Could a Golf Course Save The Village? A story of vision in desperate times. To fully appreciate the significance of what happened here on October 17, 1922, we have to venture back a little further, to the year 1913. On September 19, 1913, three men, Harry Vardon, Ted Ray and Francis Ouimet had completed regulation play in the United States Open golf championship in a tie. In 1913 golf was a game played in only a few places in America, principally the northeastern U.S. Only a mere handful of golf courses existed in America at that time. The U.S. Open had been played in America since 1900, but no native born American had ever won the event. The general public in America cared very little about the game. Harry Vardon was a vaunted British golf professional, winner of multiple British Open golf championships and was considered by most observers as the best golfer in the world at that time. Though not quite as successful as Vardon, Ted Ray was also an accomplished British professional, reigning British Open champion and winner of numerous tournaments in Great Britain and Ireland. By contrast, Francis Ouimet was a 20-year-old American amateur barely out of high school, who lived across the street from The Country Club of Brookline (a suburb of Boston, Mass.), site of the 1913 U.S. Open. He had often earned spending money serving as a caddy for Brookline members. The fact that Vardon and Ray were tied for the lead in the U.S. Open was hardly news—but Ouimet’s success was extraordinary. A playoff for the U.S. Open championship took place the next day, September 20th and the impossible happened. Francis Ouimet defeated Vardon and Ray to become the U.S. Open champion. An amateur and natural born American had won! The news of his victory so captivated the public, that interest in golf exploded and spread across the country like wildfire. Cities and towns in many parts of America scrambled to build golf courses. At the same time, economic circumstances locally made the prospect of Elk Rapids joining this trend any time soon extremely unlikely. As most know, the Village had boomed around the turn of the 20th century. The Dexter/Noble companies manufactured iron and chemicals, the area sported a thriving logging business and the population in Elk Rapids had grown fast and large. But by 1913, the manufacturing and logging businesses had started to decline and over the next several years things began to look desperate for Elk Rapids. As the Grand Rapids Press reported, “The village of Elk Rapids was born of the lumber boom and prospered; had its industrial era, its iron and chemical mills. One day the mills closed…grass grew over the tracks which carried the iron ore; panes fell out of the old windows; homes were vacated as workers moved to points of labor demand; and presently Elk Rapids was known as “the deserted village”.” It is difficult to imagine a situation as dire as the one the village of Elk Rapids now faced. Yet the Grand Rapids Press further reported, “For all that, some stayed on. There was nothing to Elk Rapids…but the courage that lived in the breasts of the faithful…”. The citizens who remained here had dug in. One of the first steps they took on the road back came with the forming of an organization named the Elk Rapids Resort and Industrial Association predecessor of sorts to a Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Charles B. Carver was named its President. Meanwhile on June 23, 1921, it was reported that a Mr. and Mrs. Smith had recently purchased the Gumbert farm, with its 3,000 feet of shore frontage on Elk Lake in east Elk Rapids. Mr. Smith decided to move the 10 cows he had grazing on the property to his dairy farm and attempt to sell the Gumbert farm for resort property, perhaps for a golf course, tennis courts or other improvements. His decision received little notice. His timing was fortuitous. On September 22, 1921, the Elk Rapids Resort and Industrial Association held a meeting at the village Opera House with President Carver presiding. There had been rumors that a movement was afoot that could lead to the establishment of a golf course in the Village. At the meeting Mr. C.H. King of Rex Terrace gave what was called a “splendid talk” regarding what could be done to attract visitors to our area and urging those present of the need for community harmony and co-operation in this effort. It was clear that the aim of the Elk Rapids Resort and Industrial Association was to redevelop Elk Rapids into a tourist mecca and building a golf course was central to their plans. The ERRIA and President Carver intended to press these issues forward, to arouse a spirit of enthusiasm in the community over the winter of 1921/22. The prospects for a golf course looked promising and they felt there was no denying the fact that well developed resort facilities would bring greater returns to everyone in the Village. The ERRIA felt Elk Rapids best hope for the future was to capitalize on its resort potential and to do so aggressively. In light of the recent community debates over the Dam Beach and Bech Mustard building redevelopment projects, one can only wonder what significant hurdles the ERRIA faced in selling the community on their plans to save Elk Rapids by building a golf course! In July of 1922, the Village pondered its options, among them to convert old industrial properties into a park. The Elk Rapids Iron Company had offered the Village a 5-acre parcel of land to be used for a free camping site, while at the same time the push for a golf course continued. Then at a August 10, 1922 town council meeting a petition was presented. The petition called for a special election for a $9,000 bond to be used for park purposes, which would include a golf course. The petition was backed by 139 signers. On September 28, 1922, an editorial in the Grand Rapids Press reported the news; “The village of Elk Rapids, which lost nearly two-thirds of its population between the years of 1910 and 1920, has just bonded for a new park on which is to be constructed a municipal golf course. The era of automobiles has brought Michigan good roads and these in turn a tremendous tourist business. Elk Rapids, on the path of this new boom, has reached out for its opportunity. This week it went one ahead of the rest of the state by voting for a village golf links, sure to attract resorters to the vicinity.” The people of Elk Rapids had taken a bold step, voting in favor of the bond proposal to build a golf park. It seemed the village of Elk Rapids would at last catch up with the national golf craze started by Francis Ouimet’s stunning U.S. Open victory in 1913 and take a giant step forward in the vision of the ERRIA to reinvent Elk Rapids as a tourist destination. Plans began to move forward quickly, as important decisions had to be made. Who would design and build the course and where would it be located. One of the most prominent—if not THE most prominent golf course designers of the day was Dornoch, Scotland native Donald Ross. Mr. Ross had benefited greatly from the golf boom in the United States since 1913 and would go on to build some of the most famous courses in America during his distinguished career. Among them is the much-heralded Pinehurst #2 in North Carolina and the equally renowned south course at Oakland Hills in the Detroit area, which he completed in the early 1920’s. Given the enormity of the effort in getting the golf course project approved, this was no time half measures. Elk Rapids hired Donald Ross to design and build the Elk Rapids golf course. In his prime in the 1920’s and 30’s he was in such demand that he had a significant backlog of wealthy clients waiting patiently for his services. Ross routinely advised those who were less patient that they’d have to “…wait their turn like everyone else.” It is the opinion of historian Brian Taylor that someone in the ERRIA had significant connections with Mr. Ross’s firm, because following the Clubs founding in October 1922 the club jumped a long line in securing the services of Donald J. Ross and Associates Next on the agenda was where to build the course. Mr. Ross’ design associate, J.B. McGovern, was dispatched to the area to scout out the best available location for the course. On October 11, 1922, Mr. McGovern reported the following to the golf course committee. “After having examined two parcels of land within the corporate limits of Elk Rapids and also having looked over some land within the township limits, I am convinced that the Gumbert farm is the most suitable for a nine-hole golf course. While the topography is in a sense very flat, I am sure that a nine-hole course built according to the plans will be a pleasure to play on.” Mr. and Mrs. Smith must have been very pleased with their decision to move the dairy cows off the Gumbert farm! Six days later, October 17, 1922, the big day arrived. With the bond issue passed, a course designer hired and a location for the course secured, The Elk Rapids Golf Club was officially founded. The first step in the vision of the concerned citizens of Elk Rapids to save their village had been realized. Over the next 90 years the fortunes of both the Village and the golf course would have their ups and downs, but one thing is certain—they endured them and prevailed. The Elk Rapids Golf Club and the village of Elk Rapids are inexorably joined, one with the other. The course stands as a monument to the businesspeople and concerned citizens of this community who chose to take a significant risk in order to save their village. Their road to success began on October 17, 1922. EPILOGUE The surveyor’s blueprints of the Donald Ross design for the Elk Rapids Golf Club were received on November 9, 1922. Construction of the course began on May 10, 1923. In those days golf course designers moved very little earth for the building of a golf course, using the natural lay of the land without significant mechanical alteration, so the project moved along at a brisk pace. By July 1923, significant progress had been made, and the course was beginning to take shape. It appeared that the Elk Rapids Golf Club would very likely to be ready for play in the summer of 1924. JULY 1924—THE GOLF CLUB OPENS FOR PLAY On July 17, 1924, the local newspaper reported, “One of the greatest holidays Elk Rapids has ever experienced was Tuesday afternoon of this week, when the Golf Park was ceremoniously opened in Elk Rapids. The day was perfect, with the sun shining brightly but not too warmly and a few gathering clouds from the southwest held off their moisture until about four-thirty.” On that beautiful summer day, men in collared shirts and ties and ladies in flowing dresses and wide brimmed hats played golf for the first time on the newest creation of Donald Ross—The Elk Rapids Golf Club.

