Alaskan Golf Dreams: Abigail Ante and Jack Carr play their way from frozen tundra onto college teams

by Logan Groeneveld-Meijer

In forming thoughts about Alaska, it’s possible that snow-capped mountains, polar bears and the Iditarod come to mind before golf does, given the state’s well-known winter climate.

But opposite Alaska’s wicked winter months are those of its predominantly daylit summer, which understandably bodes well with plans to tee it up. Throughout a short but thoroughly seized three months of the year, college-level talent is still more than capable of originating up north, even in an absence of high school programs.

Exemplary players Abigail Ante and Jack Carr, both of Anchorage, play for the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Willamette University programs, respectively. It was at Anchorage Golf Course in Alaska’s big city where both players earned their stripes after being introduced to the game by their fathers.

Having just completed her redshirt freshman season, Abby recalls, “I just started going to the range with my dad; he’s the one who started working with me,” adding that most golf outings in high school simply added up to “a bunch of kids goofing off on the course,” given Alaska’s lack of widespread junior tournaments.

As college golf became Abby’s “biggest dream ever,” she found herself working at that course in her hometown and took full advantage of her access to it during the fleeting summer seasons.

“I would make sure to, after I clocked out, just hit balls and live on the course all the time,” she said. “I remember playing until 1:00am sometimes.”

Jack’s dad, himself an avid golfer, wasted little time lending his skills to his sons.

“He just took us along and let me and my brother play as much as we wanted,” Jack said. “We got addicted.”

Both players’ trophy cases filled up quickly as their junior careers progressed. Abby won the 2020 Alaska Amateur Match Play and 2021 Anchorage Open, to go with a pair of runner-up finishes in the Alaska Women’s Amateur Championship. Jack took home the Alaska Open title in 2022 before his Bearcat career.

When the time came to think about college sports, Abby, who will tell you she played every sport growing up, admitted her decision to pursue golf at that level was viewed as bold by her parents.

“It was definitely a hard decision,” Abby said. “Growing up in Alaska, golf is not the sport where you think, ‘Oh, I want to play that.’”

To that end, the resources available to fledgling players do seem one-of-a-kind. During the roughly nine months of a given year when local courses are inundated with snow, much of Abby and Jack’s practice work came at the Fox Hollow Sports Dome, a classic inflatable facility measuring only about 75 yards, shorter than most golf shots.

“I have a couple nets in my garage,” Abby said about her off-season practice. “My dad tried to get a simulator for the garage from eBay or something. The greens here are not great until probably the end of July. It’s definitely hard, but it’s something I managed.”

Having a grandmother in California, Jack took advantage of visits there to improve his game. The dome began to serve him well during the early COVID-era days, when he arrived daily at noon to swing away, often while Abby was also there. When the late springs months of the year would finally roll around and seasonal conditions became mild, further lessons and practice got Jack closer to college golf talent.

“I started to really see a jump in my game; I started to see results,” Carr said. “I started to think, ‘Wow, I’m making good progress.’”

For both players, an inescapable reality was that traveling away from Alaska to most other U.S. states required traveling hundreds (if not thousands) of miles. Ante’s opportunity in St. Louis – a city some 3,700 miles from Anchorage – was made possible by coach Troy Halterman, who connected with her after a tournament in Las Vegas, Abby’s first of any kind outside Alaska.

Traveling to St. Louis in August 2023, Abby admitted Missouri’s humid and not-so-chilly summer weather took some getting used to.

“It was such a huge change,” she said. “I remember the first practice, it was like 100 degrees, and the humidity was all the way up. I got sunburned. Everyone was checking in on me, like ‘Alaska, you all right?’”

Two years into being shown the Show-Me state, having seen a country club for the first time and caddying for baseball Hall-of-Famer and St. Louis Cardinals great Ozzie Smith during a fundraising event, Abby could hardly be happier.

“I think I could see myself living there,” she said happily. “Just the amount of friends I’ve made and the connections I’ve made, it’s just so great down there. I really love it.”

Jack, located in Salem, Ore., much closer to Anchorage and just a direct flight away, echoed Abigail’s positive words, and referred to his own adjustment as easy.

“I’ve made great, lifelong friends on this golf team,” Carr said. “It’s been nothing but a blast, and the coaches are very supportive.”

The special meaning of both players’ Alaska background isn’t lost on them either. Emotionally or strategically, small pieces of their home state factor into their lives today.

“If we’re playing on punched greens, like for a tournament or for a qualifier, well, punched greens are not too far from what greens are like right now in Alaska anyway,” Jack said. “It’s like I just feel like I can adjust, be more flexible and adapt pretty well, and go with what conditions I got.”

More recently, Jack also participated in the 100 Hole Marathon with members of the Alaska Golf Association, which he called “such a great group” given its tight-knit nature.

Abby is similarly appreciative of her home state, perhaps more so than she had been since her travels.

“When I say I’m from Alaska, people are like, ‘Wow,’” said Ante, whose teammates are used to playing year-round. “Sometimes I think I take for granted how cool this place is. Every time I come back, I realize how much I miss the mountains.”