As Tyler Swinton prepared for his freshman season on the University of Alaska Anchorage basketball team following a standout career at Haines High School, he still found time to use his season pass at Valley of the Eagles Golf Links.
Swinton, a 2012 Haines graduate who’d been offered a spot at UAA as a “preferred walk-on” who would forego the tryout process required of other non-scholarship players, eventually decided he was pursuing the wrong sport, in the wrong state, even at 6’7” and after a lifetime of playing hoops.
“I just realized that I love golf more,” Swinton said.
It wasn’t too late for Swinton to market himself as a prospective college golfer before enrolling at UAA, despite attending a high school that has no golf program. The son of Ralph and Sarah Swinton soon landed at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, Ore.
Swinton’s golf gamble paid off. He was honored as the team’s Most Improved Player and, following some more marketing to college coaches, earned a partial scholarship at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, Ore., to continue his golf career next fall.
The feat drew the attention of the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame, which featured Swinton in an article on its blog in March. The article, which several Haines residents shared on Facebook, described Swinton as a “rare Alaska college golfer.”
The article noted Oregon Tech graduates five seniors, giving Swinton an opportunity to step in for the Owls.
“Alaska is not a hotbed of junior golf, but Tyler is a good player and has worked hard at his game,” Oregon Tech coach Jeff Corkill said in the article. “Scores don’t lie in golf and Tyler has scored well in his competitions.”
Swinton helped his community college team take the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges title last year, posting a 73 scoring average that was down from the 78 he averaged earlier in the season.
Swinton competes in fall and spring tournaments for Southwestern Oregon, in September and October and from late March to mid-May. That means he has a few more weekends of golf left before moving on to Oregon Tech, where he will have two years of eligibility remaining and plans to major in accounting.
Oregon Tech is a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) school. The division includes small colleges but, unlike Division III at the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) level, athletic scholarships are available.
Swinton said he first took up golf at about age 12, when the Valley of the Eagles Golf Links opened in Haines. He’s played countless rounds with his father.
“It’s a hard sport,” Swinton said. “It’s hard to master. It’s the kind of game you have to be playing 24/7 to master it.”
Swinton can play year-round in Oregon at places such as the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, but said the Valley of the Eagles had him well-prepared for golf at the college level, especially with golf pros who taught him the etiquette of the game.
“Our course is perfect for summer golf for me,” Swinton said. “I can go out there, when no one’s out there, after work.”
His putting, though, is a bit of a weakness, with the course’s artificial turf greens.
Valley of the Eagles owner Stan Jones said he had “no idea” when he opened the course whether Haines youngsters like Swinton would end up playing the sport in college.
“I did not build the course with that in mind,” Jones said. “I built it because I thought it would be good for the community.”
Jones said “there are a number of good golfers in Haines,” and he’s “very proud of Tyler,” who comes from “a wonderful family.”
Swinton’s new teammates in Oregon didn’t seem too skeptical of him at first, although they understood being from Alaska posed challenges to his golf game.
“They obviously knew I didn’t get to play that much,” Swinton said, referring to the short golf season in Alaska. “Their first impression was that I had a lot to learn.”
Swinton said he “had never really played in a competitive tournament before” when he debuted for Southwestern Oregon, and he “got the shanks and couldn’t keep it in play.”
Now he’s booming drives at an almost 300-yard average. “My height and long arms probably have something to do with it.”