What a week at Birch Ridge Golf Course! The Wells Fargo All Alaska Pro-Am and Skins Game got things started on Monday. Aaron “Baby Dex” Dexheimer posted a wonderful 67 on a challenging track for a first-place finish.

George “Jorge” Collum rock and rolled his ball around the course in 68 quick strokes as the runner-up. Rich Lundahl and I finished T-3 with a pair of 69s.

Josh Lansing backed his way into a 74, still well enough for low amateur honors. Dave Matthews, out of Palmer, had the band back together taking the net division with a groovy 62, one shot ahead of local hero and wine aficionado Darell Jelsma. Brandon Kaiser, a golf professional out of Anchorage, paired with his amateurs for a team triumph.

With the Pro-Am a distant memory, the professionals from around the state headed out for the evening alternate-shot skins game. Dexheimer again emerged on top, with the help of his playing partner Chris Wright.

Perhaps, the highlight of the evening belonged to Bill “The Thrill” Engberg, who rolled in a 15-footer in spite of an incredible amount of adversity at the 10th. The putt netted Engberg and his partner, Brandon Kaiser, a handsome sum!

A special thank you goes out to the crew at Wells Fargo for their sponsorship and for hosting the awards ceremony barbecue. The golf course and the Birch Ridge Golf Association couldn’t have a better partner for this event.

The Pro-Am was followed up by our first rendition of Wine Wednesday. Both golfers and instructors had a blast! Participants sampled five varieties of wine from Washington State and received full swing and putting group lessons.

Gene “A Girls Best Friend” Diamond, our wonderful wine host, is bringing in varieties from Spain for next week’s outing. That doesn’t sound like a bad time does it? At the end of the evening golfers putted for a chance to take home a bottle of their favorite wine. Kurt “Cuffy” Nelson rolled in the lengthy attempt earning the admiration of all.

If you think Wine Wednesday sounds like a great way to have fun and receive quality golf instruction in a low-pressure environment visit the Birch Ridge Facebook page and check out the Wine Wednesday photos and videos.

Call the pro shop to sign up for next week!

This upcoming weekend hosts the 30th Peninsula Senior Amateur. The two-day event begins Saturday with golfers choosing their own tee time with other competitors in the event. First-round scores will pair golfers for Sunday morning’s final round.

If you have been on the Earth for a long time and wish to participate in this event give Birch Ridge a call!

The golf course will remain open for play to all golfers during the Senior Amateur and there’s no better time to play than right now. When Bill Engberg isn’t rolling in putts for dollars during the Skins game, he is out making the golf course look beautiful with a ton of help from Mike Rose and our youthful band of grass growing groupies.

Old Folks Golf

Seniors play was moved to Tuesday to accommodate the Wells Fargo All Alaska Pro-Am and Skins Game on Monday. The change of routine rattled our extremely experienced golfers. So much so that they forgot to leave the author of this column a recap. Oops.

Tuesday Morning Ladies League

The mystery tour continues with the lovable ladies failing to leave a recap for the column. Golfers typically refer to these type of mistakes as triple bogies.

Thursday Night Couples

Couples Night was postponed due to inclement weather.

Golf Joke of the Week

A young man and a priest are playing together.

At a short par-3 the priest asks, “What are you going to use on this hole my son?”

The young man says, “An 8-iron, father. How about you?”

The priest says, “I’m going to hit a soft 7 and pray.”

The young man hits his 8-iron and puts the ball on the green. The priest tops his 7-iron and dribbles the ball out a few yards.

The young man says, “I don’t know about you father, but in my church when we pray, we keep our head down.”