SACRAMENTO – Alice Kurotori didn’t fairly know what to make of that Christmas Day years in the past when her husband, Tom Kurotori, gave her a set of golf golf equipment, golf bag, golf cart and in addition set of classes on the Bing Maloney Golf Complicated in Sacramento.
“It was the whole lot it is advisable to play golf with,” Alice Kurotori recalled.
Alice remembers doing all she might to save lots of and handle cash on the time, to attempt to assist out her husband, who had a enterprise. She additionally had by no means performed golf earlier than. Her speedy response to all these items?
“I used to be so upset. I by no means forgot it for a very long time. I hated this silly recreation. You simply get to the ball and hit it and go after it after which hit it once more. It’s actually a silly recreation,” she stated, trying again on that point in her life, when she was in her mid-50s.
“My husband needed me to be taught and take golf significantly. I used to be so offended. Right here I’m making an attempt to economize for him. And he goes and wastes it on this silly recreation. No one performed golf in our household.” Alice lastly gave in and took to golf, going to Bing Maloney for classes. It was there that she discovered concerning the golf swing and the sport. There was one thing else.
“The trainer I had was the top professional and I discovered that he beloved music,” stated Alice.
In consequence, a connection was fashioned, as Alice taught music after graduating from College of the Pacific in Stockton with a level in music in 1949. She later obtained a educating credential and in addition gave piano classes. At one time, she was concerned in ballet. She began out in school at Sacramento Metropolis Faculty.
At first, she questioned herself in golf, because it was a troublesome begin for Alice.
“Once you’re a newbie, it’s onerous. I couldn’t hit the silly ball. And I assumed, ‘Why am I doing this?’ ” she stated. Sooner or later, the whole lot modified for Alice.
“Once I was taking classes, I noticed just a little previous woman on the driving vary. She hits it superbly. I assumed, ‘Effectively, if that woman can do it, I can do it, too.’ So, that’s after I obtained severe,” she stated. As Alice put it, she was hooked on the sport.
“I needed to see her do it. It was a problem to me. I assumed, ‘I’m going to learn to hit it.’ And I discovered tips on how to hit it.”
Alice Kurotori has been taking part in golf for years and years, throughout Sacramento – at Haggin Oaks Golf Complicated, at Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course, at Bing Maloney Golf Complicated, at William Land Golf Course, at Ancil Hoffman Golf Course in Carmichael. She can be a former member at Elkhorn Golf Membership in Stockton.
“As small as I’m, I used to hit the ball lengthy,” she stated. “I used to bounce earlier than and I used to be virtually knowledgeable dancer. So, I had that timing.”
Kurotori is a resident of the Pocket-Greenhaven space of Sacramento. She is a member of the William Land Park Ladies’s Golf Membership. It’s a nine-hole group that performs on Thursdays. Managed by Morton Golf, LLC, William Land Golf Course is a nine-hole structure – starting from 1,090 yards from the Yellow tees to three,015 yards from the Black tees – and is positioned at William Land Park. The historic course, in-built 1924 and designed by Sam Whiting and William Locke, has one par-5, 5 par-4s and three par-3s. The William Land Golf Course, in accordance with its web site, www.williamlandgc.com, was the primary golf course in Sacramento.
“Right now, the 9-hole golf course additionally presents a terrific brief recreation observe space that features goal greens, bunkers, and a tee space for wedge observe,” the web site factors out.
The William Land Park Ladies’s Golf Membership has 23 members – the oldest of whom is Kurotori, who turns 96 on Nov. 30. She is a longtime member of the membership.
“I’m in my 80s and he or she’s my function mannequin,” stated JoAnne Nash, the captain of the William Land Park Ladies’s Golf Membership.
“Golf is a pleasant recreation, to maintain you mentally alert and energetic,” Nash added.
Pat Belke, a member of the membership, stated: “I’ve bragged about her to all my youngsters and all my buddies, as a result of I’ve by no means in my life met anyone like her.”
The William Land Park Ladies’s Golf Membership had a birthday celebration for Kurotori on Thursday, Nov. 17 after taking part in their weekly nine-hole occasion. There have been 16 members who turned out. They sang “Comfortable Birthday” to Kurotori and introduced her with playing cards and a present – a pair of Skechers golf footwear.
“I’m simply happy. We had a pleasant day. An enormous turnout. We had 16 members play as we speak,” stated Nash.
GoodDay Sacramento, from KOVR-TV, the CBS affiliate in Sacramento, was readily available to cowl the occasion.
The social gathering was organized by Marcy Maeda-Imai, one of many membership’s members.
“Right now is a big day. I coordinated this for her,” stated Maeda-Imai. “It was good, as a result of we had a reasonably large turnout as we speak. I needed to verify we acknowledge Alice and the way particular she is and the way a lot of an inspiration she is to everyone.”
