Autumn golfing arrives

Moose season has begun, and so has the rain. (Sigh). Welcome to the Friday report from Bird Homestead Golf Course and to autumn in Alaska, eh? We make the best of it and just play golf regardless. ‘Cause we can!

I, however, am taking a bit of a vacation with Denny. I am writing just to cover our upcoming tournament. The annual Fall Classic will be teeing off on Aug. 26 and it’s booking up quickly! Denny and I will be teaming up with Larry and Dianne Hamilton in this 18-hole extravaganza, which will be a shotgun scramble beginning at 9 a.m. Registration is $260 for a four-person team with lunch to follow. Isom’s Café will be providing the cuisine, and prizes will be given out following golf. If you would like carts, please reserve them in advance.

Pat and Elmer Bird have hosted this event for three years now and it has increased in size each year. The course has never been in better shape and it’s playing beautifully. If you would like to advertise your business, hole sponsorship is also available for $100. We will hang signs up and businesses are welcome to greet the golfers or give out free samples at their designated hole. If you are interested in signing up for this tournament or in hole sponsorship, please contact the course at 260-GOLF. Better yet, come on out 11.8 miles down Funny River Road, give the course a play, and sign up in person!

Rhonda Dettmer, Pat and I will be at the course early if you would like to come and hit a bucket of balls on the driving range prior to play, then Rhonda and I will be finding the other members of our teams and hitting the links! Immediately following the tournament, Rich Lundahl will woo us with a trick show. This man can do things with golf shots that will make us all want to practice more. Come see for yourself, what fun. Then after the show he will be holding an adult clinic, teaching full swing, short game and rules and etiquette. The cost is $8 per person. Who knows, he may even teach you a few tricks!

Rhonda has graciously agreed to cover men’s night and finish this week’s article for me. I hope you all have a splendid week and I’ll see you at the course when I return!

I know the fishermen are used to all of this water, but some of the golfers are feeling like they have webbed feet. The rain didn’t discourage the men for men’s night on Tuesday. Fourteen men paddled into the clubhouse ready to play. Two teams of four and two teams of three. With a scramble format they started on time and were off and swimmi ... oops golfing.

A clean sweep was made by Allen Dettmer, with closest to on Nos. 8 and 6 and longest drive on No. 4. He was the golf whisperer this week. His team, consisting of Jeff Gilman, Paul Eskelin and Dave Medley, tied for first place against Roy Bird, Don Ramsey and Mark Hordemann. A chip-off on No. 9 resulted in Roy, Don and Mark coming in on top. An all-around good time was had by all. The guys encourage anyone who wants to challenge this course to come out and enjoy men’s night with them.

On Sunday at 2 p.m., Bird Homestead Golf Association is having a minitournament, scramble format. Cost is greens fees, cart, if you want one, and $8 for prize money. Potluck to follow. If you are interested in the association, this is a good way to see what is going on, come out and enjoy some good fun.

Trivia question this week. How many golf balls are on the moon? 3,4,5 or 6? Come on out, sign up. No one got the correct answer to last week’s question. The answer was 1958.

See you on the fairways.