LAKEWOOD, Pierce County — Ken Still had been friends with Jack Nicklaus for about 50 years, a relationship that was cemented early on when the two were Ryder Cup teammates in 1969.

But in all that time, Still, a Tacoma native, had never asked for anything from his friend.

That changed last spring when Still called Nicklaus for help with American Lake Golf Course at the VA Hospital in Lakewood, the only course in the country that is completely accessible to wounded and disabled veterans.

"Jack, you need to be involved down here," Still told Nicklaus.

"What do you want me to do, Kenny?' " Nicklaus asked.

"I want you to come out here and design a golf course for these guys," Still replied.

Nicklaus had a one-word response: "OK."

That conversation was the seed for what took place this week. On Monday, Nicklaus gave a clinic to veterans and donors at Tacoma Country Club, before spending Tuesday morning at American Lake Golf Course, looking over the land where he will design the second nine.

"We will redo a little bit of the old nine to match up with the new nine," he said.
"We'll have 18 holes of golf, and hopefully this will be a prototype for a lot of places around the country."

Nicklaus, 70, knew nothing about American Lake Golf Course until he heard from Still, who has given free lessons for years at the course. Nicklaus did not know that it was run entirely by volunteers, many of them veterans in their 70s, nor was he aware of the positive impact that golf can have on wounded veterans.

Once Nicklaus started meeting with those veterans, the project took on special meaning for him.

"These guys are so terrific, and they are so determined," he said. "It's an honor to contribute and to be a part of what is going on.

"When you lose a limb, you all of a sudden feel ostracized from society, and this puts them back into society and it helps them with their self-worth. For us, their self-worth will never be questioned, but for them sometimes it is, and we're just so pleased to be able to be involved with this."

At the end of his clinic Monday, Nicklaus worked individually with several disabled and wounded veterans, giving encouragement after each shot. At times, Nicklaus seemed to get choked up. Afterward, he posed for pictures and signed autographs until every veteran was satisfied.

"I was married and had children before I got out of college, so I was never in the service and I never knew what these guys had gone through," Nicklaus said. "A lot of my friends went to Vietnam, and they came back and their lives were scarred in different ways. To be a part of this, even though I couldn't contribute from that standpoint, is special."

Nicklaus is one of the most respected and renowned golf designers in the world. But this project will present unique challenges for him. He will need to make a course that is accessible to the disabled, yet challenging for able-bodied veterans.

Although the Nicklaus design team already had a preliminary plan, nothing was set until the man himself could get a firsthand look.

"It's uncharted waters for me," he said before Tuesday's inspection. "We have to have wheelchair access, and scooter access and so forth. My usual (deep) sea bunkers aren't going to work here. I'm going to go out tomorrow and look, and we'll get a design. I have seen pictures, and it's a beautiful property."

Before work can begin on the design that Nicklaus comes up with, the Friends of American Lake Golf Course need to raise about $2 million. Nicklaus' appearance Monday in Tacoma not only gave the veterans a boost, it also gave fundraising a lift.

Nicklaus, who made the stop here en route to South Korea and China to work on other golf-course projects, said the project he accepted on blind faith has become very important to him.

"Ken wouldn't have asked me if he didn't think it was the right thing to do," Nicklaus said. "Once I got into it, started meeting the guys, talking to them about what they are doing, it is the right thing to do.

"All my projects are important to me, but this one is out of love. I'm a hired gun at a lot of places, but I am not a hired gun here. I'm doing this because I want to do it."