Course History

Let’s look back to see what was happening in the world and our Club in February 1924.

• Former President Woodrow Wilson dies.
• Gandhi receives an early release from a British prison.
• The United Kingdom officially recognizes the Soviet Socialist Republic.
• A German court finds Adolf Hitler guilty of high treason.
• George Gershwin’s famous composition “Rhapsody in Blue” is performed for the first time in New York City.
• And here at home, the Board of Governors of Elk Rapids Golf Club (founded on October 17, 1923) meet to adopt the Club’s first set of by-laws.

Okay, Okay…the formation of a small golf club in the northern Michigan hamlet of Elk Rapids couldn’t possibly compete for notice on the world stage, but it was a pretty big deal around these parts! And in looking back on our first set of By-Laws a few points of interest jump out.
While it should be emphasized that ERGC has always been open for public play, becoming a Club member was a little tougher then. A “candidate” for membership had to be nominated and seconded by existing members (who were not on the Board of Governors). The candidate would then need to receive a unanimous Board vote (7) to be “elected” to membership.

The Board determined the value of the Club in 1924 to be $15,000. Further, they determined that membership should be capped at 150 and thus each member would be charged $100 for one share of stock. No member could own more than one share. Annual dues were $35. It would take roughly $1600 in 2024 to equal the buying power of $100 in 1924, so becoming a member in those days wasn’t cheap. Today, though the membership cap has grown to 250 as of 2024, a member is still charged $100 for their one share of stock.

One of the most popular membership benefits at ERGC is that the member’s children and grandchildren can play for free until their 23rd birthday. When this membership benefit was established has been open to debate however it appears in the first set of Club by-laws in 1924! Even then, the Club realized how important it was for families to “play together to stay together.”

