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Pictured above is the American Like Veterans Golf Course (ALVGC) GOLF CART SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM in action. Far left and far right is Angel Batista and Bob Funseth from ALVGC Maintenance Shop accepting two new Yamaha EFI golf carts from the Fircrest Golf Club. Pictured left to right in carts are: Bill Beecher, Seleta Arroyo, Joe Guzzo (middle), Linda Still, and Tammy Scott, all from Fircrest Golf Club.

Both of Fircrest’s new Centennial Logos are on the front of each of the carts. These two carts will eventually get side curtains and doors to help our elderly veterans (Over 80) keep a little warmer during the winter. American Lake Veterans Golf Course Golf Cart Sponsorship Program This program was originally designed to help build a fleet of new, reliable golf carts for our veterans and their families. It began in August 2013 when The Pelican March Group from Naples, Florida purchased the first new golf cart the golf course ever owned. Yes, Naples, Florida! That is another story for another time. The program works by some generous individual, company or corporation donating enough money to purchase a new Yamaha golf cart. In 2013 our first cart was purchased for $3,800. The two carts pictured above cost more than $6,200 each. The golf course then purchases the new cart and affixes a logo from the donor made by a local sign shop. The golf course then promises to display the donor’s cart with logos for the next 5 years. We’ve never broken that promise. We rotate 15 carts every year to maintain good safe carts for our veterans and their families. Come visit us to find all the ways you can help us help veterans.

There are so many heroes amongst us.  One of those is our own golf course’s volunteer General Manager, Bruce McKenty.  Bruce is retiring after 19 years as a golf course volunteer and 15 years as the General Manager of the American Lake Veterans Golf Course, effective the end of April 2024. 

 He has, however, assured us he will still be around to assist with the transition to the new volunteer General Manager and Assistant General Manager. And he plans to still be active as a special assistant to the general manager’s office and help wherever needed. He has also been a long-serving director of the Friends of the American Lake Veterans Golf Course since the Spring of 2008 and will continue in that capacity.  

 Bruce’s commitment to military service began when he was accepted to Texas A&M University where he graduated and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970, followed by his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant.

 Upon entry into active duty, he completed his basic officer military schooling and went to flight school and an AH -1G Cobra transition enroute to Vietnam.  He was assigned to F Troop, 1/9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division at Bien Hoa as an AH-1G Cobra attack helicopter pilot.

 During his tour he was wounded twice and has the unique distinction of being one of four Army helicopter pilots who survived after being shot down with an SA-7 heat-seeking missile. During his tour he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts, and numerous Air Medals, with three being awarded for valor. Bruce went on to spend 21 years in the Army serving in various command and staff assignments in Field Artillery and Aviation and retired in 1991 as a Lieutenant Colonel. After his return to civilian life, he started a new career and worked as a project manager for a major telecommunications company until his final retirement in 2001.

 In 2002 he became involved in the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH), a veteran’s service organization to help veterans in the State of Washington.  His involvement began locally with chapter and state offices, and he ended up 10 years later as the National Commander for the Military Order of the Purple Heart.  Following his tenure as National Commander, he was elected to the Purple Heart Foundation, a 501c3 dedicated to raising money for veterans’ causes and is currently its Senior Vice President.  He dedicated his life to helping veterans and will continue to do so as long as he is physically able. 

 In 2005 he combined his love of golf and his passion for service when he found The American Lake Veterans Golf Course located on the grounds of the American Lake VA Hospital in Lakewood, Washington.  Bruce’s love for the golf course meshed perfectly with his involvement with the MOPH.  One good example of this is how he established an annual Purple Heart Tournament at the golf course to assist in raising funds to purchase equipment and golf carts.

 His initial involvement at the golf course revolved around assisting the general manager with whatever was needed.  He began coordinating with the VA and the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Lewis. The Warrior Transition Battalion efforts eventually became weekly training programs for those who wanted to learn to play golf and two tournaments per year for the entire battalion. 

