Jeff Osterfeld, owner of the Batavia, Ohio golf course, bought Duff and Divot last year, letting them roam on four acres between holes No. 1 and 10. “I knew it would be a big spectacle…[it] adds to the allure of the place,” Osterfeld said.
Duff and Divot, two juvenile bison, are unusual residents of The Golf Club at Stonelick Hills in Batavia, Ohio, Cincinnati.com reported.
Scruffy 2-year-old Divot weighs in at about 700 pounds. Duff, 3, comes in at nearly half a ton. They roam on about 4 1/2 acres on the golf course grounds, Cincinnati.com reported.
Cheesesteak entrepreneur and golf-course designer Jeff Osterfeld got the pair last fall for $2,400 each from Clermont County Commissioner David H. Uible, who has been in the bison business since 1994, Cincinnati.com reported.
Osterfeld began construction on the golf course in 1999 and opened the 400-acre, semi-private club in 2004. Osterfeld always liked bison as a kid. Fast forward a few decades to find Osterfeld awestruck at the sight of bison running wild in Yellowstone National Park while on a backpacking excursion, Cincinnati.com reported.
When he heard that Uible had bison in New Richmond, Osterfeld tracked down the rancher and made a visit, Cincinnati.com reported.
“It was like love at first sight,” Osterfeld said. “I built the course and kept staring at those 4 acres. I knew it would be a big spectacle, adds to the allure of the place.”
He talked Uible into selling him the pair. Last fall, the club celebrated the mascots with a party for members and friends, with bison burgers and Hairy Buffalo, a drink that includes rum, tequila, vodka, whiskey, gin and fruit punch, Cincinnati.com reported.
Turns out, the big animals are relatively maintenance free. They have to be fed in the winter, but they’ll eat the grass the rest of the year, Cincinnati.com reported.
“Three things that are important for keeping bison happy are food and water and the right social mix,” said Dave Carter, executive director of the National Bison Society which is based in Colorado. Carter suggested that Osterfeld consider swapping out the bison for younger ones at some point, since they’re both males. The more mature they get, Carter said, the more they’ll want a mate, Cincinnati.com reported.
Four acres is plenty of space for two animals, Carter said. In case you were wondering, an airborne golf ball will not hurt a bison, nor will they eat the ones that shank into their pen, Cincinnati.com reported.
Bison aren’t exactly strangers here. They used to roam Ohio, Carter reminds. “(Bison) used to go from coast to coast and from the Yukon flats to northern Mexico,” Carter said. “If you go just south in Kentucky, the reason they call (the bourbon) Buffalo Trace is because those were the trails that the first white settlers followed, carved out by bison.”
Osterfeld sure gets a kick out of them. “As long as I’ll be here,” he said, “they’ll be here.”
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