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!