I wrote this article some time ago for another reason, but in light of Mike Klemme’s success as Oklahoma’s official Centennial photographer, and the recent publication of his 288-page coffee table book of Oklahoma photographs, this seems like an ideal time to apprise our readers of his amazing and inspirational accomplishments.

Klemme is one of Enid’s best kept secrets. He’s a photographer. He takes beautiful full-color photos of scenic golf courses.

“Oh really? how nice,” is the usual reaction, when you tell someone who doesn’t know about him. They never have heard of anyone making a living taking photos of golf courses.

People walk by his office in Heritage Hills Shopping Center and see the name GOLFOTO on the window, and wonder, “What is that?”

Golfoto is a business Klemme created out of the air one day, and it’s been soaring ever since. He says it is sometimes difficult for him to fathom all the places in the world his business has taken him.

A couple of decades ago Klemme was working, first as a circulation manager and later selling ads, at the Enid News & Eagle. But his passion was photography, and he spent a lot of his time talking to the newspaper photographers, asking them technical questions and about lighting.

Klemme wanted to be an architect, but decided early on he couldn’t handle the math, so he turned to photography. He says he also was influenced by the National Geographic magazines his grandmother bought for him. He was intrigued by all the beautiful color photos of faraway places and exotic animals.

He began his career as a landscape photographer, and then was asked to photograph Oak Tree golf course in Edmond. He noticed later the golf course had big color prints made of his photos and they were hanging all around the clubhouse, and they were using the photos in promotional material as well.

He said, “I thought, we-e-e-ell, there must be a market for this kind of photography,” and sure enough there was — an international market.

Since starting out in 1985, Klemme has photographed 1,700 golf courses in 45 countries, and he still is going strong. One of his assignments in recent years was in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is a small, but rich, country in the Middle East — one that still was friendly toward Americans in 2006.

At the time I first interviewed Klemme he had just returned from an assignment in Ontario, Canada, and he had been designated Oklahoma’s official Centennial photographer, and he was busy traveling the state taking photos of historic places and buildings.

The plan at that time was to print the photos in a coffee table- style book, and put it on the market during our Centennial celebration, which he has done successfully.

How does all this traveling set with Mike’s wife Suzanne, and his three children, Ryan, Brett and Paige? In the past his wife and children have accompanied him on some of his overseas assignments to places like Kenya and Switzerland.

Has he ever had any close calls during his travels, or on his 1,700 assignments? Yes, he has.

Klemme said he was on an assignment at Banff, Alberta, Canada, and they wanted him to shoot some of his shots from a cherry picker 30 feet in the air. The problem was the cherry picker operator parked on a slight slope, and while Klemme was up in the air on the platform, it toppled over, dropping him 30 feet onto some rocks, breaking several ribs and bruising a kidney. It was a tough trip home.

What is the most impressive golf course he has photographed? His favorite is Cypress Point at Pebble Beach, Calif., south of San Francisco.

In an interview several years ago with a newspaper reporter he said he specializes in the use of natural lighting, and capturing the essence of a scene.

He told the reporter, “I hope to do for golf photography what Ansell Adams has done for scenic photography.”

And Klemme might succeed in doing just that. After all, who would have thought taking pictures of golf courses could turn into the lucrative, full-time, bigger- than-life business, which it has, and also into a book generations of Oklahomans can ooh and aah over?



Brown is a retired News & Eagle editor.