The Overlook completed renovations on July 28 and held a grand opening, in which it was announced that golf would return to the property after four years, in addition to the special events space. Known as The Golf Preserve at Atascocita, the 27-hole golf course will be open to the public with limited membership rates, but a timetable for restoration and opening has not been developed.
The continuing restoration and resurgence of the former Atascocita (Texas) Country Club took a huge leap July 28, with the completion of renovations at The Overlook and the announcement that golf would return after more than four years, the Humble (Texas) Our Tribune reported.
More than 300 people attended an open house at The Overlook when the announcement was made. Dubbed the Founders Open House, owner Kevin Kilgore called the gathering a way to show the people that encouraged him to buy the venue and golf course how the Overlook had been transformed. The group raised $375,000 to help Kilgore purchase the golf course in 2012, the Tribune reported.
While the event was to show off the newly renovated venue, some of the biggest cheers came when Kim Spurlock, the leader of the committee of residents working to keep the golf course, made the announcement that everyone wanted to hear, the Tribune reported.
“I am unbelievably proud to stand here and tell you that we are getting our golf course back,” Spurlock told the crowd. “It’s been four years, but we all stayed the course. We didn’t back down, and I am happy to make this announcement today.”
The Golf Preserve of Atascocita will be managed by Jack Day, who oversees several other golf courses in the area, including The Links at West Fork in Conroe. Day assured the crowd that once the golf course reopens it will remain a community course, the Tribune reported.
“One thing that Kevin made me promise is that it would never turn it into a country club,” Day said. “It is always going to be daily fee with limited membership rates. However, we want to bring a country club feel to a daily fee course.”
Day announced that they will reopen all 27 holes on the course, but that there is no timetable on when the golf course will reopen to the public. Day said they will start working on restoring the course right away, the Tribune reported.
“We have a list of things we would like to accomplish, but it’s going to take some time,” Day said. “We’ve decided to do this in stages and one of the first stages is obviously to get the irrigation system fixed. We’ve had some pump issues and other issues. It’s been shut down for three and a half years. So, we are going to start there, and then we are going to focus on the greens. We are going to reseed and reformulate all the greens. In the next stage, we would like to reopen the driving range.”
While Day said these stages could take several months, Kilgore is hopeful the golf course can be reopened by sometime next spring at the very latest. Day is leasing the golf course for one dollar a year from Kilgore, who said he doesn’t intend to profit from the course, the Tribune reported.
“It never was a business model for me,” Kilgore said. “I just want to be a steward of the land, and what this land needs is its community back. This community has done something I have never seen another community do before. Today, they accomplished it. And it’s a great partnership that we are so proud of.”
Kilgore also updated the community about the establishment of social membership program. Kilgore said that the social membership continues to evolve, but has not been completed. He is still hoping to have a social membership for the club, but make it more oriented around events like wine tastings, the Tribune reported.
There are also plans for a gala at The Overlook. While the details and the date have not been determined, the gala will help celebrate the restoration of the golf course and country club and raise money for the ongoing restoration of the golf course. The gala is expected to include a silent auction where people can bid to sponsor each hole on the 27-hole course, the Tribune reported.
The Atascocita Country Club closed in 2009 after management challenges and was purchased by Kilgore in 2012. The club was in disrepair, and Kilgore spent nearly $2 million remodeling and restoring the venue, renaming it The Overlook and turning it into a wedding and event center. Kilgore said there are 101 events already scheduled, with an estimated 14,000 visitors expected, the Tribune reported.
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