Anchorage Golf Course, Alaska
The par four fourth hole at Anchorage Golf Course in Alaska. This picture was taken ninety minutes before midnight!
A recent trip to Alaska, my first, left me at a loss for words. I make a conscious effort to avoid embellishment or recency bias at all costs, but the truth is that no one would scoff if you were to hail The Last Frontier as America’s most scenic state. I traveled in early June and, while the vegetation was green at sea level, was astounded by distant snow-capped mountain ranges that seem to roll on as far as the eye can see. The expanse of America’s largest state cannot be overemphasized. Call me an ignorant Midwestern flatlander whose idea of extreme elevation is a fifty-foot cliff, but Alaska touched me in a way few places have. There was something captivating about the vastness of the land, the good-natured people, and the sheer immense landscapes that a blog post can’t properly articulate. If you’ve visited, you know what I mean.
The genesis of why I came to Alaska in the first place stemmed from an exchange I shared with my wife a few years ago. We discussed the possibility of me playing golf in every state in America before the age of forty, which gave me ten years at the time to carry out the assignment. Alaska and Hawaii were named the two most difficult, given their proximity to the Lower 48. Earlier this year, my wife urged me to reexamine the feasibility of said trip. This spring, the opportunity presented itself to me, and I had so much fun that I decided to head back in late July for a book signing.
The national golf scene pays no attention to Alaska. While the Lower 48 continue pumping out shiny new golf resorts and destinations year after year, The Last Frontier is quite content with its twenty-two designs, the majority of which have only nine holes. For the most part, Anchorage Golf Course, Moose Run Golf Club’s Creek course, and Settlers Bay in Wasilla constitute the consensus top three tracks in the state. According to online outlets, other notables include Moose Run’s other course, the Hill layout, Palmer Golf Club, and Fairbanks’ Chena Bend.
Years ago, the USGA elected to contest the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship—Alaska’s first—at Anchorage Golf Course, a 1997 parkland design situated in the trees on the southeast part of the state’s largest city. The 6,601-yard Bill Newcomb layout is the second best in the state according to Golf Digest and Top100GolfCourses.com, and GolfWeek hails it the greatest in Alaska. I had played Settlers Bay earlier in the afternoon and come to the swift conclusion that Anchorage was the track I had to highlight for this series. It’s not that Settlers Bay was a dud by any stretch, but rather that Anchorage played the part of big-league layout in a state where few match that description. That the clubhouse is fully stocked and the peaceful layout winds through the trees add to the overall appeal. Anchorage’s finest course can be defined by its mammoth evergreen trees, rolling hills, and scenic views. The course offers great shot variety, too.
I made a tee time past nine in the evening, figuring I’d play alone and be one of a few brave enough to take on the task, and was amazed to learn my playing partners had put their children to bed in the hours prior and then come to the golf course. I have never once in my life completed those two tasks in that order.
Playing golf until midnight was never something in my wildest dreams that I ever anticipated doing, but that’s exactly what I did at Anchorage Golf Course. I couldn’t help but feel a wave of emotion as I walked off the last green. As I gazed into the fading light of the sky, I became profoundly aware of how fortunate I was to have been there. It struck me in that instant that the experience in Alaska was about more than the golf.
The most appreciable stretch of golf at Anchorage on the front nine begins with the 460-yard par four fourth—the approach is headlined in the featured image of this post—and ends with the 484-yard par five sixth, a wonderful little dogleg left par five guarded by evergreens on the right and a penal water hazard on the left. The back-to-front sloping green and a trio of bunkers help add to the unmistakable truth that both threes and sevens can be made here. I also really liked the 348-yard par four second, a high-risk, high-reward hole to an elevated putting surface that stands, from the perspective of the golfer, directly beneath a massive mountain. In short, I preferred the first nine.
On the latter half of the routing, the most picturesque moment comes at the tee box of the short par four fifteenth. This scenic view constitutes the secondary image of this post. The eighteenth is a fun closer, between its humps in the approach area and camera friendly angle of the Anchorage city skyline looming in the back.
The greens are a tad bumpy and the fairways a bit splotchy, but that’s Alaska. A few of the Anchoragites I played with over two separate rounds—friendly guys named Jake, Shea, and Trevor—informed me it was impossible to maintain top-notch green conditions due to climate changes and the region’s short golf season. Aside from the inconsistent putting greens, the golf course’s par threes are the weakest spot. If forced to choose a favorite, I’d go with the third, and that’s primarily due to the intriguing boomerang-shaped putting surface.
Even still, Anchorage Golf Course is a pleasant stroll in the woods. Don’t expect too much around the greens, and you’ll have a great time. And hey, you might strike up a good conversation with a friendly Alaskan or even spot a moose and capture the moment on camera. America’s most unique state has its fair share of memorable golf moments, but at the end of the day golf is never really what you’re in Alaska for, anyway.