“Are you still open?”

That’s probably the most common question Wally Culp hears at Kentuck Golf Course, where he’s general manger of a business that’s been in the family most of four decades.

Kentuck hasn’t had the best of times — the course never recovered from a broken dike a few years ago, and could be sold in the future to create wetlands as part of a liquefied natural gas project — but golfers still make their way out East Bay Drive to play the 18-hole layout.

Because the course is close to sea level, portions of it flood almost every winter. And when things finally dry out, it takes Culp and his staff a little while to get it back into top playing shape, which is why the greens aren’t in the best condition yet.

“Every year, it goes from big puddles to the greens are screaming for water,” Culp said. “We’re the first course to get wet and the last course to dry out.”

Players who head to the course just east of the northeast shore of Coos Bay, about 3 miles driving distance from Highway 101 (turn onto East Bay Drive just north of the McCullough Bridge), will find a layout that isn’t overly long, and is generous, which makes it attractive for beginning golfers.

“A lot of beginning and mediocre players like it, because they can spray the ball,” Culp said.

It’s always been that way.

The front nine was built in the early 1960s, and Culp’s grandfather, Wally Wickett, purchased the course in 1964 — it’s been in the family all but a few years since them. Wickett and Culp’s dad, Martin Culp, added the back nine in 1965.

The two sides contrast.

The front nine opens with a pair of dogleg par-4s, then opens up with forgiving fairways. It includes three par-4s, three par-3s and three relatively short par-5s. The longest of the three — No. 4 — measures 476 yards, with a creek bisecting the fairway about the distance from the tee where the biggest hitters will put their drives.

The par-3s define the opening nine, with No. 3 measuring a challenging 190 yards; No. 5 playing to 179 yards, often into the wind, with trees to the right and a creek 30 yards short of the green; and No. 7 playing 161 yards to a green framed by trees Culp planted a number of years ago.

The front side measures 2,960 yards, while the back is some 500 yards shorter.

But the final nine, with three par-3s and just one par-5, includes more hazards, with the chance of water coming into play nearly every hole.

The back nine also includes several memorable holes, starting with No. 10, a 185-yard par-3 with a 65-foot drop from tee to green.

Culp has a hard time deciding on the course’s signature hole between that one and No. 18, a 130-yard par-3 to an uphill green.

“I love No. 10,” he said, though he added a lot of golfers like the challenge of 18, with only the flag visible from the tee.

In between the two are a mix of holes, including the short par-5 14th (401 yards), which crosses two creeks and is Culp’s favorite hole “because I’ve eagled it the most.” That is followed by two short par-4s, which both include water that makes picking the right club for the tee shot a challenge.

The course generally dries out during the summer, and the greens will improve after Culp and his staff have a chance to aerate them, but are never too fast.

“The general public plays here,” Culp said. “We don’t want to make them not enjoy themselves.”

A relaxed atmosphere is one thing that separates Kentuck from a number of the other courses on the South Coast.

Golfers like the friendly feel of the course and that they don’t need tee times, Culp said.

And because it is mostly flat, the course is an easy walk except for after the ninth hole and on the 18th.

For 25 years, Kentuck held the distinction as the only 18-hole course on the South Coast. Then Ocean Dunes expanded and Sandpines was built in Florence. Later, Coos Country Club (now Watson Ranch) added a back nine, Salmon Run opened near Brookings and Bandon Dunes Resort sprang up — its fourth course opens next year. Add in Bandon Crossings, and the South Coast now has a wealth of 18-hole options.

Culp doesn’t feel much competition from the higher-profile courses, which come with bigger green fees.

“I don’t know anyone that flies into the North Bend Airport to come and play Kentuck,” he said.

Because of the economic hit the course took when the dike broke, and a reduced amount of play since then, the family has tried to sell Kentuck. The newest possibility in that direction would be if half or all of the facility is bought for wetlands mitigation for the LNG project — leaders of that effort have an option to buy the golf course that runs into 2010.

Culp would love to see the course return to profitability and stay in the family, and so would many of the longtime regulars.

“I think it’s important for this course to maintain at least a nine-hole course for people in this county to learn to play golf,” said Dean Webb, who, like Culp, learned to golf at Kentuck. “They need to be commended for doing that and holding their prices down and allowing entry-level people to learn the sport.”