R.I.P., Oakwood Golf? It was the question asked on the front page of the Houston Herald in January 2007.
It’s been two-and-a-half years since Gordon Ziegler, owner of Houston’s Oakwood Golf Course, announced his intentions to shut down the site. The course remains open, but it still needs help.
Ida Sargent, who has overseen the day-to-day operations of Oakwood since its members raised enough money to lease it from Ziegler, said enthusiasm and participation have dwindled since the course was saved. Combined with the struggling economy, Sargent said the course is doing just enough to make it.
“Nobody wants to see the golf course leave,” Sargent said. “The golf course is not doing great financially, but it’s making it. It’s standing on its own two legs, but we’re going along at the bottom of the barrel.”
Sargent has done more than her part to keep Oakwood open. She arrives at 8 a.m. each day and leaves when everyone is gone. Her daily routine includes mowing, fixing equipment, running the clubhouse, cooking food and managing volunteer work.
Sargent said she is operating the course at one-third the expenses it used before Ziegler threatened to close it. She does get paid, but she returns her salary during the winter months for the operation of the course.
Sargent, who will soon turn 62, said the long days are catching up with her. She hopes to make the course thrive and pass it on to another manager. She’s also praying for a buyer to meet Ziegler’s $400,000 price tag for Oakwood – 20 percent less than he asked for it in 2007.
Until then, she said she will keep plugging away.
“You see those people out there? They matter to me,” Sargent said when asked why she continues to operate the course. “They want to keep this golf course, and I want to make it so they can.”
Sargent is quick to point out that she receives volunteer help to keep Oakwood operating. James Boswell, Charlie Ward, Brad Rees, Steve Pierce are a few of the men who regularly pitch in.
Bill Wiseman is the club’s greenskeeper. Sargent said players, including those who play in the St. Louis area, rave about the course’s greens.
“The volunteers are keeping this golf course running by what they do,” Sargent said. “They work their tale ends off for nothing.”
But Oakwood needs more help. Sargent said many people who fought to keep the course alive – volunteers attended meetings and raised $30,000 in private donations following Ziegler’s 2007 announcement of his intentions to shut it down – have disappeared.
The course also desperately needs memberships. Three years ago, Oakwood had 120 paying members. The number dropped to 70 last year and stood at 60 last week. Sargent hopes the number improves with summer in full swing.
Membership cost is $700 per year. If a golfer played once a week at the rate of $27 per round, the membership would be paid off in half a year.
“We need people to get involved and pay attention. We do not want to lose our golf course,” Sargent said. “People helped for a year. But this is not just a one year thing. If they can help, I wish they would.”
Sargent stressed the importance of keeping a golf course in the community. She said people moving to a new town look for three things – Walmart, a hospital and a golf course. Houston currently has all three.
Oakwood is the practice facility for golf teams from Houston and Licking high schools. Three matches were held there this past season, including the SCA tournament, and students can play for free year-around if they walk. A church league plays each Tuesday night, and a weekly men’s league is each Thursday.
Sargent said players from Licking, Success, Salem and Montauk regularly travel to Oakwood. Salem has its own course, but it’s only open to the public twice a week.
Oakwood also hosts many fund-raising tournaments, including ones this year for the TCMH Healthcare Foundation, Optimist Club and Houston Tiger Booster Club.
“What is it saying for our community when we had a golf course and we let it go? It’s not saying anything very good,” Sargent said. “We have to have a golf course, and we’ve got one. Why don’t we utilize it and take care of it? People don’t understand that.”
Sargent said Ziegler has given her the green light to keep Oakwood open under its current circumstances. But he offered no promises if memberships drop even lower or if it begins to struggle financially.
“We could have an extra special golf course,” Sargent said, “if people would get behind it.”