GOLF / RICH TOSCHES : Wilson, 13, to Test Her Burgeoning Skills Abroad

Allison Wilson of North Hollywood is a nine-handicap golfer who loves the game. But when she started playing golf. . . . Well, she can’t actually recall what it was like back then.

“I can’t remember whether I really liked golf or not when I first started,” she said. “It was such a long time ago.”

That, of course, was back when Ronald Reagan was president. When Michael Jackson was working on only his third nose. So long ago, in fact, that if you had planted a five-foot pine tree on the day Wilson first played golf, that tree today would be more than six feet tall.

Wilson is 13. She took her first swing with a golf club three years ago. But to a 13-year-old, apparently, three years ago is when man discovered fire.

“I think I must have liked golf right away,” she said. “But like I said, that was a long time ago.”

In those three long years, Wilson has methodically lowered her score into the low 80s. And she has played so well in junior tournaments for the past year that in July, she will take her game to Paris to play against a team of French juniors.

Wilson is one of 12 young Southern California golfers selected to play in the event. They were invited by the French Golf Federation after a team of young golfers from France came to Los Angeles last year.

Jerry Herrera, the host for the French golfers and PGA professional at Azusa Greens, selected the 12 Southern California golfers based on their play in the Junior Golf Assn.

Also making the trip with Wilson will be Heidi Voorhees, 17, also of North Hollywood. Voorhees was the runner-up in the L.A. City Junior championships earlier this year.

The team will play 72 holes on three courses in the Paris area starting July 3 and also will watch the final round of the French Open on July 1.

“I like the idea of playing golf in France, and I also like the idea of just being able to go to a different country,” said Wilson, who will enter the eighth grade at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies in the fall. “I didn’t know much about France when I found out I was going, but now I’ve got lots of stuff about it in my computer. Population and things like that.”

Along with Herrera, 36, who has played golf for Monrovia High, Pasadena City College and UC Santa Barbara, the youngsters will be accompanied by PGA professional Dave Smith of the Navy course in Cypress. They will depart next Thursday.

It will be Wilson’s first time away from home without her parents or other family members.

It’s about time: Hank Lanum of Sherman Oaks has tees in his bag that are older than Allison Wilson. But his love for the game has never diminished. And recently, it received quite a boost.

After playing golf for 61 years, Lanum recorded his first hole-in-one. And he did it the hard way, whacking a three-wood 230 yards on the par-three 15th hole at Encino golf course.

“I didn’t actually see the ball go in,” said Lanum, 68, who began playing golf while working as a caddy in Alexandria, Va., in 1929. “But the people on the green had waved us up and they just went ape when it went in. My partners went crazy too, yelling and screaming and jumping. I think they were mostly excited about me promising to buy them all lunch.”

Lanum plays golf two or three times a week, and also makes a three-week trip to Scotland to play golf each year.

Since his hole-in-one last month, he says he has hit the pin on two more tee shots at Encino.

“It took me 61 years to get a hole-in-one,” he said. “I think it will be easy from now on, now that I know how to do it. I think I’m finally getting the feel for this game.”

Local knowledge: John Powell of Encino also scored a hole-in-one recently, but he had an unfair advantage: He built the course.

Powell, a retired superintendent of construction and maintenance with the Los Angeles City Recreation and Parks Department, scored the ace on the seventh hole at the Hansen Dam Golf Course, hitting a driver 185 yards.

He supervised the construction of the course in the ‘60s.

Tournament time: The Los Angeles City men’s championship will be held on the weekends of July 7-8 and July 14-15 on the Sepulveda and Griffith Park courses. The deadline to enter the event is Friday.

Last year’s winner was Dave Berganio Jr. of Sylmar, a student at Mission College. Berganio, who is playing in next week’s state amateur championship in Monterey, won the city championship by three strokes.

Information: 213-485-5555.

Golf camp: Ventura College golf Coach Brian Marshall and members of the varsity golf team are offering a summer golf camp for youngsters aged 8 to 16.

Information: 805-654-6459 or 986-5855, ext. 6459.