 In the years that followed, he started the course marshal program and assisted in managing the construction of the covered driving range and covered activity center.  He then designed and managed construction of the new 8500 square foot clubhouse, followed by the new Jack Nicklaus-designed $3.5 million back nine holes, and $2.3 million renovation of the old front nine.  He was also instrumental in an on-going program to systematically replace the fleet of well-used maintenance equipment and driving golf carts.  Initially, this was done through support of the 501c3 and later through numerous golf tournaments, aggressive fundraising efforts, and a golf cart sponsorship program.  His final projects are the complete replacement of the driving range nets, improvements to the driving range itself, and completion of asphalt cart paths for the entire 18 holes.

 Bruce wishes to thank all those hard-working volunteers who made all this possible.  It could not have happened without them.

 And, we must mention his partner and biggest fan, his wife Francine who has been volunteering as the finance officer since 2012. She joins Bruce in retirement as she hands off her duties.

 Thank you, Bruce and Francine, for your years of service to our Veterans, their families, and our community!  We look forward to still seeing you here often where you can golf and enjoy this beautiful golf course between your travel adventures.

Members of American Lake Veterans Golf Course receive a $10,000 check from Umpqua Bank on March 7, 2024, at the 1st tee of their 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Golf Course

From (l to r) Sam Williams (Assistant General Manager ALVGC), Weldee Woodworth (Umpqua Puyallup Branch Manager), Michael Cruz (Umpqua Lakewood Branch Manager), Jim Hariston (AGM Operations ALVGC), Amy Heart Umpqua Regional Manager), Randy Moen (ALVGC Grounds Superintendent) & Bob Funseth (Maintenance Manager ALVGC)

Evan Johnsen (L) and Chas Holes (R) presenting a check as Community Outreach Committee members from PGA Northwest Section to Jason Bryan (CL) and Bruce McKenty (CR) accepting  on behalf of the Volunteers and Veterans of American Lake Veterans Golf Course in Lakewood, Washington.  This check presentation was at the conclusion of the annual PGA Pro/Am Golf Tournament held here each year in September.  This year there were a total of 29 teams from different golf courses and country clubs around Western Washington.  Much fun and many prizes were had by all on Monday, September 9, 2023.

The Friends of American Lake Veterans Golf Course are deeply saddened to report the passing of our fellow director and good friend Jim Sims.  Jim passed away quietly in the presence of his family on February 5, 2023.  He is survived by his wife Ginny, and his only son and family – Patrick, Jennifer, Liam and Conor.

Jim is a retired Colonel USMC of 26 years of service of command and staff positions to include a company command in Vietnam where he received a Bronze Star w/ V and a Purple Heart for wounds received in combat.  During his career he received many more prestigious awards to include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal and the Defense Superior Service Medal. 

After retiring from the Marine Corps, he enjoyed a second career in the civilian sector with senior management positions in the Washington State government and Time Oil Company.  He also served three terms as a Supervisor of the Mason County Conservation District, and for three years was a member of the Olympia City Planning Commission.

Jim has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Saint Marin’s University, and in 2000 was named the Saint Martin’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year.  Most recently, he served as Chair of the Governor’s Veterans Affairs Advisory Commission and before that he was the Chair of the Veterans Legislative Coalition for many years.

Jim was, for many years, very active in the Military Order of the Purple Heart and became their National Commander in 2009 to 2010.  He then went on to serve on the Purple Heart Foundation where he became the Chair in 2021.  His other veteran related, long time passion was volunteering at the American Lake Veterans Golf Course where he eventually became the President of their 501c3, the Friends of the American Lake Veterans Golf Course from 2012 to 2017 and was responsible for the funding and construction of the new Jack Nicklaus back nine holes.  Donations can be made to the Friends of American Lake Veterans Golf Course in his memory.

