Most golf courses in the Northland aren’t open for the season yet, but no one ever said you couldn’t still swing your clubs.

There were golf clubs, tennis rackets and hockey sticks on full display, along with tennis balls, at the 35th annual Bob Maas Golf on Ice tournament.

Most people know exactly what it takes to not only have fun, but to win.

“It’s all about clean contact out here today,” said Jake Hoffman, a participant. “Clean contact. Hockey sticks, golf clubs, you name it.”

“We played with tennis rackets one year. We’re kind of missing our buddy, Tim, who brought the tennis racket. He’s not here today. But we’ve got a hockey player on our team. So he’s got some distance for us. The rest of us are just doing our best,” said Alayna Scheel, an experienced player.

Over 3 decades ago, Bob Maas took his auger and drilled holes into the lake to shoot tennis balls into, which he called golfing on ice.

The tradition stuck, as now teams tried their luck on 18 holes across the frozen Fish Lake.

The one day tournament is full of surprises. This year, with the snow in between ice and melting water, the objective was to get the tennis balls into the water.

Just like the conditions, players and teams change often.

“Last year we couldn’t play because there was no ice,” said Scheel. “It was really warm winter, as we know, not a lot of snow. So it’s good to be back out spending time with friends. Our team has grown, changed, shifted many a times. But there’s kind of a core group. It’s fun to add and play with different people every year.”

For those that came for the first time, they learned lessons on how to play quickly.

“You have to choose the right equipment to fire your ball. Be strategic, and then take a good whack at it. Yeah, that’s about it. Change it up hole after hole, see what works. Positive energy too, of course,” said Emma, Summer, and Sophie, who tried the sport for the first time.