The former River View Country Club in LaGrange, Mo., ceased operations in 2013, and now a not-for-profit group named RVCC LLC is installing a fairway irrigation system, seeding with zoysia grass, installing disc and mini golf courses, and setting up a cross-country running course. The property is expected to reopen by Memorial Day 2017.
The River Valley Community Course in LaGrange, Mo., formerly known as the River View Country Club, is under new ownership after being closed for nearly three years, the Quincy, Ill., Herald-Whig reported.
In a quest to get the course in better shape, the not-for-profit entity running the facility started installing a fairway irrigation system last Monday. If everything goes as scheduled, plans call for reopening the course next Memorial Day weekend, the Herald-Whig reported.
“How realistic that is depends on how quickly we get this irrigation system in and whether we get the course seeded this fall,” said Jake DeCoster, chairman of the not-for-profit group and president of the new corporation that owns the facility.
The golf course ceased operations in 2013, six years after the most recent owner, Brinkley Sports Management, bought the facility from the not-for-profit group that previously controlled the operation, the Herald-Whig reported.
River Valley Country Club Inc. filed suit against Brinkley in December of 2013 to halt a potential sale of the course. In the end, Brinkley worked out a deal to sell the course back to the local group that originally owned the facility. DeCoster said the group took possession of the course earlier this year under its new corporate name, RVCC LLC, the Herald-Whig reported.
DeCoster said the not-for-profit group in charge of the course decided the first thing it needed to do was install a fairway irrigation system to help keep the grasses alive during the heat of the summer. The group contacted a firm that specializes in golf course irrigation and was quoted a $250,000 price that far exceeded the group’s budget, the Herald-Whig reported.
So the group instead hired a local contractor who does irrigation projects in the area and started working with him using a team of local volunteers, along with a trencher, to install 9,200 feet of irrigation pipes in the fairways. Local plumbers and electricians will then connect the fairway watering system to the existing watering system used on the golf course’s greens, the Herald-Whig reported.
The goal in all this, DeCoster said, is “to make the game more enjoyable” for golfers who will use the course during the hot summer months. They will be able to hit balls off green grass instead of dry, rock-hard fairways, the Herald-Whig reported.
“It just makes it a better experience,” he said. “Maybe then they’ll come back and play again if they have a good experience. That’s the aim.”
DeCoster said other plans call for seeding the fairways with durable zoysia grass this fall; installing a disc golf course on the grounds; setting up a running course for Culver-Stockton College’s cross-country team and creating a miniature golf course near the clubhouse, the Herald-Whig reported.
“We want to make this a family-friendly place,” DeCoster said. “We’re excited to have this project going. I think it will be really good for Canton and LaGrange and certainly for Culver-Stockton College.”
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