North Star Golf Course

North Star Golf Club sits on the outskirts of Fairbanks and bills itself as America's northernmost 18-hole USGA course. It grew from the sweat equity of Jack Stallings, a North Carolina transplant, and his wife Verla, who shaped the first nine holes in the early 1990s using surplus equipment left over from the trans-Alaska pipeline era. That original nine, laid out with Hawley R. Evans, opened for play in 1993. Roger Evans later designed and built a second nine on minimalist principles, bringing the course to eighteen holes around 2001. Carved into a permafrost landscape, the layout is known for wildlife sightings, moose crossings, and rounds played under the midnight sun. The grounds crew continually coaxes the shifting, thawing ground to keep the far-north course playable through each short northern season.