The American Lake Veterans Golf Course 2023 annual golf tournament for their 180+ volunteers was held on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at our golf course.  Fun was had by all, and volunteer gifts were given to all who attended the golf outing and luncheon.  All volunteers were also given one raffle ticket for some very nice prizes which were drawn during the luncheon.  The fantastic luncheon, prepared by Collis Jarmon and Larry Dunlap and their wonderful staff, consisted of America’s favorites of hot dogs, hamburgers with chili, cole slaw, macaroni salad, potato chips and chocolate chip cookies.  Cold drinks topped it all off for a wonderful meal. 

Jimmy Dillingham and his crew of Artis Lewis, Michael Adarlo and Jim Bieber won the tournament with a score of 57 (no mulligans), Bill Rasmas’ team consisting of Del Boulch, Jim Sam and Lin Wicks came in second and third place went to Steve Lang, Clarence Johnson, Jim McCue and Don French.  Congratulations to them all.  Individual winners at women’s long drive were Traci Hand, men’s long drive was Jimmy Dillingham.  Closest to the pin on hole #2 was Del Boulch with 16’2”, hole #8 was Linda Sanchez with 21’, hole #11 was Bill Rasmas with 7’4” and hole #14 was Karolyn White with 14’0”

Don Anderson, the president of the Friends of American Lake Veterans Golf Course (our 501c3) gave some touching words of wisdom and a “job well done’ to the 120 plus volunteers in attendance.  Two losses during preparation for and during the tournament were Randy’s keys and Tito’s wallet.  For all who helped look for them, we found them both.  Happy days.  Wally Labrie was recognized as our oldest volunteer in attendance at age 96.  He is one of our training staff and is a wonderful trainer.  Thanks were given to Jim Hairston and his staff for putting everything together, Randy Moen and his grounds crew for a beautiful course, Collis Jarmon’s kitchen staff for a great meal and Karolyn White, Michael Briscoe, and Artis Lewis for washing and setting up all the carts. 

Thank you all for being the only golf course in America, and possibly the world, that is ADA compatible and staffed for management, operations, and daily maintenance by a terrific 100% volunteer force.  No paid employees.  You have a lot to be proud of and our veterans who we serve have a lot to be thankful for.  God Bless you all and God Bless America.

Bruce G. McKenty

General Manager, ALVGC

Dennis Anderson, the longest serving volunteer at American Lake Veterans Golf Course is accepting the Outstanding Award for Service to Veterans – Team Award, for the 230 volunteers who manage, operate, and maintain the Jack Nicklaus designed golf course. Award is presented by Alfie Alvarado-Ramos, the Director of Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs at a Veterans Day Ceremony in Auburn, Washington following the Veterans Day Parade on November 5, 2022.

The American Lake Veterans Golf Course is an 18-hole, Jack Nicklaus designed golf course managed, operated, and maintained by 235 volunteers: veterans, spouses, and friends of veterans. There are no paid employees. Probably the only golf course of its kind, nationwide, run completely by volunteers that offers 18 holes with full golf amenities.

Volunteers perform a wide variety of functions: management, grounds keeping and course maintenance, maintenance of equipment, check-in of golfers and guests, starters, marshals, scheduling of events, food service for events, training, and golf club repair. A normal week involves approximately 16 to 20 volunteers per day, in 2 shifts – about 160 volunteer hours: just over 1000 volunteer hours for a 7-day week and over 50,000 per year. Volunteers come from all walks of life for varied reasons, have different likes and dislikes, abilities and disabilities and varying requirements for the job they desire. And most of our volunteers need us as much as we need them. Quite a management challenge.

This golf course offers everything that any other golf course offers except for a full restaurant and bar. The golf course is owned by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and we must abide by certain restrictions. Alcohol is one of those. No alcohol on VA property. We also do not have a restaurant which is a self-imposed restriction because of the qualifications and restrictions needed to run a full-time food service facility. We do offer cookouts for tournaments and other events that are greatly welcomed. In fact, we built a $110,000 facility just for golf tournament cookouts, then donated it to the VA. This was the beginning of a wonderful dream come true.

