General Manager Jordan Lawson says the members of the Middletown, Ohio club have been instrumental in Wildwood renovating its pro shop, clubhouse, swimming pool and men’s locker room. To commemorate its 100th year, Wildwood will be installing a 13-foot tall, four-facing Howard Clock from the Verdin Clock Co.
Wildwood Golf Club in Middletown, Ohio is celebrating its 100th anniversary, The Hamilton Journal-News reported. General Manager Jordan Lawson credits the members and their volunteerism for keeping the course open when other courses closed due to dwindling golfers.
“We made it,” Lawson said. “We made it through the Great Depression, World War II and recessions. We have battled to get here.”
Wildwood, then called Middletown Community Golf Club and owned by Armco, opened as a nine-hole course in 1922, and now, 100 years later, the future looks bright as the club embarks on its second century, The Journal-News reported.
Lawson, hired eight years ago after working at city owned Weatherwax Golf Course for 17 years before it closed, said Wildwood’s golf memberships have grown to 300 with additional social members, The Journal-News reported. He has talked to the board about “capping” the membership to keep Wildwood from outgrowing its old-time charm.
While his board and members praised Lawson for his leadership, he doesn’t like taking the credit, The Journal-News reported. That belongs to the members, some of whom have paint brushes and hammers in their hands more than golf clubs.
The members have been instrumental in Wildwood renovating its pro shop, clubhouse, swimming pool and men’s locker room, Lawson told The Journal-News.
“The members that are here own the club,” he said while sitting in the clubhouse that recently was upgraded with new ceiling tiles and flooring. “When it comes to volunteer work, I’ll put us up against anybody.”
Wildwood has remained relevant, longtime member Charlie Weidner told The Journal-News, because the members are “just friendly and everybody is the same. I wouldn’t have stayed anywhere else. Every day I come in here, I see somebody I know.”
When Lawson signs up a new member, he doesn’t pretend Wildwood is something it’s not, The Journal-News reported. He tells them Wildwood is exclusively private, but “a family friendly golf club.”
Paul Mosko, a member since 1985 and Board President, recalls a time when there was a picture of members’ kids playing in one of the sand traps, The Journal-News reported. The course superintendent was questioned about that photo by other course superintendents.
He told them: “We’re not a country club. We’re a golf club that parties like a country club.”
It didn’t take Lawson long after he was hired to notice the facilities at Wildwood were “very dated,” The Journal-News reported. That included the bunkers, cart paths, swimming pool, clubhouse, lockers, parking lot and front steps.
“It needed new life,” he said. “It’s charming to be old, but not when it’s all broken down.”
During one three-year stretch, the course spent $700,000 on capital improvement projects, he told The Journal-News. Right after upgrading the sand traps and cart paths, membership grew by 60, according to Lawson.
“We really paid attention to what people wanted,” he said. “It’s about improving the product.”
Lawson, hired as Head Professional, now serves as General Manager, The Journal-News reported. He quickly realized Wildwood couldn’t survive with volunteer board members working in the kitchen and behind the bar.
“You need one person steering the ship,” he said.
The bar business went from losing $60,000 a year to making $50,000, Lawson told The Journal-News.
While Wildwood has struggled to pay off its debt in the past, due to growing membership and volunteer labor, it is now in “a good financial position.”
Many of those new members live outside the Middletown community, Lawson told The Journal-News. Wildwood attracts golfers from southern Dayton and northern Cincinnati communities and has one member who drives from northern Kentucky three days a week.
“We are where the action and the fun is,” said Lawson, who joked he’s like a circus ringleader. “We have events, get drinks in their hands and have a good time.”
To commemorate its centennial year, Wildwood will be installing a 13-foot tall, four-facing Howard Clock from the Verdin Clock Co., The Journal-News reported. Lawson said the clock will be placed at the crest of the hill between No. 1/No. 10 tee box and No. 9 green.
“Not only will it be an incredible visual feature to our beautiful golf course, but it will also play an integral part of our pace of play.” Lawson said.
He said the clock is schedule to be installed in June. At the base of the clock will be a 500 square foot paver stone landing with “Wildwood Golf Club – 100 Years” stamped in the concrete, The Journal-News reported. To help raise funds for this special project, members purchased paver stones and had their names or a message inscribed.
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