Country Club to re-open May 8

Despite falling on financial hard times, the Oregon Country Club will open for business next week.

Tom Rodems, CEO of Green Golf Partners, said Monday that the nine-hole course on Daysville Road will be open for golfers on Tuesday, May 8.

Rodems and his firm were named receivers of the course, which is in foreclosure.

"We are officially in position to get the golf course in shape to protect assets while it goes through bankruptcy," he said.

Protecting the assets means getting the course ready for play.

"We're getting it mowed and in shape," Rodems said. "It came through the winter in good shape, but the grass is two feet tall in places."

The course has a new superintendent, Jim Burge, and the new golf pro, Tom Gerke, will start next week, he said.

Some past employees will be invited back to work at the course.

"We've heard good things about them," Rodems said.

The course will open with Manic May, a marketing plan aimed at attracting both regulars and new customers, he said.

"We're offering a buck a hole. You can play all nine or you can come out and play just three," Rodems said.

He said he is impressed with the course. "This is really a unique piece of property," he said. "It's a really beautiful nine-hole golf course."

Rodems said his firm, which manages golf courses, is not likely to be on the scene for the long haul.

"The plan is that the course will be sold and the new owner will take over," he said.

At the request of Harvard State Bank, which holds the mortgage, Ogle County Judge Michael Mallon appointed Green Golf Partners receiver on April 3.

According to court documents, Harvard State Bank filed for foreclosure on Dec. 30, 2011 because the country club failed to make agreed upon payments on its loan.

Court records indicate that the total amount owed the bank is $464,808.

The Oregon Golf Club Rescue Partnership was named along with the Oregon Country Club as a defendant in the foreclosure proceeding.

The partnership is made up of country club members and was formed approximately two years ago in an effort to keep the country club financially afloat.

The country club was founded as the Rock River Golf Club in 1926 by Horace Sheets and two others.

It has been a not-for-profit corporation throughout at least most of its existence.

It became the Oregon Golf Club in 1941. At that time, the directors were A. H. Kreckel, Russell Lamb, Joseph Reed, Burton Haas, W.M. Burright, Horace Etnyre, and Walter Berg.

The name was changed to Oregon Country Club, Inc. in 1993.