The grand opening of the Elk Rapids Golf Club made news throughout western Michigan in 1924.  The group of community leaders who had organized the Elk Rapids Resort and Industrial Association (the force behind the creation of ERGC) must have been thrilled with the progress they had made in a remarkably short time. The golf course was the exciting first step in their goal to recreate Elk Rapids as a tourist destination. With the country as a whole in the midst of the post-World War I boom known as the “Roaring 20s”, it seemed as if their timing couldn’t have been better!

However, just five years later on October 24, 1929, everything changed. The stock market crash known as “Black Thursday” took place that day, rocking the national economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average would plummet from a September 1929 high of 381 points, down to 42 points by 1932. The crash affected nearly all sectors of the economy (local farmers would see their crop prices plummet by 60%) and The Great Depression would grip the nation for the next 10 years.

Golf Anyone?!

At pre-crash meetings in 1928 and 1929 significant capital expenditures, including building a dock for golfers wishing to boat to the Club and constructing a pumping system to use lake water to irrigate our fairways, were at the top of our Board’s agenda. By 1932, ERGC’s survival was in doubt.

The community-wide euphoria generated by the course’s grand opening in 1924 lasted for a little over four years. After the stock market crash in 1929 (and the worldwide economic depression that followed) the Elk Rapids Golf Club found itself hanging on by its fingernails. By 1932, considered by most historians to be the worst year of the depression, the Club was in a free fall.
 
The $10,000 bond fund approved by village voters in 1922 was scheduled to be repaid by the Club through operations revenue or refinancing by 1932. But the Club’s total income for 1932 was only $2,087. In 1933 things got even worse, with Club income totaling a mere $866!!  Bank failings in Elk Rapids and elsewhere throughout Michigan made refinancing the debt impossible. The threat of financial ruin hung over ERGC like the sword of Damocles. It seemed likely that the Club would not survive to celebrate its10th anniversary.
 
One of the Club’s founding members was Charles Belding Carver. Mr. Carver was President of the Elk Rapids State Bank in the 1920s and 30s. He was elected ERGC Secretary/Treasurer in 1923 and he may be the real hero of the Club’s early story.  With indebtedness of over $10,000 ($6700 bond balance and $4000 in course construction loans) and very little income, the Club fell into receivership in 1933. In the darkest days of the The Great Depression even people “with means” were struggling financially. But to stave off bankruptcy, Mr. Carver managed to get several board members (himself included) to loan the Club enough money to get by–a little over $3,000 in total. The Village of Elk Rapids agreed to accept annual “interest only” payments on the bond and with significant due diligence, Charles B. Carver kept the Club alive. 
 
On the Club’s 10th anniversary in July 1934, the Elk Rapids Golf Club staggered but was still standing!

In his inauguration speech in March 1933, newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt admonished depression weary Americans that “The only thing we have to fear is…fear itself.” And while the nation’s economy would begin to improve over the next few years, leisure time activities were low on the list of priorities for most Americans. Over the course of the next decade the Club managed to get out of receivership and keep operating, showing small but steady improvements in income each year.

In 1934, the Club managed to scrape up $100 to pay Elk Rapids the past due interest on what had come to be known as The Golf Course Bond. The Club kept chipping away at the bond debt with payments of $250 made to the Village in 1941 and 1942. Meanwhile, the Club’s “Ladies Putting Association” raised enough money to build a 9-hole “Ladies Putting Course” which was located near the original Clubhouse. The Green Committee rebuilt all the greens on the course with bent grass “stolons” cultivated in our own turf nursery. And to be seen as a community asset, our shuffleboard courts and horseshoe pits (built in the 20s) were still available for free to non-golfing Village residents. In addition, well into the early 1940s non-members who lived within 5 miles of the Club could play golf for free 3 times a season.

Our founders had hoped to sell 150 shares of stock in the Club at $100 each. If they had been successful, the stock sale funds would have paid off all outstanding debts. Unfortunately, at that time $100 a share was a big ask and by 1937 only 25 had been sold. Unlike today, in those days you could be a “member” of the Club for $32 a year, but only the 25 stockholders had a vote in how the Club was operated. The stockholders who had loaned the Club money in the dark days had their annual dues waived or were issued additional shares of stock, in amounts equal to what each of them had loaned the Club.

Sadly, Club Secretary and founding member Charles B. Carver, who worked so diligently to keep our Club going in the early years, passed away in 1942. Due in large part to his efforts, the Elk Rapids Golf Club entered its third decade of operations with a brighter future. Mr. Carver rests beside his wife Evelyn in Maple Grove Cemetery.

Unfortunately, from 1945 through 1960, all Brian Taylor, Course Historian, located in Club files are Annual Meeting minutes. Sadly, these Annual Meeting minutes generally only note the time and place the meetings were held, who was in attendance, annual income and expense reports and that issues “…involving Club operations were discussed.”

From these records it is not possible to determine how many stockholders the Club had in this time period. Further, we know that the “Golf Club Bond” with the village of Elk Rapids had still not been retired. In addition, we know that, unlike today, a number if individual members owned more than a single share of stock. This was a problem that continued to plague the Club for many years and wasn’t resolved until the Club had to reorganize in the early 60s. What Brian Taylor did find is that the minutes from the Annual Meeting in 1959 contained an ominous closing paragraph. It reads; “…A motion was made and carried (that) the services and advice of an attorney be secured to determine the proceedings necessary to either sell or lease the Golf Club property.”  

The statement contained in the 1959 annual stockholders meeting minutes was ominous. It read, “It was moved and seconded that an attorney be retained to either sell or lease the golf course property.”

