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Akins returns to area as new StoneRidge pro By RANDY HAMMERICKSEN Pat Akins, golf trick-shot artist and venerable head professional in Oregon, is making a homecoming to Southern Oregon. Akins, 44, an Ashland High alumnus, has been named the new head professional at StoneRidge Golf Course by owner Jim Cochran. Akins is already on the job, behind the counter, on the phone and on the practice range at StoneRidge. "He's a very professional guy, and he's been a Class A professional for more than 20 years," says Cochran. "He's a good business man, and he was PGA merchandiser of the year in Oregon twice. "He's great at meeting and greeting people and teaching. We're very fortunate to have him as our new head pro." Akins, who has given golf trick-shot demonstrations during PGA and LPGA tournaments across the country, was previously head professional at Willamette Valley Country Club in Canby for nine years and head pro at Longview (Wash.) Country Club. His father, Al Akins, was head football coach and men's and women's basketball coach at Southern Oregon University from 1955-68. Al also helped head coach Dan Bulkley as an assistant track coach for Southern Oregon during many of those years. Pat was the ballboy for his father's Southern Oregon football teams and batboy for the Raider baseball team. "I hung around the Southern Oregon teams a lot back then," says Pat, who played one year of varsity golf for his father at SOU prior to transferring to Nevada-Las Vegas. He played for UNLV's golf team for one season before taking a job as an assistant professional at Roseburg Country Club. Akins will own his own golf shop at StoneRidge. He's planning to host a "grand re-opening" of the shop and course soon. During the day, he will give trick-shot exhibitions and talk golf and other subjects. THE RUNNING Y Ranch Resort golf course, near Klamath Falls, has drawn rave reviews from the July edition of Golf Magazine. Writer Jeff Wallach says Running Y is home on the range, in golf course form. Running Y officials reacted positively to the story, which makes you feel like you should test this course, as a treat to yourself. But, the story says, you should also find another place to eat. Wallach says golfers should "avoid at all costs" Schautze's on the Green, the clubhouse restaurant. Wallach advises golfers to eat at Chez Nous, a French restaurant downtown, or Sergio's for Mexican food. "We don't appreciate the comments about the restaurant, and we don't think they are accurate," says Running Y Ranch head golf professional Jim Skaugstad. "If you want to rate our restaurant, you'd better get over here." All right, the restaurant comments struck a nerve, but the rest of the story about the course and facilities was positive and, in some cases, gushy. Wallach rates Skaugstad, "possibly the most affable resort pro in America." "What he said about me is a little embarrassing," says Skaugstad. "But it's our philosophy in the golf shop to be friendly." Skaugstad says he likes all aspects of the Golf Magazine story, other than Wallach's suggestion that, "good vittles are hard to come by at Running Y." Wallach suggests bringing your own bag of snacks with you to the course. George Martin, former Rogue Valley Country Club assistant professional who is now an assistant at Running Y Ranch, says the course is a jewel for golfers who like to take a weekend to relax in a resort-like atmosphere. "It's a beautiful course in perfect shape," says Martin. "It's the best thing going in Southern Oregon." As far as the course and mountain scenery are concerned, Wallach seems impressed. "The layout," he writes, "provides 18 good reasons for visiting the resort. It stretches 7,133 yards from the back (Arnold) Palmer tees, but measures a mere 5,977 yards from the whites and plays even shorter due to the altitude at 4,200 feet." Here are other Wallach comments about the course: "Tees and rough at the Running Y are edged with blue fescues, and the bentgrass fairways undulate pleasantly. The course is really a sampler plate for golfing delicacies: "The first four holes tease along the edge of Klamath Lake, its marshes frequented by birds and waterfowl (the resort stretches along the Pacific Flyway, so visitors include herons, bald eagles, and tundra swans. "The back nine begins in open meadows punctuated by lakes and scooped mounds. After the steep, downhill par-three 12th, the course disappears into sage-scented, creek-lined Payne Canyon." Golf Magazine wasn't the only publication to write about Running Y. Golf for Women magazine took into account its short yardage from the women's tees (4,842 yards) and demanding features and rated it one of the top 100 courses in the nation. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.