With all the security leaks and investigations and revelations of the last few weeks, you’d think there isn’t much in the way of secrets anymore. But you haven’t considered Alotian, Warren Stephens’ super-private golf course on Arkansas 10 west of Little Rock. Hardly anyone, except its members, know much about it.
Don’t bother trying to find out about the course by consulting its website. There might be one, but the run-of-the-mill web surfer can’t access it. We know, however, that the fairways are zoysia and the greens are bent grass.
You can’t just drive to Roland, plunk down a credit card, employ a caddie and head toward the first tee at Alotian. It’s serious about being private. The only way to get on the course if you’re not a member is to be a guest of a member. You have to be invited to join; a non-equity membership runs into six figures.
This is a subject of ongoing distress and discussion among area golfers, especially those who play public courses such as Rebsamen, First Tee and War Memorial. It’s like knowing there’s a Prada store right around the corner. You might not be able to buy much of anything there, but you sure wouldn’t mind being able to snoop around and see whatyou’re missing.
“Just unreal,” writes a reviewer on the website golflink.com about Alotian. “Every hole is so beautiful.”
Can’t stand it any more? Here’s a way in. For the mere cost of $100, you can serve as a volunteer during the 111th Western Amateur Championship-often referred to as the Masters of amateur golf-from July 29-Aug. 4. You can purchase a transferable grounds badge for $100-good for the entire week-but you’d feel more like an insider as a volunteer.
The work isn’t hard. Volunteers will be helping out with registration, parking and transportation, concessions, hospitality, scoring, selling of merchandise and range preparation as well as serving as marshals, spotters and standard bearers. Yes, you have to pay for the privilege of volunteering (the minimum commitment is three shifts). But that’ll get you two Alotian golf shirts, a golf hat and a meal ticket each day, along with admission to the tournament when you’re not on the job. That’s a lot less than you’d spend on a vacation to Disneyworld, and for a golfer it might prove much more rewarding.
Opened in 2004, The Alotian Club is ranked No. 14 on Golf Digest’s biennial ranking of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses and was identified by the magazine as thebest new private course in the country in 2005. Designed by Tom Fazio, the 7,480-yard course’s signature trait is elevation change, including a spectacular 100-foot drop from tee to green at the sixth hole.
Most of us wouldn’t know that. We’ve never been there. That’s why volunteering for the tournament is a legal and acceptable way to check it out.
Here’s how the tournament works: A field of 156 invited players will play 18 holes of individual stroke play on Tuesday and Wednesday (July 30-31) after which the field will be cut to the low 44 scores and ties. Those remaining will play 18 holes each on Thursday and Friday (August 1-2) to determine the low 16 finishers. The “Sweet Sixteen” will compete on Saturday and Sunday (August 3-4) to decide the champion.
Among those players will be Bobby Wyatt and Justin Thomas, the country’s two top-ranked amateur golfers who are members of Alabama’s 2013 NCAA national championship team.Others include No. 7-ranked Patrick Rodgers of Stanford and No. 9 Cory Whitsett, also a member of the Alabama team.
At least five of the amateurs who competed in the recent U.S. Open at Merion East in Philadelphia have committed to play at Alotian: No. 8-ranked Max Homa, No. 11 Michael Kim, No. 24 Michael Weaver (all teammates at the University of California, Berkeley), No. 49 Steven Fox and No. 318-ranked Gavin Hall.
Arkansas residents in the field include 1995 Western Amateur champion Patrick Lee of Centerton, Austin Cook and Joe Doramus of the Arkansas Razorbacks golf team and Little Rock’s Alex Carpenter, a golf team member at Abilene Christian in Texas.
What’s in this for Alotian? Hosting the Western Amateur championship will showcase the course while also letting the golf world know the club’s support of caddies and the WGA’s Evans Scholars Foundation, which grants college scholarships to deserving caddies.
Oh, about the course name: According to the website cybergolf.com, “Alotian” comes from a group of wayfaring golfers-including course creator Stephens-who set out to play the best courses in America. The trips became known as the “America’s Lights Out Tour” (ALOT). So the wayfarers began calling themselves Alotians.
Perspective, Pages 71 on 06/30/2013