As is the case with any business, income has to be expected to regularly exceed expenses. Through the 1950’s, this had not been the case with ERGC. Golf courses nationwide always struggle with this reality, as Mother Nature and the general state of the economy can wreak havoc on a golf club’s bottom line. Many golf course operations fail every year. With only 20 stockholders and in spite of the motion to sell or lease the course, the Board resolved to dig in.

After a meeting late in 1959 the Board sent a letter to the membership that read,  “It was the unanimous opinion of all Directors present that the Club should be maintained as a ‘Playing Course’, and NO suggestion to sell or otherwise change the present status was considered.” The Board then moved forward with an effort to clear up several financial issues, along with resolving problems associated with the sale and transfer of Club stock that had been lingering since the late 1920’s.

However, the financial condition continued to deteriorate and by 1961 a Receiver was once again appointed. In addition to financial difficulties, it was learned that the Club somehow let the corporate charter expire. Thus, in August 1962 the Receiver presided over a “Reorganizational Meeting of The Shareholders Of The Elk Rapids Golf Club.”  At the meeting a new corporate charter was approved, subsequently filed with the State, and a new set of Club By-Laws was completed. In addition, a new slate of officers was appointed. In the reorganization effort the Board decided that moving forward a club member MUST be a stockholder. Old shares of stock were redeemed and retired. New shares were issued to each member who wished to remain a member/stockholder.

Thankfully, the Club emerged on the other side of receivership in much better shape overall. With debts settled and the balance sheet greatly improved, by 1963 the Board of Governors was trying to decide whether to remodel the old farmhouse that had served as our clubhouse since 1924 or build a new clubhouse in a different location on the course. By the summer of 1964, the decision was made to build a new clubhouse, and its location had been determined. Six contractors submitted bids to build it, and Comstock Construction Co. was selected to handle the project. Their bid for the clubhouse construction job was $31,000. Financing was secured with the State Bank of Elk Rapids. Construction began in early 1965.

By 1967, the new clubhouse had been completed, and the Board was busy trying to buy a parcel of land across the street from the course to build a driving range. In 1968, a deal was made on the parcel and work began to level the land for the range. In addition, the Board began a serious debate about planting trees on the course to “better define the fairways.” Opinions for and against were strong, but ultimately it was decided that if trees were to be planted, they should be birch and maple and not pine trees. Nowhere in the minutes is there any mention made of trying to follow Donald J. Ross’s original design for changes or “improvements” to our course. Forty-five years later, this issue would be aggressively revisited.

Still, a Club that was facing closure in 1959 had by the end of the 60s reorganized and written a new charter, built a new clubhouse, opened a new driving range and had 103 member/stockholders. The Roaring 60s indeed.

The 70s – What this Club Really Needs is a Driving Range!

Sometimes, what seems like a great idea just doesn’t work out that way. Such was the experiment with the driving range. The land bought to create the range was rough. It needed to be cleared and graded before it could serve its intended purpose. In addition, some structures would be required to provide users shelter in the event of sudden inclement weather. And you can’t have a driving range without hitting surfaces (grass) and range balls. In addition, once range balls have been hit, somebody has to go pick ’em up!  So, in addition to the $7000 land price, expenditures to cover other driving range necessities had to be made. Further, while the location of the range being just across Ames St. from the Club seemed ideal, it proved to be a problem. Theft of range balls and equipment quickly became a common occurrence. And finally, in the six years of operation the range just never made any money for the Club.

For a short time, the Board considered converting the range property into a 9-hole par 3 course, but that idea fizzled. By 1974, it was clear the range should be closed and the property sold. At the same time, the Club had grown to 150 stock members (the number the founders had hoped for back in 1922!) and enjoying solid operating profits with the golf course operations. The Board concluded that the greatest need was to expand the new club house to accommodate the increasing membership. So, in 1975, the driving range property went on the market for $30,000. In short order, a deal was struck to sell it to the owners of Twin Bay Industries for $25,000. Thus in seven years, the driving range property experiment provided a tidy profit for the Club. The Elk Rapids Golf Club, which had suffered from a very serious lack of operating capital since founding (twice going into receivership), was now in the best financial shape it had ever been in!

The next five years proved to be busy ones at ERGC. The large addition to the clubhouse was completed and what was referred to as the “members lounge” was fitted with kitchen equipment and tables and chairs. The parking lot was paved, the course’s sprinkler system was upgraded (2650′ of new piping was laid) and power equipment to help better maintain the fairway turf and greens was purchased. A storage shed to house 12 power carts was built. Things were changing fast! With the clubhouse additions the pro shop was relocated to its present site, thus the Board determined that the holes on the course should be renumbered. They felt that the pro shop should overlook the 1st tee, so the hole directly to the left of the entrance became hole #1, and the hole along the lake on the other side of the parking lot became hole #9.

