellowknife with many wondering how you play. Fair question. Golf beyond Canada’s 60th parallel is far from typical. Tee shots and putting takes place on artificial grass and, in a more extreme departure from the norm, fairway shots are hit off a small piece of portable turf. Ankle deep sand with random areas of tundra and small pine trees provide the fairway landscape.

“One of the guys I did my PGA with in New Zealand came up and worked a season up here,” Gray told me. “When he arrived he’s like, ‘What is this? Hitting a ball off a mat?’ So he didn’t quite understand it at first. But I told him and he came to appreciate that it’s still golf. You still peg up the ball on the tee, hit a ball down the fairway; put a ball on the green and hopefully into the hole. It’s golf, just a slightly different form of golf.”

Renovations and playing enhancements at Yellowknife are a touch slower than in other parts of Canada — the season is just five months, from May to September — but from where this 1948-founded course was to where it is today is a difference of night and day.

Once described as “very interesting” by legendary Canadian course architect, Stanley Thompson, who visited during one of his trips to Banff, Yellowknife traces back to humble beginnings.

Originally nine holes, with oil greens and an old DC-3 fuselage serving as its clubhouse, the now 18-hole 6,182-yard, par-72 course will give everyone playing in the Canadian North Midnight Classic this weekend all they handle. That includes greens that run around 14 to 15 on the Stimpmeter all the time, or about where the United States Golf Association tops out for greens during the U.S. Open.

“There is definitely a bit more grass on the course since you were here last,” said Gray. “Sixteen of the 18 greens now have grass collars (which assists with approach shots and chipping). We also added an irrigation system to maintain those (aprons) and to keep them growing well.”

Members (slightly more than 300) and guests also have access to a 24-bay, 290-yard driving range and a recently added practise green facility that was completed in 2014. A new, more clearly defined water hazard was recently added to the seventh hole.

“The people here are passionate. They love this course, it’s their course, it’s the only one around here and it may not be a country club but they take great pride in it and being members. As a staff we do everything we can to provide them with the best service and a great time while they’re here,” added Gray.

As for the Kiwi head professional/general manager who came to Yellowknife Golf Club with designs on a short stint and is now closing in on a decade of time, there his passion for his place of employment is more than evident.

“What I love most about being here are the people,” Gray said. “I’ve made so many friends in the nine years I’ve been here. It’s a crazy busy summer at the course but it’s such an enjoyable place to be.”

The Canadian North Midnight Classic won’t garner any added attention beyond local media in the gold-rush-turned-diamond town after this weekend and Yellowknife Golf Club won’t show up on SCOREGolf’s Top 100 ranking, but in the words of club member Carl Bird, who played with Roxburgh and I 10 years ago, the tournament is one that brings a world of context to the word ‘memorable.’

“If you’re a passionate golfer,” Bird said, “this tournament should be one of your top 10 things to do before you die.”

I am fortunate to have the Canadian North Midnight Classic at Yellowknife Golf Club already crossed off my bucket list.