Nakhabino, Russia is a long way from Hayden, Idaho. The simple suburban town of 35,000, comprised mostly of older multi-story apartment buildings, is 35 miles west of Moscow. But for sisters and Hayden Lake residents Maria and Anastasia Kostina, Nakhabino is a world away. They now call North Idaho home, and their story of immigration, determination and now entrepreneurial success represents a real-life installment of the “American Dream.”
The sisters might be spotted today huddled around the table of a local Hayden Lake coffee shop discussing the next step in the development of their golf product “Goach,” a lightning-fast AI-inspired golf app aimed at improving the games of golfers of all ages and abilities.
But in the early 90’s, Maria and Ana, born exactly two years apart, were growing up in a humble home in Russia. Their mother, who is by profession a microbiologist, put her career on hold and got a job at the Moscow Country Club so she could give her girls rides to the course. The course, designed by American golf course architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr., was the only 18-hole course in Russia at the time.
The two girls helped out at the course, doing odd jobs but sneaking off whenever possible to swing old, rusty, mismatched and ill-fitted clubs at whatever stray balls could be commandeered.
“We were not allowed to play on the weekend, but we would always come up with creative ways how we can help out the club in exchange for a little practice – like walking around the driving range and hitting the balls out of the forest that golfers hit their stray shots into — that is how we learned how to hit trouble shots,” Maria said.
The only golf coach available was a self-taught hockey player, and it wasn’t unusual for 30-40 kids to have to share a dusty bag of golf balls and stand in line to hit a few balls.
There were no local golf heroes. There was no golf on TV. There was no Tiger Woods or Nelly Korda. There was no golf news or magazines or much in the way of proper equipment. But the Kostina sisters didn’t care. They had fallen in love with the game of golf and knew someday, some way, they would play the game for real.
“We remember that one of the Moscow Country Club members gave us a VCR tape of an LPG tournament in the U.S.,” Ana said. “We watched that tape over and over again and dreamed that one day we might be able to play in such an arena in America.”
>> Taking the leap
Maria, the older sister, was the first to come to the United States to follow her dreams of playing competitive golf. Local golf legend Randy Henry, co-founder of Hayden Lake-based Henry Griffitts Golf Company, had stumbled on the sisters during a business trip to Florida. He recognized the competitive fire in the eyes of the Kostina sisters and their impressive but still diamond-in-the-rough golf swings.
At 17, Maria was invited to live with Randy, his wife Randa and four children. Maria arrived with one large suitcase, wide eyes of wonder and trepidation, and the outline of a dream. For the next year, Maria was part of the Henry family, receiving daily English lessons from Randa and weekly swing coaching from Randy, who was a well-known swing guru among some of the top PGA players in the country.
“Maria and Ana are two of the most wonderful human beings that you will ever meet,” Randy said. “They have great hearts and it was such a pleasure to be their coach, host family and watch them take full advantage of every opportunity that came their way. They are truly dedicated and passionate human beings that want to bring good into the world.”
Randa worked tirelessly with Maria on her English and after a year of late-night studying, she finally passed all the necessary tests to enter college. She received a full scholarship to Washington State University to play golf in 2002 and competed for the Cougars, eventually graduating with a psychology degree.
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Maria’s competitive tenure at WSU was peppered with impressive achievements. She helped the WSU women’s golf team qualify for the NCAA championship for the first time in the history of the school and collected numerous individual accolades.
“I feel forever grateful to the Henry family and what they have done for me,” she said. “They truly took me in as a member of their family.”
Ana followed her sister’s footsteps and joined the WSU golf team in 2003, magnifying the Kostina sisters’ imprint on collegiate golf. In her three-year career at WSU, Ana broke many school records and had multiple wins, including Stanford Pepsi Intercollegiate with a personal record of 66. This past year, the All-American Ana was inducted into WSU Athletics Hall of Fame.
After completing college, the Kostina sisters continued to amass impressive golf credentials in both the amateur and professional ranks. Both were winners of the Russian National Championship and both represented their country in multiple European and World Championships. Ana finished eighth in the Women’s World Amateur Championship in 2004.
Eventually, both sisters climbed another step in pursuit of their golf dreams and turned professional. In 2007, Maria became the first Russian male or female to play in a major golf championship by qualifying and playing in the U.S. Women’s Open. Both women competed on the LPGA Futures tour (Epson tour), and in 2010, Ana moved back to Europe to play on the Ladies European Tour Access Series. In 2012, Ana won the prestigious Golf Stream Ladies Open, becoming the first Russian man or woman to win on a professional tour.
>> Putting down roots
Eventually Ana and Maria settled down in Coeur d’Alene and transitioned into the next phase of their golf journeys as instructors and entrepreneurs.
Maria ended her playing career in 2008 and became Randy’s certified teacher at his golf academy at the Coeur D’Alene Resort and has been teaching since 2009. She has been instructing at Hayden Lake Country Club since 2015.
In 2014, Anastasia and her family moved to Hayden Lake. She started teaching at Hayden Lake Country Club and became director of junior golf in 2020. In three years she grew the junior program from six juniors to more than 60. She brought junior golf classes, camps, tournaments and the PGA Junior League to the Club and the community.
“I really enjoy working with kids,” said Anastasia, the mother of two young girls whom she shares with husband Luka. “Golf has changed my life and given me so much. I hope to instill the love for the sport in the younger generations.”
In addition to their ongoing golf instruction and development of local golfing talent, last fall Maria and Ana, along with Maria’s husband, software developer Tony Angel, launched a golf app called Goach. The app is designed to measure a golfer’s performance through what’s designed to be a fun and easy data-entry process. It then helps the golfer learn about specific strengths and weaknesses in their game. And it creates a targeted training plan that helps players reach their full potential as a golfer.
Growing up in the 90’s in Russia, the girls were given a very rare opportunity to learn the game of golf. They seized that opportunity and used it to get a university education, make their mark in professional golf and to become successful golf teachers and entrepreneurs.
“Golf has given us so many opportunities and opened so many doors for us,” Maria said. “We have traveled the world and met so many incredible people along the way. The life we live right now in the United States would not have been possible without golf.”
Ana couldn’t agree more.
“We came to the U.S. more than 20 years ago with nothing but a dream.” N
Story by Thaddeus Leonard
Photography by Chris Celentano