Our volunteer force is led by a volunteer management team with oversight by an all-volunteer board of directors from our 501c3, the Friends of American Lake Veterans Golf Course. They were established in 2004 specifically to invest in capital improvements for the golf course and to date, have invested over $12 million in new facilities and equipment to improve an existing 9-hole course built in 1956. These investments include: in 2008 - a $65,000 covered driving range with power tees, a $110,000 covered, open air, dining facility for cookouts with a full indoor kitchen, an 8500 square foot clubhouse with full indoor training facility for $1.4 million in 2010, numerous other smaller buildings such as a gazebo starter shack, indoor locker room for our grounds maintenance volunteers, covered parking areas for our fleet of 74 Yamaha EFI golf carts, new fuel storage facility, expanded parking area, handicap, on-course restroom facility with water and electricity that our mobility impaired golf carts can drive into, a $3.5 million new nine holes, designed by Jack Nicklaus so our veterans would have an 18-hole golf course, a $600,000 water well with 1.9 million gallon holding pond to irrigate the entire 18 holes, and a $2.5 million renovated front nine also designed by Jack Nicklaus when he designed the new back nine holes. And over a period of years, replace what little antiquated equipment we had with new equipmen tand rotate it every five years to keep it new. All done with volunteers and donated dollars over a period of 18 years and then all fixed property was donated to the VA.

The grounds crew is organized into six teams. One for each day, Monday through Friday and one for the weekend. The average size of a team is about 8 to 10. They meet at the golf course at about 5:00 am and perform the duties laid out by the Grounds Superintendent the night before. Their workday consists of an average of 6 to 8 hours per shift to include cleaning and refueling the equipment. They do these tasks 7 days per week in the rain, dark and cold. They do this so our veterans have a beautiful, first-class venue which they deserve. Then our mechanics come in and repair anything that is broken, keep them in good mechanical condition, sharpen the reals, etc. What a great team these guys and gals make. Yes, gals – we have a wonderful group of Garden Goddesses that keep our common areas beautiful, as well.

Our trainers’ number about a dozen and teach the basics of golf. They are also volunteers. They do their training at the indoor training facility on a Full Swing Simulator, the outdoor practice facility to include the covered driving range with powertees and the golf course itself. They all have some training to work with disabled golfers and we have the mobility impaired golf carts to support it. They also have weekly training with the Soldier Recovery Unit from Joint Base Lewis McChord and an annual tournament for them.

Our club repair facility is called Area 51. Mysterious stuff goes on down there, taking donated clubs and other golf equipment and turning it into a beautiful set of clubs you would love to own. These guys work miracles and make many, many veterans happy every year. In 2019, the year before COVID shut us down and slowed us down, they donated over 215 sets of golf clubs to veterans. Today they are back on schedule to break that record. You must see this place to believe it. Jack Nicklaus loves it.

Our kitchen staff are great and do a first-rate cookout when we need them. That is normally during the warmer months each summer when we have our tournaments. We hold about 8 tournaments a year that raise needed money to keep our equipment and golf carts rotated every 5 years, so they remain in great shape. We also have a golf cart sponsorship program an organization or an individual can donate the money to buy the new cart and then we put their logo on the front for the next 5 years.

Management and operations comprise the rest of the volunteers – the managers supervise, pay the bills, and keep things coordinated. The operations personnel, check-in personnel, marshals, starters, etc. keep the golfers moving and happy. They are the ones who keep the entire golf course on track operationally to include getting our veterans out on the course having a great time, which is why we are here. So, welcome to our Veteran’s “little slice of heaven on earth” in the Northwest. What these volunteers provide in the way of quality service to our veterans is second to none in Washington State.

