Ironclad Brewery, looking to expand its brand while diversifying income streams and the services it offers, bought the shuttered Hampstead, N.C. club with plans to change its name to Ironclad Golf and Beer Garden and offer event space. A beer shack will sit next to the driving range, pumping out tunes and fresh drafts of craft beer from the brewery in nearby Wilmington.
News of the impending sale of Belvedere Country Club in Hampstead, N.C. led many area residents to fear a developer would buy the land and replace fairways and putting greens with home lots, the Port City Daily reported. It had happened to a couple nearby properties within the last several years.
Neighbors of the Echo Farms golf course on the Cape Fear River in southern Wilmington filed a lawsuit against Matrix Development in late 2016, only to see the land bulldozed to build townhomes, the Daily reported. And when Topsail Greens in Hampstead closed in 2013, a developer purchased the course the following year; now homes sit on once-open fairways.
Enter Brandon Noel, who had recently sold two tech start-ups, the Daily reported. Noel took his money and invested it in Ironclad Brewery in Wilmington, known for its event-oriented business model and owned by Ted Coughlin, an angel investor for one of his start-ups.
Soon after he came on board, they found the old golf course for sale after a previous deal had fallen through, the Daily reported. Coughlin wanted to expand the brewery’s brand while diversifying income streams and services offered, especially after the pandemic had devastated the wedding and event industry while providing a huge boost for golf courses.
“The golf industry as a whole has seen a tremendous uptick,” Noel said, noting the brewery’s wedding venue business has sharply declined.
This will be no traditional golf course. First, Noel and three other owners will rename Belvedere Country Club to Ironclad Golf and Beer Garden, the Daily reported. A beer shack will sit next to the driving range pumping out tunes and fresh drafts of craft beer from the brewery in Wilmington, Noel said.
“We’re a brewery that owns a golf course,” Noel said. “So we’re billing it as ‘fun golf.’ One of the reasons we’re changing the name. We’re not going to be a country club. We don’t do bougie; we do fun. Fun golf, great beer. Keep a scorecard, don’t keep one — it’s up to you. The point is to have fun.”
Noel told the Daily they plan to open the driving range on a part-time basis sometime next week, while aiming to open the beer garden—which will replace an old pool that hasn’t been used since about 2012, according to Noel—and the front nine by October. As part of this phased approach, the back nine is expected to open by next spring or early summer.
The course layout is also unique, the Daily reported. No fairway passes another, as is typical for many courses, because of its figure-eight layout that winds its way to the Intracoastal Waterway.
The golf course shut down in late February or early March, Noel told the Daily, after the course had experienced a slow decline in recent years.
On top of their desire to expand the brand, the brewery owners were encouraged to buy the property after noticing widespread support from residents living along the fairways to preserve the golf course, the Daily reported. When Dave Bullard, the Superintendent, kept cutting the grass after the course closed, neighbors began following suit with their own mowers, according to Noel.
“He’d just come out here and cut the grass, all on his own. He didn’t want to see it go downhill … The neighbors then formed a little network: One homeowner said, ‘I’ll cut from the fourth fairway to the fourth hole, if you cut from the fourth hole to the fifth fairway.’ And they all kind of divvied it up among themselves,” Noel said.
Since the sale, Noel said property owners have walked up to him thanking them for buying the course, the Daily reported. Many had told him stories of how their kids learned to play golf on the old course, he said.
According to Bullard, who was kept on staff as the course Superintendent, one man who lives in the community would often play with his grandson, current PGA Tour golfer Jordan Spieth, the Daily reported. He said Spieth once shot a 62 on the course.
Steve Crager, a local realtor who lives next to the course, told the Daily the purchase has brought the neighborhood “back to life.”
“It went from people being nervous to buy here to people excited to buy. The houses are selling again. People are asking about lots in here to build custom [homes]. Values are going up,” he explained.
And it’s good for the Hampstead area, he said, which has seen too many “big box builder communities” taking up scarce land, the Daily reported. With a growing, diversifying population, he is excited the unincorporated community will now have another entertainment option while preserving the great view he enjoys from his home.
“To sit on my front porch and look down hole eight, and talk to the guys as they’re teeing off on hole nine, it’s enjoyable,” he said.
From a business standpoint, Noel said it has become increasingly difficult in recent years for golf courses to survive on golf revenue alone, due to the enormous maintenance costs required for course upkeep, the Daily reported. So they will look to bring Ironclad’s event venue services to the course, renting out the beer garden (while keeping a portion open to normal customers) and the clubhouse for small events.
Someday, he also hopes to build a larger event space for weddings and corporate events, the Daily reported.
While the nearby Eagle Point and Olde Point courses appeal more to the serious golfer, Noel explained to the Daily, the Ironclad Golf and Beer Garden will appeal more to the “working golfers”—those who just want to have some fun after getting off work—along with tourists.
Although he’s still playing with the numbers, in terms of rates, he aims to offer ‘season passes’ instead of traditional memberships, the Daily reported. The brewery’s owners are even considering a 6-hole offering for those who don’t have time for nine or 18 holes, something you can squeeze in after work, he said.
They also plan to open a restaurant in the spring and the clubhouse to small events (up to 75 people) by early summer, the Daily reported. Their goals are ambitious. On top of planning for a larger event space for weddings and other events, they’re also exploring the idea of opening a distillery, he said.
“It’s a lot of work, and it’s going to take a long time,” Noel said. “It’s gonna take several years to get everything completely up and going.”
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