Kurotori additionally has one of many prettiest golf swings of anybody at William Land Golf Course. “Alice is constant, with such a good looking swing,” stated Maeda-Imai. “She was giving me ideas after I first began. Alice hits the ball proper down the center. She’s sharp and fast witted. She is simply superb. She’s enjoyable to play with. She tells you the place your ball is. She finds it. Simply superb.
“She’s at all times constructive. She jokes.”
Kurotori believes in getting day by day train. She will get out of the home, as she takes her Miniature Pinscher, Fred Astaire, out on walks. She additionally joins the William Land Park Ladies’s Golf Membership every week for a spherical of golf.
“If it’s chilly or too sizzling, we nonetheless come out and so they preserve their scores very well,” stated Nash.
One other key, stated Kurotori, is to not fear about your golf swing, to not over-think it.
“It’s powerful to get previous – keep in mind that. However whilst you’re alive, you’ve obtained to do the most effective you may. So, I train and I come out with them (William Land Park Ladies’s Golf Membership). I benefit from the firm. That’s why I come right here. I have to get out and meet individuals. That’s an important factor. I feel at my age, that and train are an important factor. They hold me going – all these beautiful individuals which can be right here, they hold me going.”
As she regarded out on the course from the patio space, close to the clubhouse, Kurotori remembers having the ability to hit a 7-iron to achieve a par-3 gap in regulation when she was youthful. Now she is hitting a 3-wood,
“Three-wood is tough to hit, however I don’t wish to use a driver, as a result of it’s going to go approach out someplace,” stated Kurotori.
“I’m not taking part in that properly anymore. However I want to come back out. Once you get previous, you get so drained and also you don’t have the energy.”
Nov. 17 was the membership’s remaining occasion of the yr. The membership will begin again up in January. Two different members of the membership, Georgella Burnette-Ellis and Stephanie Trenck, can’t say sufficient about Kurotori’s recreation.
“I’m so blissful that she’s a member of this membership. She’s unimaginable,” stated Burnette-Ellis, a member of the William Land Park Ladies’s Golf Membership for 50 years. “I’m simply at all times amazed at how properly she nonetheless hits the ball and scores properly. She hits the ball straight. She’s correct. She putts very properly. She has a pleasant type. She performs good golf. The factor about golf, should you’re off for a month and also you haven’t performed, it doesn’t come again that straightforward. Alice stays with it. I don’t care if it’s 20 years in the past, 30 years in the past – her type has not modified.”
Trenck stated: “Ballet is what she stated has actually enabled her to take care of her coordination. She has a really, superb swing. The movement is superb. It’s a traditional golf swing off the tee. She makes good contact with the ball.”
Kurotori had a hole-in-one at Elkhorn Golf Membership years in the past. She remembers it being a foggy day and taking part in in a foursome.
“I used to be hitting it longer then. I assumed it was going towards the middle. I regarded behind the opening. We couldn’t discover the ball, all 4 of us,” Kurotori recalled. “I assumed that it couldn’t have gone within the gap. However I regarded, and there it was.”
Household Background
Alice Kurotori took piano classes in camp.
Alice Kurotori is initially from San Francisco. She and her household moved to the Rancho Cordova space.
She has two daughters: Sherrie Morimoto and Edie Kurotori. Alice Kurotori and her household had been at a camp, operated by the Struggle Relocation Authority, at Tule Lake, CA.
Based on Nationwide Park Service, at www.nps.gov:
“Tule Lake was one of many 10 camps operated by the Struggle Relocation Authority (WRA) from Could 27, 1942, to March 20, 1946 – the interval of Japanese-American incarceration the place 110,000 Japanese-Individuals had been forcibly faraway from their houses and communities and incarcerated.
“Tule Lake turned the most important of the ten WRA camps, with a peak incarcerated inhabitants of 18,789 individuals, and a complete of 29,840 people had been incarcerated at Tule Lake over the lifetime of the camp’s operation. It comprised 7,400 acres and contained greater than 1,700 buildings.”
“Tule Lake was the final WRA camp to shut, remaining in operation seven months after World Struggle II ended.”
“I went into camp. I used to take piano classes. I had the most effective trainer. He was a live performance pianist. He was there. And I took classes from him. And I discovered dancing.”
Tom Kurotori handed away in 2008.
- Marty James is a contract author who makes his house in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019, after spending 40 years as a sports activities author, sports activities editor and government sports activities editor for the Napa Valley Register, a day by day newspaper in Napa County. He’s a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Affiliation. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Part Corridor of Fame in 2016.
MARTY JAMES
martyjames.sports activities@tmorton
