Alaska: ripe for golf: bringing revenues to nonprofits, and enjoyment to visitors and residents.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: RECREATION

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Every year since 1984, Anchorage business owner Bill Dan has spent at least $4,000 a year in Alaska to keep his golf score somewhere between an enviable range that hovers between the high '70s and low '80s. During the five-month summer season, this includes green fees for one round of 18 holes every weekend, one weekday round after work, hitting buckets of practice balls on the driving range before each outing, as well as practicing three times a week, weekly practice sessions at the Tanglewood Lakes Indoor Golf dome during the off-season, lunch with the regular foursome of buddies he plays with, and entry fees for local tournaments and charity golf scrambles that are about $250 per person. This doesn't begin to cover the golf clubs, bags, balls, gloves, clothes, shoes and accessories he has slowly invested in over the years, nor does it include the travel, hotels, and food and beverage tab associated with the annual golf vacations he and a group of about eight friends take outside of Alaska in search of some of the best courses in the country. To most, Dan might be considered a golfaholic. But thousands of other golfers across Alaska would simply wonder why he's not playing more.

AN EXPENSIVE SPORT

According to the National Sporting Goods Association, for sports that do not involve multi-million-dollar boats or horses, along with snow skiing, golf ranks as one of the two most expensive single-player sports to learn and play on a regular basis. While Alaska is nowhere close to ranking as one of the top golf destinations, or as one of the biggest markets for the sport, statewide thousands of people like Dan--considered "avid golfers" by the National Golf Association (NGA)--contribute measurably to Alaska's golf industry, one that was almost non-existent 25 years ago, but today continues to grow and evolve into a boutique recreational past-time that employs hundreds of Alaskans and benefits statewide nonprofits that rely on thousands of dollars made from fundraising golf tournaments that benefit statewide charities. In fact, according to the National Golf Association (NGA), golf raises more money for charity than any other sport in America.

The Alaska Golf Association (AGA) administers the Golf Handicap and Information Network (GHIN) services for Alaska, providing handicaps for AGA members and other clubs and sponsoring six annual state championship tournaments. Last year, about 1,500 golfers were registered with AGA in...