Route 66 Golf Trail kicks off with party at LaFortune Park
By Ken MacLeod
Grab your sticks. And get your kicks.
The new Route 66 Golf Trail, a collection of 66 courses from Illinois to California, was introduced today in a ceremony at LaFortune Park Golf Course. The trail is the dream of Tulsan Gary Sparks, who has worked for years to make it a reality during the 100-year anniversary celebrations of Route 66.
Ken Busby, the executive director and CEO of the Route 66 Alliance and chair of the Route 66 Commission in Tulsa, was there to help launch the trail and spoke glowingly about the addition of adding golfers to the mix of those traveling Route 66 for enjoyment, nostalgia and recreation.
Ken Busby, chair of the Route 66 Commission in Tulsa, envisions golf adding a great new component to Route 66 travel.The website with all of the courses listed and much more information is Stickson66.com. The best aspect of the trail for those traveling the Mother Road is the adventure of seeing what awaits around the corner.
Noted golf mental coach and positivity trainer Billy Ray Young, who works with PGA professionals Tracy Phillips and Ryan Rody among others, was dispatched by Sparks to play a variety of the trail courses between Texas and California, checking them to make sure they were trail worthy.
What he found, Young said, was a series of delights.
Gary Sparks has worked long and hard to bring his idea to fruition.“We had heard that some may not be up to standard,” Young said. “But what we found was they were up to standard and beyond that. The greens were fantastic everywhere. Everyone was totally receptive and open and friendly.”
Young visited courses such as Comanche Trail in Amarillo, Texas, Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe, Black Mesa and Pueblo de Cochita in New Mexcio, Sedona Golf Resort and Elephant Rocks in Arizona and wound up at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Overall he and his wife visited 20 courses on the trip although they didn’t play complete rounds at all of them.
Billy Ray Young and his wife Linda explored the courses on the western half of the Route 66 Golf Trail.“By and large they were all wonderful,” Young said.
Now that he has the courses and the website and the blessing of the national Route 66 Commission, the next challenge for Sparks is to find enough funding to promote the Trail. Busby said he has some ideas of sponsors he may be able to interest.
The ceremony was hosted by Tulsa County, which owns LaFortune Park and whose commissioners have been supportive of the idea. Tulsa County Parks Director Matt Hancock, whose course is also a member of the Oklahoma Golf Trail, said any rounds or notoriety generated by the Route 66 Golf Trail for LaFortune Park is just an added bonus for the course, city and county to have visitors coming in to play.
Other Oklahoma courses that are on the Trail include Shangri-La Resort, Cherokee Hills in Catoosa, Battle Creek in Broken Arrow, Rock Creek in Sapulpa (actually right on Route 66), Canyons at Blackjack Ridge in Sand Springs, Buffalo Rock in Cushing, Lake Hefner, Lincoln Park and Earlywine in Oklahoma City, Crimson Creek in El Reno, Prairie West in Weatherford and Elk City Golf & Country Club.