As has been pointed out in previous history essays, the course designed by the legendary architect Donald Ross was never fully completed as the money was not available to build the bunkers he’d designed. Over the years efforts were made to address this, but it’s clear in reviewing the records of the Club from 1922 to 2014 that when changes to the course were made, Ross’s design illustration was not used as a reference guide. Over the years bunkers were randomly added, only to be filled in later and relocated. Ross designed ERGC as a “links style” course (links courses are known for their lack of trees) on this nearly treeless former dairy farm. Ross planned his bunkering and hole layout strategies carefully with the land he had to work with. Yet in the decade of the 70’s the Club kept planting more and more trees. In 1976 the Women’s Golf League asked to Board to plant trees to mark the point at which a player was 150 yards from the green. In they went!  Trees along the Elk Lake shoreline grew wild and dense, obscuring views and reducing wind off the lake as a shot factor. While the arborists among us might strenuously argue in favor of adding trees, it cannot be argued that doing so obscured Ross’s course design to a very large degree. The Course may have been built by Donald Ross, but from the 1970s on it slowly stopped looking like it.

Still, the Club was riding the wave! By 1976 the Club had 173 stock members. The big news around the Club was that after a 3-year application process a liquor license was finally secured (let the good times roll!). ERGC closed out the decade with 200 stock members (the charter capped stock members at 200, so a waiting list was instituted) and $10,000 in the bank! Yeah, baby…on to the 1980s!!

The 80s at ERGC-trees, Trees, TREES!

By 1980 the Club finally was on the firmest financial footing since its founding. Golf was gaining in popularity and through the 1970’s there was not a lot of local competition. The Acme Golf Club, A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort and the Bellaire Golf Club (all 9 holers) were our only nearby competitors. Enjoying solid annual cash flow and with about $40,000 in the bank, it was decided to undertake several new projects. First up was the announcement to the membership at the 1980 Stockholders’ meeting was the build of a new maintenance building (which would eventually include public restrooms). Project estimates were scheduled for the late winter of 1981. By March a bid for a 32X60 pole building at a cost of $11,000 was approved. Construction was completed in short order, the new maintenance building was ready that June!

The mid 80s saw another power cart storage shed built, the locker room expanded and sixty new lockers added. The first woman was elected to the board in the 80s, and perhaps it was no coincidence that the ladies restroom got a significant makeover.

In 1985 the board was considering installing larger clubhouse windows to better see the course from the Members Lounge. After some debate, the board eschewed the new windows idea in favor of simply putting another addition on the Clubhouse. The mortgage taken out in the 60s to build the new clubhouse ($35,000 in total) had been paid off, so the timing seemed ideal. The cost of the addition and the remodeling of the existing Members Lounge was estimated at $39,000. The board opted to borrow $30,000 and cover the balance out of Club funds. Our business remained so strong that the mortgage on the addition was paid off in 1989.

Oddly, the Club’s love of trees went on unabated. In 1985, trees were planted on the south side of #3 tee box and the north side of the #5 tee box. In 1987, a complaint from the Village about tee shots on #8 landing on Ames St. was handled by planting 150 trees down that fairway in an attempt to keep balls off the street. Later that year, 150 poplar trees were donated to the Club and planted in various places around the course. In 1988, $5000 was budgeted for the purchase of more trees and the board decided to create an on-course nursery (it was in the far left rough of hole #4) in order to grow our own. Late in 1987, an additional 23 pine trees and 10 Crimson King maple trees were bought and planted . In just three short years, over 400 trees were planted on the course. Good or bad, trees would play a significant role in the Club’s financial future about 25+ years later.

Finally, the 1980s presented the Club with a liquor license dilemma. In 1986 the Club not having a full-time bartender put the Club in a serious insurance bind (no bartender, no liquor liability coverage). The Club promptly turned in the license! After some study, two years later the Club requested and received a Club License. Whew!

The 80s was a great decade for ERGC. By the end of 1989 the Club had a full slate of 200 members/stockholders, a waiting list of 134, and over $50k in the bank!! 

ERGC in the 90s – Don Who?

In the 60+ years the Club had existed, the 90’s was the busiest decade as it relates to physical changes to the course. Trees were planted anywhere and everywhere (another 200+ trees were added in the 90’s) and bunkers were built, rebuilt or relocated based solely on the attitudes and opinions of the board at the time. Donald Ross warned his readers about the problems caused by Green Committee deviations from a course plan in his book “Golf Has Never Failed Me”.  It’s clear that Donald Ross’s beautiful and very detailed illustration of our course (circa 1923) was never referenced or considered by our Boards of Governors when course changes were made over the years. Why? The answer to that question came in 1996.

In 1990, the Board determined that the course should once again be rerouted, discontinuing the use of hole #7 as the first hole and opting for the course’s order of play to be the#1 tee to be at the top of the hill upon entry and towards the maintenance building,  hole #9 begins to the right of the #1 green and ends at the Clubhouse. Further, the relocation of the Clubhouse and paving of the parking lot in the 60s had caused problems with the old #6 green. Balls hit offline toward that green often landed in the parking lot, slowing play at best and striking cars at worst. This problem persisted through the 70s and 80s, so by 1989 the Board decided that the #6th fairway should be shifted further right away from the parking lot)and that a new green be built nearer to Elk Lake (its current location). The existing green and old fairway area were then converted to a practice ground. In general, it was a necessary decision, although it shortened the hole by nearly 50 yards. The project was finally completed in May 1992.

By 1995, the Village was giving signals that Ames Street was going to be “beautified,” which effectively meant widened. The 8th green was already perilously close to Ames St., so the board chose to build a new green 20 yards to the left of the old green and 10 yards further away from the tee. Construction cost estimates of $15,000 proved high as the project was completed for $9,800. The new green opened for play in August 1997. Both green relocation projects altered Ross’s original course design marginally but were understandable given the circumstances.

