At American Lake Veterans Golf Course, volunteers labor together for game they love

By ANGELO BRUSCAS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
LAKEWOOD -- For the past 30 years, Isaac Laws has driven twice per month by the tranquil, almost hidden, fir-lined fairways of the American Lake Veterans Golf Course on his way to American Lake Veterans Hospital for his ongoing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

A survivor of several mortar attacks while fighting in Vietnam, the Ocean Shores resident and Army veteran came home to an uncertain world in which he constantly struggled to adjust to life back home, questioning his fate in having survived the war when others had not.

"I came away the type of personality who wondered, Why not me?"

This spring, Laws also began to wonder if maybe his therapy also could be helped by checking into the ramshackle pro shop/caddyshack/clubhouse all rolled into one -- a little known gate into a world on the northwest edge of Fort Lewis where golf is far more than just a game.

"When I started having the disabilities that were going on with me, I had always seen the golf course," Laws said. "When I was younger, I really liked golf, but I never got a chance to go to college or play golf. I had a pretty good swing earlier in my life, so I decided to try it again."

Since 1932, the American Lake Veterans Golf Course has been a refuge for thousands of veterans like Laws after it first went into operation in conjunction with the VA hospital across the street.

Carved out of an old orchard and through an old stand of Douglas firs west of American Lake, the course originally was dedicated to providing golf to soldiers with disabilities as part of their rehabilitation and treatment programs.

That's still its mission today, as Laws can attest, and it's a mission that comes from a labor of love and devotion -- and the dedication of a battalion of volunteers whose average age is about 72 and getting older all the time.

Ten years ago, federal funding was eliminated for all operations and maintenance of all VA golf courses around the nation. But a group of regular players at American Lake, which is open to all veterans, banded together to see if they could keep the course from closing, and the entire operation has been run and managed with no outside funding since 1996.

That effort has now blossomed into the non-profit Friends of American Lake Veterans Golf Course, which is searching for new sources of money for much-needed improvements, such as a desperate need to make the driving range and course wheelchair accessible. The group last year managed to install a $400,000 sprinkler system for about $150,000 because of the volunteers, and it hopes to raise money for special golf carts that will allow disabled golfers a chance to play regularly.

All-volunteer army

Up with the dawn, the Tuesday morning grounds and pro shop crew at American Lake Golf includes three Navy veterans and a couple of Army retirees, ranging in age from 79 to 81. Four are World War II vets, and another was in the forefront of the Bay of Pigs showdown in Cuba.
War stories are more prevalent than golf stories around this clubhouse when the crew takes a break from manicuring the course, raking traps, picking up range balls and sweeping greens free of the icy morning dew.

"I've been playing this stupid game for 40 years and I haven't gotten any better," said Andy Munro, a Navy veteran who has spent the morning on the mower and plays the course twice per week, every Monday and Thursday. "But as far as this crew of volunteers here, we are jacks of all trade on the golf course. We do everything."

Everything a public or private golf course does -- fertilize, mow greens and fairways, trim, edge, spray, administration, maintenance -- is done by volunteers.

The course also has its volunteer golf teacher, Harold "Pepper" Roberts, who began working with many of the patients from the hospital, and now teaches and serves on the course's board to raise awareness and funds. The board has a five-year plan to improve the course and buy more equipment, with a budget of $263,000 it hopes to raise through grants.

"I started volunteering by teaching golf about two days a week to the inpatients and outpatients there free of charge," Roberts said of how he got hooked on helping out. "It was really fun and I met a lot of really great people. Some of the handicaps were challenging.

"One of the guys had lost his leg in Vietnam, and they kept having to take parts of it off to where it was almost up to his hip on his left leg. So in order to teach him, I went out and practiced hitting on one leg. On our second lesson, we really had a good time and accomplished a lot."

Another outpatient who started taking lessons had only one arm with a hook on it, so he learned to hit the ball with just one arm after lessons from Roberts and is now playing golf regularly. On Friday, the course will host a clinic for disabled golfers, amputees and wheelchair players.

"One of the reasons we are fundraising is to get golf carts, because we have never had golf carts before. And there are a lot of people who can't walk the golf course, but they still could play if they had a cart," Roberts said.

The specialized carts, however, cost $7,500 each.

A place of purpose

The course is a nine-hole layout with two par-3s and one par-5. With two sets of tees, you can play 18 holes for a par 71 if you go around twice, and the distance varies from side to side. There are about 70 members, 20 of them women.

The course is open to veterans and active U.S. military, inpatients or outpatients of the VA hospital or to hospital volunteers. Fees are $12 per day.

Troy Tackett, 58, a retired Tacoma firefighter, plays two rounds per week at American Lake and takes lessons from Roberts to work on hitting crisper shots. Roberts has him swinging a broom and then a tennis racket while making simple adjustments in Tackett's swing.
He didn't take up the game until he was 50, and finds American Lake a place of comfort and solitude where his level of play can improve at his pace.

"It's all the golf I need," Tackett said.
Once he became a regular, Tackett also pitched in to help out, and was amazed when he volunteered to help put in the new sprinkler system to meet all the others who keep the course running as a labor of love and devotion.

"I was working with guys who are 80 years old, and I'm the baby here," Tackett said.

"This is a unique bunch of people. Where can you find 80-year-old guys running shovels for hours?"
Tackett seems to find solace in the time he spends at American Lake, whether or not his golf game improves.

"The purpose of the golf course, first off, benefits the patients, it gives them some recreation," Tackett said. "They come over here and use the course, too. This is a place that really does have purpose."

For Laws, he hopes his lessons with Roberts and his new passion for golf will help with his treatment. The last time he played golf was 1979.

"It helps you acquire a greater degree of patience, and I'm looking for that," Laws said. "If I should get skilled enough to enter some tournaments, I would like to do that."

Roberts has witnessed such enthusiasm repeatedly as he teaches someone new nearly every week.
"Some have played golf before, but for many of them it's the first time," he said. "Then when they get hitting the ball, they get so excited. Some of them can't even talk, but you can just see the excitement all over their faces.

"People don't realize sometimes that it isn't disability, but ability, that counts."

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·  WHAT: The Friends of American Lake Veterans Golf Course is a non- profit group whose mission is to assist with improvement and maintenance of the course for disabled veterans.
·  NEEDED: Improved driving range access, golf carts for amputees, clinics, equipment and storage facility.

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