Golf on the Kenai Peninsula: Part Two of my Alaska Site Visits

Mt McKinley

I left rainy Fairbanks, where it had dumped 2 inches during my two-day stay, and headed to Anchorage for the second half of my trip. Apparently it’s not very common, but I managed to catch a peek of Mt McKinley, North America’s tallest peak at 20,322 feet. I could sense the weather was changing for the good.

When I arrived in Anchorage, I picked up Anchorage Golf Course Superintendent Marty Baumann, and we headed down to the Kenai Peninsula to Soldotna. 

Our first stop was at a course called Birch Ridge. The course is maintained by a gentleman they call Kenai Bill. Bill is from a golf background, primarily from the Southwest. Similar to Howie in Fairbanks, Bill winters in Palm Springs and starts working on the course some time in April. Bill gave Marty and me a complete tour that eventually lead us to meeting Pat McCowan, Birch Ridge's owner. I was able to spend a few minutes with Pat before he had to tee off, and I explained how a GCSAA membership could benefit Bill through online education and the ability to participate in the online forums, where he could bounce ice damage questions off of fellow superintendents.

Kenai Bill

I was impressed how much Bill was able to do with so little. His only irrigation is a 2-inch black poly pipe that runs above ground behind each putting green and tee box. There is a small spigot where he can attach a garden hose and run water to the green or tee box using an impact sprinkler. When I looked at the conditions of Bill's greens, I realized that he was probably watering in a way most all of us would prefer to water, long and infrequently. 

Bill shared some of his techniques for maintenance, and most would find it crude, but I found it very effective. Here is a picture of Bill's aerifier. He does all 18 greens himself, and it usually takes a few days. Notice the back brace, tthe result of lugging that thing around. 

Bill's biggest struggle is having to resurface his greens each year. This is common among most golf courses in Alaska. In the lower 48, the winter of 2013-14 was devastating to greens across the Midwest and parts of the South. But in Alaska, it is the norm each year. Nine feet of frost is common in the winters, and any precipitation that comes as rain after the frost has set in generally means ice on the ground. This last winter Alaska saw unseasonably warm temperatures, but that meant a lot of ice buildup. Over all, I was impressed how quickly Bill was able to get his greens back in play and how good they looked. 

Birch Ridge Golf Course

Our next stop was at Kenai Golf Course. We didn't have any connections other than the folks we met as we walked into the clubhouse. The owners were away, but we had a nice conversation with the gal behind the counter and a gentleman doing some touch-up painting. Kenai Golf Course is the only full-service golf facility on the peninsula with a full practice facility and catering services. It sounds like they do a fair amount of business. 

While we were there, a couple young gals came in to hit some balls.They said they had never played the game before and thought they would try hitting some balls just for kicks. It was nice to witness a couple golf fans in the making. Marty and I grabbed a score card and walked out and looked at a few holes. The layout looked interesting, and the conditions were pretty darn good. I got the sense that when the fish weren't in, golf courses were busy.

My next post will cover the course I visited in the Anchorage vicinity One in particular may be one of the toughest courses I have ever seen!

Golf in Fairbanks Alaska: Part One of the Alaska Adventure

Since most of the NW associations take the summer off for meetings, it is a great time for me to travel to various areas of the region and visit with superintendents at their own courses. In my next few blog posts I would like to highlight some of these trips and introduce the superintendents that I meet along the way.

George Howe, CGCS (third from the left) and crew

In July I managed to visit just over half the golf courses in the state of Alaska on my five day trip. I started in Fairbanks on July 1, where there are three golf courses.  It was raining so hard only two courses were open and accessible. My first stop was at Chena Bend Golf Course, which is located on the military base Fort Wainwright. I met with George Howe, CGCS. George is a 33-year member and is Alaska’s one and only CGCS. We managed to find time in between rain events to tour the course.

George explained the history of the course and what he goes through each year to prepare for in-season play. I soon realized why they call the mosquito Alaska’s state bird. There was a constant swarm around me, and I was bit several times around my head and neck. We returned to the shop where I met his crew, and we started a discussion on available labor in the area. The armed services have implemented a hiring policy of doing background checks on every perspective employee, which usually takes 90 days to complete. As you can imagine, in Fairbanks the season is pretty much done by the time the approval is given to hire someone. George is working every angle and is trying to start the process no later than January to get people in place for the season. As they stood at the moment, the staff was down probably four to five members, and they were getting behind on routine maintenance.

Chena Band GC, Fairbanks AK

My next stop was North Star Golf Club, touted to be the northern most golf course in North America. I was surprised my phone’s navigator was actually able to get me there, but once I arrived I found the gates locked and nobody was around. The rain was still pounding and from what I heard, most of the ground at North Star has a layer of permafrost under it, so nothing drains fast. I changed course and headed to the third course in Fairbanks: Fairbanks Golf Club.

I arrived at Fairbanks Golf Club and found the same situation. The course was empty, but there were a few cars at the clubhouse, so I entered to see if Howie Thies, the owner was in. I was told that Howie was not going to be in for a while, so I took the opportunity to have lunch while I was there and take in the US World Cup Game. While there, James Contreras, the head PGA professional came in and introduced himself to me. James winters in Arizona and works at Fairbanks Golf Club during the summers. James said that over the last two years since Howie has owned the course, play has increased significantly. Howie and his partners have put money into the course and have built a quality restaurant to go along with it. Howie seems to have a knack at promoting and has been very successful in doing so.

Soon Howie arrived, and we sat down and talked about the course. I was able to explain to him my role as the NW field staff representative, as well as the role GCSAA can take in managing his facility. I explained that through membership, he can take advantage of our online learning, as well as get his first year's GIS registration free. He is a member of the GCOA, but never considered a GCSAA membership.

The rain let up enough for us to take a quick tour of the course. I noticed a few strange things, such as fence posts being ejected from the ground and large holes and bumps in the turf. Howie explained that is how the ground works with the constant freeze and thaw. He has areas of permafrost that can shove rocks through the surface or even fence posts out of the ground. One year there may be a bump in the ground, and the next it’s a hole in the ground.  It’s just what they have to deal with.

Fairbanks Golf Club

The conversation eventually led to a ski race competition called the Arctic Man, which Howie states he started over 25 years ago. The first year Howie said they had around 500 people attending. Last year they had over 15,000. The competition has grown to be one of Alaska’s premier events. Now I understand where Howie’s knack for promotions comes from.

I asked George and Howie how they managed to procure and care for their equipment. I noticed there were a lot of Toro and John Deere pieces; and what I found out is that most of the Toro that is circulating around has either been resold from the military bases, since they have a national contract with Toro, or found on the internet and shipped by barge. John Deere has been able to successfully work through its local Deere distributors and ship parts and whole goods directly to their outlets. George prefers John Deere, even though Toro has the Armed Services contract, simply for the fact that he is able to source the John Deere parts locally.

I stopped in to have dinner at a local restaurant and in came a couple whosat next to me. We started a conversation, and I quickly learned that this gentleman was the vice president and store manager for Craig Taylor Equipment, Alaska’s Deere dealership. Rich Dunham explained that with the local Deere stores in every major Alaska city, they are able to inventory commonly used parts and ship whole goods with their regular inventory of snow machines and snow plows. Rich knew all of the local golf superintendents that I had just met and was happy to see that GCSAA was here to support them as well.

My next stop was the Kenai Peninsula, and that trip will be documented in part two of my Alaska adventure!