The Monkey Tree Pub has a new golfing venture starting up in a few weeks.
The Monkey Tree SIM League will kick off on Feb. 7. It’s planned as a 12-week league with all play happening on the pub’s new golf simulator.
Jen Vornbrock, the pub’s owner, came up with the competition after having the simulator installed last month.
“We knew we would do something like this because the golf community in Yellowknife is rather large,” she said.
The plan is to have play happen each weeknight over three months. Teams of two to four players sign up to play at a certain time on a certain day — they can pick — and play on the course chosen for that week. Each team plays nine holes per round and scores will be calculated on an individual basis.
“The team is just who you’re playing with, kind of like a group out on the course,” said Vornbrock. “Whatever a player scores each night will be their score and not for the team.”
There will be proper scorecards for each player each night and any handicap cards must be completed before players tee off, she added.
Vornbrock said the number of players a team has will probably determine how long a round takes.
“For example, if you have four players, it should take around two hours, and two players will take around an hour,” she said. “We can accommodate between 10 to 12 teams of four players each and we have five teams already signed up.”
One of those teams includes Shaun Morris, president of the Yellowknife Golf Club, who said anything that gets people out and swinging the clubs is a good thing.
“It’s great to be able to keep the muscles active and a great way to play during the winter,” he said. “We’ve had a few indoor simulators over the years — 40 Below and After 8 Pub are a couple — and I hope this one sticks around.”
The golf club has had a working relationship with Vornbrock for a while as Stake Restaurant, which she also operates, has held the contract for the clubhouse for the past three seasons, with a fourth upcoming next season, Morris added.
Morris helped pick out the courses that will be in play each week. He was even able to match some weeks with courses that will be in play during the new PGA season.
“Week three is the PGA National Champion Course, where the Honda Classic will be played that weekend,” he said. “The next week is at Bay Hill Club and Lodge and that’s where the Arnold Palmer Invitational is held.”
Some of the other well-known courses in the loop include Torrey Pines, which has hosted two U.S. Open Championships; Pinehurst No. 2, which plays host to The Players Championship and Royal Troon, part of the British Open loop.
“We’ve managed to line up four tournaments on the same weekend,” said Morris. “It’s going to be interesting to play on the courses that the pros are playing on after seeing them play.”
There are weekly prizes up for grabs for the top players with the grand prize being a full membership at the Yellowknife Golf Club for the 2022 season.
“We’re thinking about some apparel or bar tabs or golf balls as weekly prizes,” said Vornbrock. “We’ve also got some fun promos planned during the season and we’re just really excited to get it going.”