Bruce McKenty, Chapter 407 Commander of the MOPH is presenting a check for $58,375 to Bob Funseth (Maintenance Manager) and Randy Moen (Superintendent) of American Lake Veterans Golf Course intended to help the golf course keep grounds maintenance equipment in good shape through purchasing new equipment every 3 to 5 years. This year was the 15th annual tournament held by Chapter 407. Proceeds for the past 5 years have been going to help the American Lake Veterans Golf Course, a veteran only golf course, with equipment and project needs. The golf course is managed, operated and maintained entirely by volunteers and funded by minimal fees charged for golf and capital improvements funded by grants and donations from local foundations and corporations in service to our veterans. The golf course recently opened the renovated front nine holes and is now an 18-hole Jack Nicklas designed golf course.

The Grand of Washington Military Order of the Cooties Auxiliary’s project for the past year was to raise money for our Disabled Training Program at the American Lake Veterans Golf Course. They recently raised $12,639.38 and after adding a previous donation of $2500.00, their total donation totaled $15,139.58. Thank you for your hard work and generous donation!

The check presentationwas on July 29, 2022. Included in the picture are (from left to right) Walter T. Tanimoto (Hospital Chairman), Lori Nettles (Auxiliary President), Bruce McKenty (Golf Course Manager), Hardy Nettles (Outgoing Commander), and Steve Woodward (Incoming Commander)

The PGA Pro/Am, a golf tournament put on by the Western Washington Chapter of the Pacific Northwest Section PGA, annually here at the American Lake Veterans Golf Course was another great success. This year their donation to the American Lake Veterans Golf Course will be approximately $24,000 which includes the check presentation on the day of the tournament of $16,000. In addition to the formal presentation, The Home Course representative Justin Gravatt presented us with a $6,000 check. These most generous donations will be used for the renovation of the front nine holes which is currently underway. Our sincere thanks to Brian Coury, from the WWC who puts this together every year and all of the members from all over Western Washington who participate every year. Added to our Gallery are pictures from the tournament with four golfers from individual golf courses (Meridian Valley, Indian Summer, The Home Course, Meadow Park, Pacific Northwest with their 4th golfer who is a volunteer at ALVGC and American Lake Veterans Golf). This is one of the best tournament of the year for our volunteers. Pictured in the check presentation from (l to r) is Bruce McKenty, General Manager ALVGC, Rick Bartament PXG Sponsor and Randy Moen Superintendent ALVGC.

Check presentation from the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 407 Commander Bruce McKenty presenting the check to the senior management of the American Lake Veterans Golf Course. Pictured from (l-r) Bob Funseth (Maintenance Manager), Jim Hairston (AGM Operations), Mary Carstensen (AGM Support), Bruce McKenty (Commander Ch. 407 & GM ALVGC) and Randy Moen (Grounds Superintendent). Pictured in front of the 1st Hole sign which designates the 1st hole as the Purple Heart Hole - sponsored by Chapter 407 of the MOPH. The donation is for $45,000 which was raised during the 14th Annual Purple Heart Tournament which has been held at ALVGC since 2007. The proceeds are intended to assist with the Front Nine Hole Renovation.

The 14th Annual Purple Heart Tournament took place at American Lake Veterans Golf Course on September 28th. The Ken Still Memorial and Purple Heart Tournaments were combined because of our tight schedule this year. As usual we had a full field of golfers and everyone had a wonderful time. The weather was great and the golf course was in beautiful condition as usual. Thank you Randy Moen and the grounds crews. Great job. Check out our Gallery for pictures of some of the teams. Our participating teams come from all over Western Washington and Oregon to participate. Columbia Bank is the Presenting Sponsor for this tournament every year. Another team was Karolyn White’s team who sponsors a team every year. These guys are some of the best golfers at our golf course and included Henry, Alonzo, Jimmy, Troy Teal and Artis. Troy Teal is a professional "long drive" contestant who hit his drive 434 years on #12. Teams pay to use his drive and we make extra money for our cause. The Kitchen's family team, is another team who play every year in just about all of our tournaments. They are wonderful people and great golfers. The team of ladies was sponsored by Maggie Webb, a local accounting firm who sponsors a team each year. They did quite well. In fact, I believe Sharon Stamper won the longest drive for men/women. A truly great day for all, all around!