The public golf course in Columbus, Ind., has revived a piece of the city’s past with the addition of a bar and grill at the 50-year-old clubhouse, which is Phase 1 of what could be an extensive renovation.
From the original stone wall to the green carpeting to the windows overlooking its expansive 27-hole course, the newly renovated Otter Creek Golf Course Bar & Grill in Columbus, Ind., makes residents feel as if they have stepped back into 1965,the Columbus-based The Republic reported.
“It looks like it could have been the original,” Otter Creek golf pro Chad Cockerham said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new restaurant.
The new Otter Creek Bar & Grill opened for business on the upper level of the public golf course’s clubhouse on September 11 after a yearlong construction process, Cockerham said.
The renovated space, previously used as a banquet hall, is now a full-service restaurant. It has a newly installed bar stocked with local craft beer, four 70-inch televisions and a wood-burning fireplace.
Official unveiling of the restaurant comes at a time of year when the course’s regular business begins to slow down, Cockerham explained to The Republic. “This gives golfers an option to still do something once the weather gets bad,” he said.
Otter Creek Golf Course has been run as a separate, not-for-profit entity by Otter Creek Management Corp. since it was donated to the city of Columbus in 1964. It is overseen by an all-volunteer board of directors and money earned by the facility goes back into its maintenance, The Republic reported.
When the golf course opened in 1965, the room where the Bar & Grill is housed was a formal dining restaurant designed by renowned architect, Harry Weese. Weese’s designs are featured in more buildings in Columbus, Indiana than any other architect, according to Cindy Frey, president of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce. The restaurant operated until 1998, when it was shut down and eventually converted into a banquet hall, along with another room on the building’s upper level, The Republic reported.
As the years went by, Cockerham began to think Otter Creek could put the banquet hall to better use. He called in Steve Risting, an Indianapolis-based architect who serves as president of the board for the Columbus, Indiana Architectural Archives, to study the room’s potential.
“It’s such a beautiful space, and we were looking for the best way to utilize it,” he explained to The Republic.
After completing his feasibility study, Risting found that restoring the restaurant would best serve the golf course and its customers. The room was already equipped with a rarely used kitchen, which was designed to run a restaurant. So returning the space to its original purpose was the most logical choice. Because the golf course prides itself on its architectural and design heritage, it was also a logical choice to restore the restaurant to its original image, Risting told The Republic.
That meant taking Weese’s original 1960’s design and updating it for modern use. “I feel like I’ve been a member of Harry Weese’s office,” Risting said. “I tried to be very respectful to the original design and intent.” Risting said the stone walls behind the bar are completely original to the Weese design and were left largely untouched by the renovation process, The Republic reported.
The bar’s granite countertop was created to match the granite plaque with a quote from Cummins executive J. Irwin Miller’s dedication speech for the golf course when it opened 50 years ago. The furniture that was wooden in the original restaurant was replaced with a more durable material but still resembles wood closely enough to honor the initial design, The Republic reported.
The renovation did stray from Weese’s design in the kitchen, where Cockerham said there was too much space that would never be put to use. To resolve that issue, contractors partitioned off part of the kitchen space to better suit the needs of the restaurant’s traffic. But the addition of the restaurant is only Phase 1 of what could be an extensive renovation, Risting explained to The Republic.
Because of its architectural heritage, golfers often focus more of their attention on the upkeep of the course itself rather than the clubhouse, Risting said. However, like other aging buildings of significance in Columbus, the Otter Creek Golf Course should be carefully watched to ensure its unique design is not lost or damaged, Risting explained to The Republic.
Freddie Wagner, a Seymour resident who has golfed at Otter Creek Golf Course for nearly seven years, said she already has sampled and enjoyed some of the items on the Bar & Grill’s menu, including the hamburgers, tenderloin and beer, The Republic reported.
Even though the golf season is winding down, the newly opened restaurant will give her and her husband, Gary, an excuse to visit Otter Creek regularly through the winter. “The golf course is such a gem, and the restaurant really adds to it,” Wagner told The Republic. “The food is wonderful. I’m really enthusiastic about it.”
Cockerham hopes that restoration of the restaurant hopefully will create more interest in preserving the clubhouse by attracting non-golfers to visit the building.
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