When Chris Graham took over as general manager for Mountain View Golf Course a year ago, he immediately set to work improving the services offered by the local golf club.

Graham, who was born and raised in Whitehorse, returned home after ten years, part of which he spent with the Canadian Professional Golfers Association (CPGA).

'When I first came in here last year, the long-term plan was to get more people out there golfing,' said Graham in an interview Tuesday. 'This is kind of the year where we say, is this working?''

Graham said the course had a 'phenomenal' year in 2003 with over 400 members and about 24,000 rounds of golf played. The course was operating at 60 per cent capacity.

'That doesn't sound like much, but when you're dealing with a capacity of about 450 a day, it ain't too bad,' he smiled. 'At a lot of the golf courses where I've worked, they would be thrilled with 60 per cent.

'I'm expecting even better this year because of membership going up, our junior lesson and adult lesson programs.'

The Mountain View Golf Academy Tee to Green' Lesson Program was another area Graham was looking to improve when he took over. He wanted to hire another teaching pro to run it, which he accomplished last year with Doug Wark.

Wark was offered a full-time job at a teaching academy in P.E.I. so he will not be retuning to the Yukon this season, but CPGA member Scott Ainscough, who moved to Whitehorse from Whistler, has been hired as the new head teaching professional, for both youth and adult lessons.

'I'm very confident he can take the lesson plan from where it was before to where we want it,' said Graham.

Graham would like to put some emphasis on youth lessons, to get the golfers started early, so Ainscough went out to all the schools in the past week and a half, teaching kids aged four to 18 the basics of golf.

'I was amazed at how many kids had golfed before,' said Ainscough. 'On average, 80 per cent of the kids in the classes had hit a golf ball. It was just mind-boggling.'

Graham is amazed at the a huge response so far from Whitehorse youth and their parents. While 66 kids were enrolled in the lesson program all of last year, about 85 are already signed up for next month.

'It's just been a tremendous response,' he said. 'We've had to create second or third classes for every age group in May. It's blown me away.

'Hopefully it's a big wave that just keeps carrying on. Hopefully we've created a monster.'

All lesson prices remained the same this year $29 for ages 4-6, $39 for ages 7-10 and $49 for ages 11-18. The cost covers four 45 minute or one hour sessions.

Ainscough teaches the youth grip, stance, alignment, posture and the proper finish position. He also goes over a little bit of the short game chipping and putting. Each youth who signs up also receives a free pizza and a t-shirt. The lessons start May 8 and run until September 26.

There's also a youth playing camp for golfers 11 to 18 years of age, which provides a more in depth analysis on short game and swing mechanics. Previous instruction and golf experience are prerequisites for the camp. The camp starts in June and runs through August.

Adult lessons start at Mountain View next week, at the cost of $99 for four sessions though Ainscough seriously insisted he would accept moose or deer meat in exchange for instruction. All adult classes run in the evenings, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

'Golf is a frustrating game,' said Ainscough, when asked why anyone should take professional lessons. 'Some people go out and spend tons of money on equipment, hoping to improve their game, but it's really about the person swinging the equipment.

'Lessons reduce their frustration so they can enjoy the game more.'

Ainscough said his own experience is what makes his classes work. He said nothing replaces experience when it comes to teaching, 'whether it's golfing or math.

'And I genuinely like working with people,' he said. 'You have to like that.'

While the club has received such a great response to the lesson program this year, Ainscough gave all the credit to Wark.

'It seems to me he must have done an outstanding job,' he said. 'Everybody I've talked to has nothing but good things to say. The overwhelming response we've had this year is nothing but a direct tribute to the work he put in.'

For the more experienced Yukon golfers, there is a new opportunity at Mountain View this year Golfing Gold Trail.

'The Gold Trail is a tour series,' said Graham. 'There are five tour events thoughout the summer, some old and some new. After each event, participants will be awarded gold trail dollars for their finish. We'll keep a money list thoughout the year, just like the PGA tour. Whoever has the most money wins the grand prize.'

A grand prize worth at least $2,000, thanks to Cleveland Golf. The company donated $5,000 in merchandise for the events, including a free set of clubs, a golf bag and a driver for the grand prize.

'They stepped up big time,' said Graham.

Mountain View offered a similar program for the junior golfers last year, which will remain intact for 2004. But now, anyone can take part in the winnings, as long as they have a handicap. The tour entry fee is $75 and each participant receives a Gold Trail gift package, including a cap and divot tool with the logo. One of the new events on the tour is year long match play.

'Getting our corporate sponsors back was a big thing in making this happen,' said Graham. 'Everyone of these companies I commend, because it didn't take a lot (to convince them). They looked at the concept of the tour and were all for it.'

Tour play starts on May 21, but for the rest of the public, Mountain View opened with temporary tees and greens this morning.

'The reason we don't start on greens is because right now, until we get heat, the grass is dormant,' said Graham. 'If we put people on those greens when the grass isn't growing, they're (the greens) just going to get destroyed.

'We want to protect our greens so they're good all year, not just at the start.'

Graham said he doesn't worry about opening the course early for extra business, at the expense of his greens. He said the prime time for his course is the middle of May to the end of August, and any business they can get in the shoulder months is just a bonus.

We made big strides last year, in what was offered here,' he said. 'It's not that they didn't want to before. It was a matter of were the finances there to do it?

'Blaine Tessier, who was in charge in 2002, he started this thing on a role and he got this place to start working properly.'

Mountain View Golf Course does offer a season's pass for juniors, adults and seniors. Prices on the adult pass remained the same at $685 for full-play while a junior full-play pass costs $250. A seniors full-play pass is $527.50 while a seniors weekday pass is $435.

'That's the economical way for people to go,' said Graham.

The green fees also stayed the same $32 for 18 holes and $24 for nine holes, no matter what time or what day. Punch cards are also available.

Carts and clubs can be rented at the pro shop, which also sells golf merchandise.