Around the U.S.A.
By Teresa Dunham
The Winchester Star
Winchester — Kaleen Baker will never forget how silly her husband looked with a golf bag on his head in the pouring rain. She and her husband, Paul Baker, were at a golf course in Billings, Mont., in April when the downpour came. Paul didn’t have a hood, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him from finishing the course. After all, he and Kaleen had a lofty goal — to golf in all 50 states. Their goal sent them on quite an adventure, enduring a delay in their round in Alaska because of frost and encountering a baby alligator around the seventh hole in South Carolina. Now, seven years after the wild idea first popped into their heads, the Winchester residents finally completed their quest in November at a little golf course in California. ***** Kaleen decided to study up on golf after her husband retired from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1992. "When he retired, I knew we needed something I could do together with him," said Kaleen, 63, a former school teacher. They started taking their golf clubs on vacation with them — and soon they hatched the idea of golfing in all 50 states. "It was kind of a lark at first, and then we got serious when we started making a notebook," said Kaleen. Their scrapbook contains a score card from each course, along with a picture of either Paul or Kaleen playing at every locale. They tried to position a sign with the golf course names somewhere in the pictures to prove that they were really there. A quick flip through the scrapbook confirms that the couple did indeed visit all 50 states — and they’ve even alphabetized their momentos, from Alabama to Wyoming. "It really brings back neat memories," said Kaleen. ***** The Bakers didn’t take a slap-dash approach to their golf tour. "We didn’t just take off from the house. We did a lot of planning," said 64-year-old Paul. They started by reading Fodor’s "Golf Digest’s Places to Play" and mapping out the appropriate Choice Hotels to stay at. "It’s amazing how many golf courses are in the U.S.," said Paul, adding that there are about 600 courses in Michigan alone. They focused on municipal courses to keep the cost down, and they also made the trips coincide with visits to family members out West. "We found out there are some really nice municipal courses," said Kaleen. The challenge of golfing in all 50 states is that Paul and Kaleen weren’t familiar with the courses beforehand. "When you don’t know, it’s really easy to hit the ball into the water, the woods, or the sand traps," said Paul. Of course, he and Kaleen never claimed to be great golfers. "We’re duffers for sure. We’re not super-duper golfers," she said. "We didn’t go out there to break all records as far as score goes." Typically, he shoots in the 90s and her score is around 115. ***** The most inexpensive course they visited — the $8 Back Nine Golf Course in Danville, Ill. — was also the most disappointing one. "It was the saddest-looking thing," Kaleen said, adding that they had to pull a wobbly cart around the course. Most of the courses they saw were impressive though, especially a Scottish-style course called Highland Green in Topsham, Maine. "The greens were the best we’d ever seen. It was like walking on an unbelievably perfect green carpet," Kaleen said. The Canyon Springs course in Twin Falls, Idaho, was also a sight to behold. "I kept going ohh, ahh because there’s a big waterfall coming down in one area," said Kaleen. The wildlife was also a big highlight of certain courses. "We had to wait for the deer to move off the fairway," Kaleen said of the Salt Fork Golf Course in Ohio, adding that the rugged terrain made cleats advisable. As for the baby alligator that came dangerously close at the Beaufort Country Club in South Carolina, Kaleen admits that she’d been warned. "When we left Winchester, somebody said to watch out for the alligators. I thought he was joking," she said. Though the animals occasionally presented a challenge, the weather was generally cooperative. They only had to play in two strong rains — but they were never rained out. Their hottest round was on June 17, 2003, at the Kenny Rapier Golf Course in Old Kentucky Home State Park. "That was before we went up to the Jim Beam Distillery," Paul said. The Kentucky heat was quite a contrast to their experience at the Anchorage Moose Run Golf Course in Alaska on Sept. 3, 2002. That’s when they experienced their frost delay. Yet one of the most unforgettable experiences was golfing in Kaleen’s old hometown at the Shelby County Golf Course in Iowa. She remembers helping her dad bale hay on the same land where the course now stands. Closer to home, they chose the Williamsburg National Golf Club in Virginia right after a PGA Seniors tournament. "We pretended we were in the tournament," Kaleen said. ***** Amid their golf travels, the Bakers managed to pack in lots of sight-seeing. They saw the former London Bridge from England that is now located in Arizona, and they toured the National Corvette Factory and Museum in Kentucky. In Texas, they ate in a restaurant made out of a cotton gin. "We’ve seen so many different things along the way," said Kaleen. They finished all 50 states in November when they were visiting Kaleen’s sister in Phoenix. While there, they drove 160 miles to their last course — the Blythe Municipal Golf Course in Blythe, Calif. — on Nov. 8. Now that the journey is over, the Bakers are proud of their accomplishment. "We set a goal, and we did it," said Kaleen as she gave Paul a high-five in their kitchen recently. They’re both a little sad that the journey is over — but they plan to keep golfing. "We’ll probably go back. I figure we’re not going to stop," said Kaleen.
Kaleen and Paul Baker look over photos of their golfing trips to all 50 states. They took a picture of themselves at each of golf courses they played. They played the final round in their 50-state tour on Nov. 8 in Blythe, Calif.
(Ginger Perry)
Haymarket Virginia
www.piedmontclub.com
Dominion Valley Country Club
Haymarket Virginia
www.dominionvalley.com
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