Us golfers were lucky in 2020. We got to play our sport when most all other sports were cancelled or marginalized. The forecast is for 2021 to be better for the other sports, so it might as well be better for us golfers as well.

Golf in Alaska is still at least four months away, but there is plenty to be excited about. We’ve got a pretty firmly established schedule of championships to keep the eager competitive golfer busy almost every week of June, July and August. Lots of opportunity awaits anyone who wants to show the world where he ranks among the Alaska greats.

Speaking of the rankings, I’ve cut them down to the top 10 in an effort to make things more meaningful and easier for myself to manage. Expanding the rankings in the past few years was a lot of fun, but the list took on a bit too much of a free-for-all party mode and I want to find a way to clarify for all readers who is truly the best in Alaska.

As always, if you believe you belong in the top 10, you can challenge anyone on the list to a match. If you win, you take their place. Matches must be 18 holes, but can be played on par-3 courses or nine-hole courses, as long as 18 holes are used. Matches can be played on any course in the world and competitors can use different tees if they can fairly negotiate such terms. I want the rankings to reflect who can golf their ball the best, not necessarily who can hit the farthest. The rankings are for men, women and children of all ages. If challenge matches aren’t your thing, simply play the best you can in major Alaska tournaments, and I’ll take notice and insert you into the rankings if you earn it.

As for my own plan/schedule, it will be more subdued than in years past. I’ll be watching everything closely from a distance, with very little effort given to tracking down interviews. My personal playing schedule will likely be light, so you may not see me around as many of the events, but I will be paying attention to all of them.

I will be playing as much as golf as I possibly can, but I anticipate real life to be busy and to limit my dedication to the game. Stay tuned between now and May, as I lay out more of what to expect from the Alaska Golf Blog.