Meadowwood Pro Walker Will Retire

Spokane is about to lose another of its most popular golf professionals.

Kaye Walker has announced he will step down as the head pro at MeadowWood Golf Course at the end of the current golf season. His retirement will bring the curtain down on a golf career that spans six decades.

“It’s been great,” Walker, 62, said of his love affair with golf that dates back to 1946 when he caddied during the first United States Women’s Open at Spokane Country Club. “A lot of people say it’s tough to deal with the public, but it’s not bad if you’re in the golf business.”

Word of Walker’s planned departure comes less than a week after Chris Mitchell, a Spokane native and long-time area professional, left Sun Dance Golf Course to become the head pro at Tumwater Valley Golf Club.

Walker, who started his pro career as an assistant at Manito Country Club in the early 1950s, later gave up his professional status and became one of the top amateur players in the Pacific Northwest until 1962, when he accepted his first head pro job at Wallace-Shoshone Golf Club.

After four years at Shoshone, he moved to Peninsula Country Club in Port Angeles, but returned to Shoshone two years later.

He spent another five years there, before being hired by Spokane County as the head pro at Liberty Lake Golf Course.

In 1988, when the county opened MeadowWood adjacent to Liberty Lake, Walker took over as head pro at both courses. In 1993, he dropped his dual role to devote himself to MeadowWood.

Walker twice won the Spokane City championship, along with the Indian Canyon and Downriver club tournaments. As a professional, he played on several Hudson Cup teams and finished second in both the Idaho and Washington Opens.

He qualified for the U.S. Open in 1963.

Walker cut back on his playing shortly after hiring current Indian Canyon head professional Gary Lindeblad as his assistant at Liberty Lake.

“Gary started playing pretty good and as soon as he started playing better than me, I figured it was time to pack it in,” Walker explained.

The county is expected to put the MeadowWood job out for bids in the near future. Mollie Thola and Dan Schmarr are assistants at MeadowWood.

Ticket sales steady

Advance ticket sales for the 1996 Senior Pro Classic, which will be held Sept. 2 at Indian Canyon Golf Course, are running ahead of last year when the event drew more than 10,000 spectators, according to tournament director Toby Steward.

In order to make the Indian Canyon clubhouse and driving range parking lots available to competitors and sponsors, tournament officials will run STA spectator shuttle buses from the downtown and Geiger Field areas to the golf course, which will host a five-person scramble tournament in the morning and a six-hole shootout for the senior professionals at 1:30 p.m.

The shuttle service will begin at 7 a.m. and run every 20 minutes until 10 a.m. From then until 3 p.m. buses will depart every 15 minutes.

Spectators will be able to catch buses at the following locations:

Jefferson Park and Ride lot, just off the Maple Street exit from Interstate 90, between Jefferson and Walnut.

Former location of Dealers Auto Auction on Electric Avenue, just off the Geiger exit (No. 276).

STA Plaza at Riverside and Wall.

The roundtrip fare will be $1.

Shoshone Amateur

The Shoshone Golf Club in Kellogg will take phone entries for its 39th annual Labor Day Amateur golf tournament until Aug. 30. Entry fee for the three-day, 54-hole event that runs Aug. 31-Sept. 2 is $90 and covers golf - including practice round, a Sunday night steak fry and prizes. A long-drive contest will be held Saturday and a two-person shootout involving the low 20 qualifiers from Saturday’s first round will be staged Sunday afternoon. For more information, call 208-784-0161.

Catholic Charities is hosting a four-person scramble golf tournament Sept. 15 at Liberty Lake golf course. Proceeds will benefit St. Margaret’s Shelter for homeless women and children. Registration deadline is Sept. 9th. Cost is $60. A car will be given away for a hole-in-one. Information: 456-7150.

Downriver Golf Course will hold its annual Labor Day Couples tournament Aug. 31-Sept. 1. Entry fee is $60, plus green fees. Information: 327-5269.

, DataTimes