Justin Lotz has bought Oak Harbor GC in Slidell, La., after working there for 18 years, most recently as its Head Golf Professional. In Madras, Ore., Kah-Nee-Ta Golf Course is now leased by Brent Moschetti, a 20-year member, who formed a new management company to operate it.
Justin Lotz grew up playing at Oak Harbor Golf Club in Slidell, La., and during his 18 years of employment there, The New Orleans Advocate reported, he has held just about every job possible: cart attendant, clubhouse assistant, maintenance man, assistant pro and head golf pro.
On March 30, Lotz added another title to the list when he officially became owner of the course just off Lake Pontchartrain. Lotz bought the club from George Cascino for $1.8 million, The Advocate reported, through a purchase that included approximately 200 acres of land, comprising the 18-hole course and surrounding vacant green spaces. Also changing hands were Oak Harbor’s clubhouse, a fleet of golf carts, maintenance vehicles, a driving range and more.
Oak Harbor employs two dozen people, Lotz said, and has a par-72 course that was designed by Lee Schmitt and opened in 1992.
Lotz, 34, graduated from the University of New Orleans (UNO) in 2005 with a business degree and dreamed of one day owning his own business, The Advocate reported. But even though he had been a member of the UNO golf team and was an all-state golfer at Salmen High School—just a long par-5 or two away from Oak Harbor GC—he never considered buying a course.
But Cascino had a plan for his young head pro, The Advocate reported.
“About four years ago, George asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up,” Lotz said with a laugh. “I thought I was already grown up, but I told him I wanted to own my own business. He asked me if I had ever considered owning Oak Harbor. I didn’t think that would be attainable, but he said, ‘I’m only going to sell it to you, and I’ll tell you when I’m ready.’
“About two years ago, he told me to get [my financing] in order, so I did,” Lotz said. “He was true to his word.”
Oak Harbor has provided Lotz with every job he’s ever had, The Advocate reported. He fetched golf bags and hosed down carts when he was in high school, then answered phones and scheduled tee times when he was in college.
He assisted with a major reconstruction of Oak Harbor’s greens in 2004, and put in some sweat equity during a massive cleanup effort when Hurricane Katrina scuttled operations for six months after August 2005.
As the assistant and eventually head pro on staff, Lotz steered Oak Harbor through the period of contraction that the sport endured nationally in recent years, The Advocate reported. While some other courses in the area were forced to shut down, Oak Harbor continued to attract both locals and visiting players.
The lessons he learned as an 18-year Oak Harbor employee will benefit him as the course’s owner, Lotz told The Advocate. And the upside, he said, goes beyond not having to consult someone, should he want to make a change at the course.
“There’s only one person making the decisions,” he said. “That’s one thing. But I’ll still be working in the same capacity I was answering the phone calls and meeting with the people. I’m not going to be sitting behind a desk. I think that’s important, to hear a customer’s compliments and complaints.”
Lotz knows the landscape of his sport has been changing and there is stiff competition for the business of area players, The Advocate reported. He said the course itself is in good condition, especially its greens, though he has improvements in mind.
Work on the irrigation system has already begun, to grow more lush turf on the fairways. Cosmetic upgrades are underway inside and outside the 19-year-old clubhouse, as well, The Advocate reported.
Lotz said he doesn’t feel all that different now that he owns Oak Harbor, The Advocate reported. He’s had ideas in the past on how to make the club better, and now he has the authority to make things happen.
“I’ve always felt some kind of ownership in this place,” he said. “It’s been my only job, and I’m here just about seven days a week. I’ve been here for 18 years, so there are no surprises. This place is part of my family.”
In Madras, Ore., Brent Moschetti had been a member at Kah-Nee-Ta Golf Course for some 20 years, The Bulletin of Bend, Ore. reported. Moschetti had been a business owner and was just settling into retirement at the turn of the new year, The Bulletin reported, but that retirement lasted all of 40 days.
The course on the eastern flank of the Warm Springs (Ore.) Indian Reservation was on the verge of closing, The Bulletin reported, and it was put up for sale by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Any other year, Moschetti would not have been able to be the facility’s savior. But the timing was perfect, and Moschetti took advantage.
“I know golf,” said Moschetti, 60, who is now Manager of Golf Operations for Rock Solid Golf Management, a company he formed to run Kah-Nee-Ta, The Bulletin reported. “I was raised around golf. I just decided I didn’t want to wait too long.”
