THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE
Posted: Thursday, Dec 18, 2003 - 07:35:09 am PST

Whitcomb scores birdie with 'A Walk in Autumn's Mist'

Pat Whitcomb surveyed his golf ball in the 18th fairway at Brockridge Country Club on a misty autumn morning, 265 yards separating him from his final flagstick of the day.

An innocent-looking pond loomed just in front of the green, willing to swallow any poorly hit approach shot.

To the surprise of his playing partners, Whitcomb pulled a driver from his bag and rifled his second shot off the tightly-mown grass, over the pond and through the fog, where it came to rest a mere 10 feet away from an eagle.

Not a bad story, except it really wasn't him.

By his own admission, Whitcomb is not that great of a golfer. But he's not a bad wrestling coach, as three national titles in six seasons at North Idaho College will attest. And some may be surprised to know that he's a pretty good fiction writer.

Whitcomb became a published author last month when his 149-page fiction piece, A Walk in Autumn's Mist, hit the local bookstores -- just in time for the holidays.

It's the culmination of a project that started in 1990, back when Whitcomb was teaching in Kellogg, as a story he'd always wanted to write -- not necessarily to be published.

"Writing it wasn't that tough," Whitcomb said. "But if it had been in the back of my mind that someone would want to read it someday, I don't know if I'd been able to put a word on paper."

THE STORY was finished some two years ago when Whitcomb's wife, Jan, asked if her book club could read it. They must have liked it, because she then suggested publishing it.

So he started his own publishing company, based in Hope where her parents live, and after some minor editing, the book was in print just before Thanksgiving.

The book centers around three buddies who went to college together, and reunite once a year to play a round of golf and share old memories. But there's enough other stuff in there that "it's not just a guy book," Whitcomb says.

Whitcomb intersperses some of his own thoughts through the book, and some of the details may have been inspired by his experiences growing up, but the book is truly fictional.

"The golf is all fiction," Whitcomb said. "If you knew how I golfed, to set it at a golf course is kind of unique.

"My life of nonfiction wouldn't sell," he added with a laugh.

HOW MANY authors shoot the cover photo to their books? Whitcomb did, up on Fernan Saddle some 3-4 years ago.

Whitcomb has a book signing scheduled Sunday from 1-4 p.m. at Hastings on Sprague in the Spokane Valley -- provided he's not too worn out from helping out at the Tri-State tournament Friday and Saturday at NIC.

The book is also at Borders and Hastings in Coeur d'Alene, and at Borders on the Newport highway north of Spokane.

If this book sells well, he's got another fictional piece in the works which is nearly three times as long -- the subject is his secret.

But his initial foray into fiction writing may have never made it out of the house if not for the encouragement of Jan.

"It'd be a manuscript sitting in the bottom of a desk drawer, like it was for two years," Whitcomb said.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at mnelke@cdapress.com.