Scott Oki / Golf Entrepreneur -- Labor Of Love -- How A Multimillionaire Parlayed A Passion For Golf Into A Business

Let's see. Scott Oki is a member at Seattle Golf Club and Overlake Golf and Country Club. He owns the courses at Echo Falls and Indian Summer and is building the 36-hole complex at Newcastle, above Bellevue.

So many course, so little time to play. Even when you're supposed to be retired.

Oki operates a philanthropic foundation, owns the Seattle Sounders soccer team, a Japanese restaurant, invests in numerous high-tech companies, is a regent for the University of Washington, and sits on more than two dozen nonprofit boards.

But we squeeze in nine holes one afternoon last month at Overlake. And it rains.

We could sit in the card room and talk about this multimillionaire who admits to being "crazy about golf." Or we could play.

The choice was easy. We played. Oki went to his car and pulled a set of clubs from the trunk. His bag was lightweight, like mine. It had aluminum legs to keep it upright when he wasn't carrying it.

We both got around the back nine in 6 or 7 over par. We are both 14 handicappers. We both love the game. But the similarities end there.

Oki, 49, lives the dream. He liked Indian Summer, the great layout near Olympia, so he bought it.

He doesn't think Seattle has a great golf course, and so is building one.

He retired from Microsoft in 1992 at age 43. He retired with a reported 500,000 shares in the company - you do the math - to do things philanthropic and passionate.

The philanthropic part began while growing up in the Rainier Valley. His parents - like many Japanese-Americans - had been interned during World War II. After graduating from Franklin High, he dropped out of the University of Washington, joined the Air Force and surfaced in Colorado, where he went back to school and started on a career in the computer industry that would land him in charge of sales and marketing for Microsoft.

According to reports, sales under his leadership grew from $100 million to $1 billion in five years. He is credited with persuading the company to adopt Windows in 1990.

That same year, during a sales meeting in Phoenix, Oki first played golf. Even though he'd lost a dozen balls by the turn, he was in love.

"Hitting a baseball is hard; hitting something that doesn't move shouldn't be hard," he said. "I was fascinated with the challenge of learning the game. I was hooked."

Oki retired in March 1992. So what does a guy who has money, loves golf and has time, do?

He goes to Augusta National a week before the Masters, stays on the grounds in the Tennessee Cottage, eats in the clubhouse, checks out the wine cellar, warms up on the par-3 course and plays three rounds in three days. Three rounds at golf's greatest shrine.

"I had two pars on No. 12," he said of that darling and diabolical par 3. "The whole experience was incredible."

He has since played Cypress Point, Pebble Beach, Merion, Pine Valley and Shadow Creek.

"I birdied the first hole and then shot 84 the first time I played Pine Valley," he said with an excitement and reverence for the course generally regarded as the best in the world.

Golf had snared the guy who once worked three years without a day off establishing Microsoft's international sales.

His first summer of retirement was spent improving his game. He made a quantum leap from a 22-handicapper to a 9.9.

"I didn't want to embarrass myself anymore," he said.

He took lessons, hit balls for three hours a day, studied course management, and got on an exercise program designed to improve his swing.

"I didn't just practice putting," he said, "I putted down a chalk line. I apply the Microsoft approach to everything I do: very focused, very analytical, very passionate with high energy and high commitment."

After that initial rush with golf, though, Oki now doesn't get out any more often than the rest of us. His work with charities takes up most of his time. As does his wife, Laurie, and their two young sons and baby daughter.

"I've settled into this 14-handicap range," he said. "Most of the playing I do is in charity tournaments. They invite me because they know I'll buy something expensive at the auction."

As for his business ventures in golf, Oki said Echo Falls is doing well. Although Indian Summer is losing money, he is committed to keeping it private in the hopes he can sell more memberships.

"It doesn't have to make money," he said, "but we do want it to break even."

Late this summer, he hopes to hit the first shots on the Coal Creek course at Newcastle, a complex not unlike Pumpkin Ridge outside Portland and recent host to the U.S. Amateur and Women's Open championships.

Oki picked the same architect for his 36 holes - Bob Cupp - partly because he'd like the same results. The complex will have some private memberships - one a $5,000 annual fee with no green fees, monthly dues or assessments - plus a daily fee near $100 a round in the peak season.

Oki has been involved in the course routing, the types of grasses selected, and the amenities offered that he thinks golfers as passionate as he is will like.

"We will laser the distances on the driving range every day to the tee area we are using," he said. "We'll have a tremendous facility for teaching and for clinics."

"We're gambling there is a market for this facility, but I personally think there is," Oki continued. "We are 20 minutes from downtown Seattle, and these should be two truly remarkable courses."

Because of one remarkable man.

Oki on golf

What do you like most about golf?

"With the handicap system, I can compete with anyone, any place."

Where do I usually play? Overlake, Broadmoor and Seattle golf and country clubs.

Handicap -- 14.