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GOLF CLASS IS A HOLE IN ONE
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» i HWRBI
Matt Stenhouse practices
his golf swing at the
Sah*Hah~Lee driving
range over the weekend.
BY TOM BOGGESS
Paul Fiskum, the golf instructor at Clackamas Community
College, was actually a CCC student back in 1971.
“Golf was in the curriculum back then,” said Fiskum.
“And we had a golf team for a while here at CCC.”
Back in the 1980s, Fiskum said, “There was a bond
issue. Measure 5 and the athletic department cut a
number of things from the curriculum due to cost.”
The men’s and women’s golf teams were cut along with
men’ s and women’ s tennis and the men’ s soccer team.
But we do offer classes. Fiskum’s golf class, PE-185-035,
w ill be offered spring term Tuesdays and Thursdays
from 11 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. Fiskum was sad to see the
program go.
The golf classes have their practice sessions at Sah-
Hah-Lee Golf Course, located off of Hwy 224 and 130th.
It has a covered practice facility and a place for practicing
the short game. There are two different putting greens
and a putt-putt course as well.
8 Clackamas Ptinl MARCH 9,2016 theciackamaspiintcom
Fiskum said his classes start at Sah-Hah-Lee and he
usually gives his students one lesson and they practice
putting for 15 or 20 minutes, and chipping for about 30
minutes. After that, they go down to the driving range
where all the students w ill hit a medium size bucket
of balls and will also receive handouts that cover golf
etiquette and golf terminology.
The class doesn’t go in depth into the rules because
it would overwhelm the students, due to the numerous
rules o f the gam e. They are given a couple o f the
important rules to know, like the lost ball rule, out of
bounds and the unplayable. The students are quizzed
on these rules.
“ I give the kids bits of information that I have learned,
and the basics come first,” said Fiskum. “The grip, the
stance, posture, alignment and ball position is where
we start. We watch a video on the first day of class on
the fundamentals of the game. We also cover safety on
the course and how to watch out for others. I ask the
students if they would like videos of themselves because
I have a slow motion camera and they can see what their
swing looks like.”
Hannah Stobie is a freshman here at CCC and she runs
track and cross country.
“ If I had known there was a golf class here I would
have taken it,” said Stobie. “ I am a 13 handicap and I
was in the eighth grade when I began playing the game,
my grandparents got me started.”
A student from last year’s class, Trevin Berg said, “ I
was an intermediate golfer so I got to learn more than just
the basics of the game. I got to improve the fundamentals
of my swing, my short game and my understanding of
the rules, and the instruction was excellent.”
If CCC were to have the opportunity to add sports teams
to the class schedule, golf would at the top of a short
list, said Jim Martineau, the athletic director of CCC.