Golf has earned a spot in outdoor world.

Byline: Mike Stahlberg / The Register-Guard

The title of the job I hold at The Register-Guard used to be "hunting and fishing writer."

The newspaper assigned a reporter to focus on hunting and fishing because those activities were synonymous with recreation in Oregon.

As the 20th century waned, however, it was obvious Oregonians were spending more of their leisure time pursuing other forms of outdoor recreation, from bird-watching to white-water rafting.

So the newspaper's editors decided in 1989 to expand the hunting and fishing "beat" to include all forms of outdoor recreation. The job title was changed to "outdoor writer."

In 1998, editors decided readers would be best served if all outdoor news was packaged together in a weekly Outdoors section at the back of Sports.

Today's debut of Golf Extra in that space marks another step in the evolution of our outdoors coverage, which, frankly, has overlooked one of the big recreational stories of the past 20 years - golf's blossoming popularity.

Golf Extra will appear once a month from May through October, the prime playing season in Oregon

It will focus on recreational golf - as opposed to the highly competitive game played by the PGA and LPGA professionals.

It will bring you feature stories on the people who play and teach the game, stories about some of Oregon's most interesting courses, and stories about the latest equipment and instructional aids.

Regular Golf Extra features will include: "Teaching Profile," an introduction to the area's golf instructors; "On the First Tee," a Q&A session with a local golfer, some of whom will be better known for other aspects of their life; and someone's "favorite golf memory."

It's all our way of recognizing a sport that's playing a big a role in 21st century outdoor recreation.

How big?

Well, bigger than hunting and fishing, according to a survey conducted by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department while drafting a Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan.

The agency queried Oregonians by telephone and by mail to find out what they do - and want to do - with their leisure time.

State residents responded that they golf about 9.6 million days a year.

That was seventh on the list of favorite activities.

However, if you disregard close-to-home activities such as "running/walking for exercise," "walking for pleasure," and "birdwatching," golf moves up to third among recreational activities that require participants to drive somewhere.

"Sightseeing/driving for pleasure" was first among those kinds of activities, at 12.3 million "user days" a year. "RV or trailer camping" was second at 11 million days per year.

Neither hunting nor fishing made the top 10 on the "user days" list.

The survey indicates that golf also holds broader appeal for Oregonians than many other forms of outdoor recreation.

Just over 16 percent of the Oregon residents contacted said they participated in golf during the previous year. That's double the percentage who said they went big game hunting, power boating, or four-wheeling.

Golfing's "participation rate" of 16.14 percent barely edged out fishing from a boat (15.84 percent). But it dwarfed such sports as canoeing (3.8 percent), white-water rafting (2.8 percent), rock climbing (1.4 percent), cross-country skiing or snowshoeing (2.5 percent) and backpacking (3.74 percent).

The state's new recreation plan includes a regional "priority needs index" for recreational facilities around the state. In spite of a boom in course construction during the 1990s, golf is at the top of that list.

In fact golf finished first and second, because the demand outstrips the supply in two different regions of the state (one of which included the coastal portion of Lane County).

Golf Extra is here because it's obvious that golf has a strong grip on our sporting life.

If you're not convinced of that, consider what the hunting and fishing writer does on his days off: FORE!

Mike Stahlberg can be reached at mstahlberg@ guardnet.com.

ON THE WEB

See GolfExtra online at www.registerguard.com/golfextra.phtml