But at the Annual Stockholders meeting in August 1996, extraordinary light was shed on the Donald Ross disconnect. In his remarks to the members at that meeting the Club President announced that some research had been done, and it was discovered that our course had been built “…In the early 1920’s by Don Ross, a famous golf course designer”. WHAT?!!  No kidding–how could we not have known that! The hiring of Donald Ross to build our course has created significant community ballyhoo at the Club’s founding. So much so that the editor of the town’s newspaper, The Elk Rapids Progress, opined in a October 1922 editorial, “If we tell a golf player that we have a Donald Ross golf course, nothing more need be said.” Unfortunately, Ross’s construction blueprints disappeared, and the Club did not have a copy of his course illustration, so perhaps his importance to us simply waned.  How the Club may have handled changes to the course over the years had the documents been consulted is an open question. However, it’s clear that over the decades our Ross design heritage (and the reasons the Club was founded in the first place) had somehow become forgotten pieces of history.

The Club marginally re-embraced Donald Ross in 1998 when the Board purchased a large rock to which they attached a plaque declaring that our course had been designed by him. But the biggest course news of the late 1990s was the Board’s plan to completely rebuild hole #5 (and tweak holes #2, #3 and #4 in the process), with a design that was totally out of character with Ross’s layout of the course. More on that in our next chapter.

ERGC closed out the decade by taking out a $20,000 loan to expand the maintenance barn and add restrooms, buying more trees, splitting the cost with the Village to pave the street leading to the entrance and talking to Consumers Power about burying the powers lines strung overhead on hole #7!  Membership stood at 200 and the waiting list numbered 105. However, financial clouds were forming.

ERGC 2000 – A Bad Plan Undone?

The Elk Rapids Golf Club straddled the end of the 20th century and the dawn of the new millennium still kicking around an idea that would significantly change how the course looked and played. Specifically, the plan to reroute and rebuild our 5th hole.

Donald Ross designed and built this devilish par 3 with the tee box hard beside Elk Lake and the green built into a right sloping hillside 185 yards away. With the green also tilting right toward Elk Lake, Ross knew that the best shot option for holding the green would be a draw (a shot that curves right to left) as straight shots or fades (shots that curve from left to right) would likely not stay on the green. For players who cannot hit a draw, he left the option of landing on the left hillside in an attempt to bounce the shot down and onto the green. Further (and in typical Ross style) he constructed the green with runoffs on the other three sides. Inarguably, it is a brilliant use of the course’s topography.

But in the second half of the 1990s, the Board twice voted in favor of a plan to significantly change this hole. The big question about their plan is “Why?”  It appears that there was some concern about players on #5 tee being in the “line of fire” for offline shots into #4 green, but it seems that the biggest reason was simply to make the hole easier to play. In 1996, a golf agronomist from MSU developed a plan that would have moved the tee box for #5 to the top of the hill and on the left of the 4th fairway, with a new green built well to the right and nearer the lake from the existing one. In 1998, the Board brought in the noted architect W. Bruce Matthews, who had experience with renovating other Ross courses, for his input. But by 1999, the Board was getting cold feet and voted 5 to 5 on a motion to reverse the prior Board’s approval of the plan. The Board president’s vote in favor of moving forward with the project broke the tie, but before work could begin trouble with the 6th green intervened.

The shoreline area beside the 6th green was thick with trees at that time, chief among them were numerous cottonwoods. In early 2000 the green committee chairman reported his fear (one shared by the course superintendent) that their roots were destroying the 6th green! It looked very likely that it would need to be rebuilt…a significant enough expense that tackling the 5th hole project would be unaffordable (cost estimates for both projects were around $90,000 and required outside financing). Thus, the Board tapped the brakes on the 5th hole renovation plan and tackled resolving the issues with the 6th green instead. Historian, Brian Taylor, wonders if Ross, up in golf Valhalla, had somehow taken a hand.

Throughout the first decade of the 21st century the Club kept grappling with financial woes. The investment account balance hovered between $18K to $25K. Annual income from member dues and green fees barely covered operational costs (and often didn’t). Membership dues only met about 40% of our revenue needs so the other 60% had to come from outside play. However, significant competition from new area courses eroded non-member demand. Though in 2001 the membership limit was increased to 225 (with 134 people on the waiting list), by 2005 the Board felt the membership limit needed to be increased to 275 members to comfortably continue to operate. That effort failed, but in 2008 the members did agree to an increase to 235. With strict budgeting and by tying annual dues increases to the rate of inflation, the course hung in. However, major equipment purchases and course improvements were out, as the course was only a couple bad years away from serious capital shortfalls.

Somehow, the course still managed to find the funds to buy and plant more trees on #5 and #9 tee boxes (yikes) and the idea to grow our own in a tree nursery left of #4 fairway resurfaced! Still, other low cost (or no cost) initiatives were accomplished. For years repeated attempts for road signage directing motorists to the course were blocked by the Village, but in 2008 a highway sign was installed. At the bargain price of $360 for three years, the blue MDOT variety “Pure Michigan” sign on southbound US31 (just outside the north Village limits) directing people to the course was installed!  And finally, a long standing gender equity problem was corrected with the first Women’s Club Championship being held in 2009.  A Men’s Club Championship existed for years.