In early December, Kah-Nee-Ta, a 6,352-yard par-72 course originally designed in the 1970s, was on the market after operating in the red for the previous four years, somewhat coinciding with the resort moving its casino to a new location in Warm Springs, The Bulletin reported. The resort was seeking an outside operator to lease the course, and by January 28, Moschetti, who first learned of the course’s availability in mid-January and then made a proposal of $90,000 to obtain the property, was running the very course at which he had for years been a member.
“I love being on the golf course,” said Moschetti, who for nearly 30 years was a majority owner of Madras’ Shielding International, a manufacturer of protective x-ray products, before selling the company this past winter, presumably to retire.
But he is no stranger to golf club operations; Moschetti told The Bulletin that he was an assistant superintendent at Rock Creek Country Club in Portland, Ore. for several years in the 1980s.
“I like the work [in golf],” Moschetti said. “Basically, the money I’m doing it for, I’m paying myself [nothing]. I’ve got money coming in for about 14 years after selling the company. I don’t need the money. It was a perfect time for [Kah-Nee-Ta] and me. If it had happened a year ago, I couldn’t have done it.”
Yet as excited as Moschetti is to build Kah-Nee-Ta back into a championship- and resort-style course, he conceded that he is taking some risk, The Bulletin reported. That risk, he said, stems from Kah-Nee-Ta’s low revenue numbers over the past few years.
According to Moschetti, there were some years during which the facility was making up to $350,000 per year, The Bulletin reported. But, he said, “it seemed like when they were making money, they were still spending ridiculous money in salaries—$200,000 to $300,000 a year in salaries. For a golf course.”
Last year was one of the lowest revenue totals Kah-Nee-Ta had ever recorded, Moschetti said, with the course only making about $110,000 in green fees, carts and rental clubs, among other sales. After looking at the facility’s financial records for the past seven years, Moschetti discovered that Kah-Nee-Ta was losing about $300,000 a year, The Bulletin reported.
Still, he was eager to take control and try to turn things around. “Basically,” Moschetti said, his voice rising with excitement, “I’m like a Band-Aid.”
In January, he signed a one-year contract to take over Kah-Nee-Ta, The Bulletin reported. If things go well, Moschetti said, that agreement will extend to five years. “But,” he added, “I just want to go for one year and see what happens.”
So far, things have gone well for the course’s new management, The Bulletin reported. Moschetti has been fortunate to have all of Kah-Nee-Ta’s existing maintenance equipment at his disposal, along with all of the structures on the course, such as the pro shop and concession stands. Kah-Nee-Ta has never operated at less than $400,000 for a year, Moschetti said, though he is confident he could do so at no more than $200,000. He has allotted up to $70,000 for fertilizer and other course necessities while keeping labor costs manageable by operating with a lean and efficient crew, which includes his oldest son, T.J. Moschetti
Moschetti wasted little time in starting to revive Kah-Nee-Ta, The Bulletin reported. Once the snow melted, staff members re-cut all the sand traps and added new sand to them. The mowers were used to trim the rough, which Moschetti said he would like to keep at three inches maximum—a length he described as “resort-style.”
He and his crew pulled up all 16 ball-washers with attached garbage cans, and the stakes marking hazard areas, and repainted them all, The Bulletin reported. They put in new pin flags and cut the greens. Kah-Nee-Ta opened on March 10, and Moschetti said there has already been positive feedback.
“The people that play out here, who have played for years, are just amazed at what we’ve done just in a short time here,” Moschetti said. “We had a couple days [in late March] at over $1,200 in greens fees in one day. If I can do that five or six times a month, I’ll be fine.”
Green fees have been lowered, Moschetti noted, and the most expensive days to golf at Kah-Nee-Ta will be $28 (down from $40) during in-season weekends through September. Add in reasonable fees for carts ($25 for 18 holes, down from $30 last year) and year-long memberships costing $600 for families (a price that includes carts), and Moschetti said, “you can’t golf cheaper than that anywhere that I know.”
The Kah-Nee-Ta Board of Directors that accepted Moschetti’s offer to lease the course is actively looking for buyers to take over Kah-Nee-Ta, he told The Bulletin.
“It wasn’t a big thing about being paid for me,” Moschetti said. “It was trying to make it survive, maybe we can get a corporation to take this thing over. It’d be tough, but there’s people out there that know how to make it run. I could get this thing up in two years to $200,000 in greens frees and it would pay for itself.
“We’ve got the course in great shape, and we plan on keeping it that way at any cost,” he added. “I plan on running this thing until next February. After that, I’ll take a look. Whatever it takes to keep it in good shape, that’s what I’m planning on doing for this year. Hopefully it works out and I’ll sign a five-year deal.”
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