First Annual Utukkuu Snow Golf Challenge FUNdraiser for The Aqqaluk Trust
Friday, March 5th
Score a hole in one to help provide scholarships and Alaska Native Language Preservation
Have fun while helping others. Have you ever played golf in the snow or tried your luck at tossing a
harpoon hole-in-one? Now is your chance.
With the golf season a few months away the Aqqaluk Trust wants to provide a warm–up…in the
cold. On Friday, March 5th, the Aqqaluk Trust will host the first annual Utukkuu Snow-Golf
Challenge. This game is extreme in that the greens are white.
Iñupiaq for little, Utukkuu (oo-tuh-koo) will be a 9-hole, mini-golf tournament with fifty to a hundred
yard holes. Players will be allowed to use two clubs and the tournament will be played on the
powder at University Lake Park, near the University Lake SpringHill Suites. There will be lunch and
an awards ceremony at the hotel. Eighteen teams of 3 will be vying for the elite distinction of
Utukkuu Snow Golf Master at this uniquely Alaskan event.
This Fur Rondy event brings 10,000 years of Iñupiaq culture to the links. At one pin players must
wear Eskimo-style sunglasses to putt, and at another, players must wear big fur mittens.
All proceeds for the event will go to fund college scholarship, language preservation or other
programs at the Aqqaluk trust.
The Trust is founded in memory of Robert Aqqaluk Newlin, Sr., one of the great Iñupiat leaders
from the Northwest Arctic region of Alaska. He believed that the success of future generations
depends on the best of both worlds: preservation of the ways of their ancestors and education in
modern skills and technology
Aqqaluk Trust President Charlie Curtis is ready to go. “I don't know much about golf, but I am happy
to do anything to help this cause--even learn how to caddy. Providing opportunities for Iñupiaq
people to further their education and showcasing our heritage and culture is always tops on my list.
This will be a great event.”
There are still spots available for players, but act quickly. They are filling fast.
For more information or to play go to www.aqqaluktrust.com/golf.html or contact Sarah Hobart at
(907)441-9928 or [email protected]