Happily, the problem with tree roots destroying the 6th green was resolved by trenching between the green and the shoreline trees, then using a combination of screening material and chemical applications to slow their return. By the end of the decade, the plan to redo the #5th hole had been forgotten, but an extraordinary event that would change our Club in immeasurable ways loomed. 

ERGC 2010-19  – A Decade Like No Other

It’s fair to say that recent events generally carry more weight in our minds because they are, well…recent! Still, the ten-year period from 2010 through 2019 was so consequential for the Club that no decade in the Club’s history can compare. And it all began very innocently with a product known as Imprelis.

In 2011 a new herbicide used to kill weeds was introduced by a major chemical company. Many golf courses around the country, including ERGC, opted to use it. After applying the product that spring, it slowly became apparent that several trees on our course were beginning to look sick. But for the threads that weave this story together to make sense, we need to back up to something that happened a couple of years earlier.

At the 2009 Annual Stockholders meeting a member stood up and asked why more wasn’t made of our Club’s history. His point being that a Club as old as ours must have a pretty interesting story to tell. Brian Taylor. Anyway, a Club History Committee was organized in 2010 with the goal to research Board minutes and resources like the Tufts Archives (a Pinehurst GC, NC storehouse for information on Donald Ross golf courses), to learn whatever the committee could about the Club’s past. What they found, hiding in plain sight in the Club’s own board minutes, lead to a story titled “Can a Golf Course Save The Village?” which was published in the Elk Rapids News on November 8, 2012 (a reprint of that story is on our website). The visit to the Tufts Archives did not produce the original course construction blueprints the committee hoped to find, but the file did contain Ross’s beautifully detailed 22″ x 30″ course illustration of ERGC! Thus, after all these years, we finally possessed a document that clearly illustrated what our course was supposed to look like when it was built in 1923/24. This all happened around the same time as the Imprelis event. Coincidence…or fate?

By July 2011, 70+ trees on the course were clearly ailing. To their credit, the chemical company didn’t dodge responsibility. Club President Bob Kingon and VP Mack Endo were faced with the monumental task of gathering as much information as possible to determine the true dollar value of the affected trees and then to negotiate a settlement with the chemical maker. Ultimately, 274 trees on our course were killed by Imprelis. Bob, Mack and their team did their homework, stood fast, continued to negotiate, rejected two smaller offers, then finally got what we agreed was a fair settlement for our claim in 2014. For a Club the size of ERGC, the settlement amount was quite significant. While the Club had been seriously struggling for most of the 21st century, the financial future was now very secure!!

By August of 2013, the ERGC History Committee had assembled enough compelling information about the Club that it was felt the Club deserved consideration as a Michigan Historic Site. 50/50 raffles were held to raise the $250 application fee, then the application and detailed supporting data was submitted to the Michigan History Commission. Nearly a year later the application was approved and ERGC was officially named a Michigan Historic Site in July 2014…a mere six weeks after the Imprellis settlement! The Historic Marker Unveiling Ceremony was held on June 30, 2015. The nearly 200 people in attendance included members, representatives from the media, and local political figures. U.S. Congressman Dan Benishek as the keynote speaker and WTCM morning radio host Ron Jolly served as the emcee!! Quite a day!!

But as exciting as this was, the golf course was littered with dead trees and the Club was struggling with what the next steps should be. Most of the dead trees were scheduled for removal in the fall of 2014, but what next? Plant new trees? If so, where and how many? Some argued we shouldn’t replant any and take the course back to its original design. In early 2016, Green Committee Chair Bob Holdsworth and his committee members, after much study and numerous meetings, concluded the situation called for help from a qualified golf course architect. Four were consulted–all very experienced and successful. Ultimately, Bruce Hepner of Hepner Golf Design LLC was chosen to develop a course renovation master plan, with Donald Ross’s 1923 illustration as his reference source. Hepner was a great choice as he had renovated numerous Ross courses (including the Detroit Golf Club, home to the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic). Hepner had his plan, including bunker relocations, tee box adjustments, updated fairway mowing patterns and more, ready by June 2017. Despite rumors among the membership that the Green Committee was going to “blow up the course”, the Board of Governors voted in favor of implementation of the Hepner Master Plan in July. Work began in early spring of 2018 and was completed on schedule and under budget by early June.

The course renovations proved to be a resounding success with the membership and the public golfers. Bruce Hepner delivered on his promise that accomplished players would find our course more challenging without punishing high handicappers. The membership, which had fallen to 198 in 2012 (with NO waiting list), started to grow. By 2019 membership stood at 249 and green fees from outside play had grown significantly as well. With a balance sheet very solidly in the black, the decade ended with the planning to build the “Members Memorial Patio”. And it all started with Imprelis.

ERGC 2020-2024  –  Covid and Beyond

ERGC roared into the third decade of the 21st century on an absolute roll. Everything was coming together beautifully. Renovations were maturing to the point where a new visitor would assume that our course had always looked this way and the course was in the best financial shape ever enjoyed. A significant portion of the Imprelis settlement had been set aside and invested as a safeguard against future economic downturns, and future investment earnings could be used to help fund capital improvements without sacrificing principal. The year 2020 promised to be an exciting one. And was it ever.

In January, a flu-like virus began spreading across the US. Though its origins would be debated, Covid turned the world upside down. In April it was unclear whether the Club would be allowed to open, but by May, state government had determined that as golf was an outdoor sport with natural spacing between players, courses could be open for play with numerous human contact safeguards. The Board of Governors opted to open the Club but voted to put any new course projects on hold. 

