When I was a kid, the State Am was a big deal. It was the 80s and there were real newspapers covering the event with full-page pictures and multiple articles providing insight to the Anchorage spectacle. The winner each year got a lot of attention and was a bit of a hero to local golfers. […]
What makes Greg Sanders the second best golfer in Alaska
Once, while playing golf with Greg Sanders, he made a surprising admission. I had just finished telling him I heard Rob Nelson was considering returning to amateur golf. “If he does, I’ll never win anything again,” Sanders said. Whether he was just being humble or being a realist resigned to his fate, you can be […]
What makes Alaska golf so unique
Just the other day, Golf Magazine writer Dylan Dethier posted an article at golf.com announcing the U.S. Open qualifying sites for 2022. The last one on the list was in Palmer, Alaska in late May. Sprinkled in around the article were links to the story Dethier did about our Alaskan qualifier. You can click here […]
Time to let the real golfers out of the cage
The Masters is over and while it was nice to see the ultra-green grounds at Augusta National again, the tournament was a bit uninspiring. The factory-made golfers appeared a bit wooden on their march around the course and nobody really seemed to be exerting themselves to catch the eventual winner, Hideki Matsuyama. There’s definitely a […]
First round of the season was a good start
Golf season finally started in Alaska last weekend. We were lucky to have nice weather. Lots of sunshine, a little wind and a temperature around 50 degrees on a Sunday afternoon is about as good as it gets for Alaskans in April. With no driving range open, my warm up consisted of a few chip […]
Will there be any competitive golf this year?
I’m not talking about pros, when I wonder about the existence of competitive golf in 2020. This coronavirus thing could wipe out most of our amateur golf tournaments as well, leaving us with no competition to test our games within. If we get through this rough stretch quick enough to maintain the usual tournament schedule, […]
What Mickey Wright’s death just taught me
Mickey Wright is a name of a woman golfer I heard about over the years, but didn’t know much about. Her golfing prime was well before my time and I’ve seen little to no media coverage of her over the years. Still, when news of her death surfaced today, I remembered her name as one […]
The first step toward competitive golf
The 2020 golf season is still a ways out for an Alaskan like me, but I’ve had a moment of clarity about what it takes to be competitive in golf. The first step is to choose a method of play. A big mistake I’ve made in the past is to try too hard to play […]
Molinari at +120
Francesco Molinari is nearly an even-money favorite to win the weekly PGA Tour sponsored event. Known more for beating all the pros in Europe, Molinari is listed at +120 at sportsbook.ag, meaning $100 wager wins you $120. Abraham Ancer is tied with Molinari on the golf score board, but not on the odds board, where […]
Eliminating the driving range
I’ve been to the driving range twice this summer and both times it led to my worst rounds of golf of the year. Both times, it led to an inability to make consistent contact with the golf ball on the course. I don’t know exactly why this happens, but I do know I will never […]