During the pandemic, few businesses benefited. Golf was the exception. Clubs and courses across the nation saw a significant increase in play with many Americans taking up the game for the first time. ERGC saw membership grow to 253 members (with a waiting list of 55) by the end of the 2020 season, and revenues in a tough year finished up by 7.3%. The new Members Memorial Patio (a 2019 project) was a big success, with 60 engraved paving stones sold by June!  In the fall, with a grant from The Donald Ross Society Foundation, nuisance trees along the 6th fairway and green (the cottonwoods and poplars there had been damaging the fairway turf and green for years) were removed, which enhanced the views of Elk Lake significantly!

By spring of 2021 the pandemic still raged, but the nation was learning to manage it. By June, the total income at the Club was up 68% versus 2020, confirming that ERGC had weathered the worst of the Covid storm. Bar sales were up a whopping 74%, which can only be attributed to the new Members Memorial Patio. Thus, the Board of Governors decided to aggressively move ahead with much needed repairs and renovations including upgrading our course irrigation pump house, razing the old wooden clubhouse deck and replacing it to match the Members Memorial Patio and reworking electrical service connections, which enabled removal of the unsightly overhead powerlines that had hung across the 7th fairway for years!!  The outdoor patio space was expanded east toward Elk Lake and the grill area was beautifully remodeled. On the course, the back tee box on hole #3 was renovated and (with another grant from the Donald Ross Society) creation of a new native grass area between holes #3 and #4 was completed. The forward tee on hole #9 was also renovated. WHEW!

All of this was completed in time to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Club (October 17, 1922) with a celebration held on October 4, 2022. With a bagpiper strolling down the 9th fairway toward the clubhouse to kick things off, tributes from Brad Becken (President of the Donald Ross Society) and WTCM Radio benefactor Ron Jolly were read to the nearly 100 folks in attendance on a beautiful, warm early fall evening. A representative of U.S. Congressman Jack Bergman was on hand to present us with his proclamation recognizing our 100th Anniversary which he had placed in the 117th US Congressional Record.  A group of our past Club Presidents raised a special 100th anniversary flag to end the evening. Wow, quite a night!! And the year ended with a solid operating profit, 266 members (with a waiting list of 196) and the hiring of a PGA Club Professional for the 2023 season.

Fall of 2023 and early spring of 2024 saw us complete new landscaping near the bag drop and open a beautiful new pro shop on the Clubroom level. The Club had 266 members, a waiting list of over 200, and a rock solid financial footing.

On July 15, 2024 (100 years from the actual opening date of the ERGC), 250 invited guests celebrated in grand fashion the Club’s centennial celebration event!

After over a year of planning and with numerous individuals working diligently to make it a memory maker event, Mother Nature blessed the event with sunshine, vibrant blue waters on Elk Lake. A walkway to welcomed guests with vintage wooden boats, cars, and trucks as they made their way to the tent for a incredible evening!

The night included a cocktail hour with delicious appetizers, a catered plated dinner was served while Ron Getz played his wonderful music. An informative program followed where the Club received local, state and national recognition. The event concluded with guests being entertained by the Main Street Dueling Pianos. Guests even put on their dancing shoes and took to the dance floor to celebrate.

The following words and phrases were mentioned to describe the evening – magical, memorable, classy, fun, celebratory, a lifetime memory maker, a wonderful historical tribute to the ERGC, and the list goes on.

We are incredibly grateful to the staff, board of governors and club historian, our event coordinator, sponsors, talented musicians, vendors and volunteers for their tireless efforts and generosity! When they say it “takes a village” to pull off an event of this magnitude, it is true in every way.

To quote Donald Ross – “I believe wholeheartedly in golf. I consider it a game of honor. It does more to bring out the finer points in a person’s character than any other sport.”

In closing, the Elk Rapids Golf Club “rang the bell” loud and proud and our storied history was recognized and honored and we are well positioned for the future!

Cheers to 100 years!

Brian Taylor – Historian

Brian Taylor and his wife Deborah moved to Elk Rapids in 1980 to raise their family in this beautiful area and wonderful community. After years on the wait list, they finally became members of ERGC in 1993. After retirement, Deborah (AT&T) served as a Board member for three years (2008-2010). After a 25-year career in the insurance industry, Brian served three terms (9 years) on the Board from 2013 to 2021. During that time, he chaired the Membership/Marketing committee, the Insurance Committee, the Greens Committee and the History Committee. During his tenure on the History committee, the Elk Rapids Golf Club was named a Michigan Historic Site–one of only three courses in Michigan so designated. Brian was honored to be named Club Historian when the Board chose to officially create the position a few years ago. Brian has had the good fortune to be a part of the Club’s renaissance and its return to–and embracing of–our Donald J. Ross course design heritage. The future is bright for ERGC.

Throughout this series Historian Brian Taylor has occasionally offered views that may have been construed as somewhat negative toward the actions or motives of member Boards. This was not intended, as it’s clear that they were consistently interested in doing what was in the Club’s best interests given the facts, information and economic conditions they had at the time. It is striking to appreciate the love our members have always had for ERGC and it can be asserted that this love springs from the fact that as members we are also the owners of the Elk Rapids Golf Club–a Michigan Historic Site.