Since the city of Columbus took control of Otter Creek Golf Course, Richard Gold and his fellow Otter Creek board members have spent the past year learning a few things about the course and its operations.
What they discovered was that they have to do a better job of making everybody aware that the course is for them and not a not a private country club.
The board also learned that they can’t profit solely on local play. The course and city have to be a destination outlet for people from out of town, not just to play golf, but to stay in hotels and eat at restaurants. So they’ve worked with the Visitors Center to make it a place to come and visit.
Additionally, the board came to the conclusion that golf play alone won’t make them enough money to reinvest in the course, the building and the amenities. They can make money, but not enough to replace the sprinkler systems when they need replaced. So they need to get the restaurant and banquet facility going.
In that regard, the board realized that Otter Creek is more than a golf course, and it needed a business manager focused on the whole enterprise, and it needed a golf professional. Jon Hoover, who has been filling both the general manager and head pro roles, is leaving at the end of March for a job as a teaching pro at Hillcrest Golf and Country Club in Indianapolis.
Wiley Umphress, a retired business owner, has been hired as the general manager and Austin Wright is working as the interim head pro.
“We have a team in place and a business structure now that gets us to where we want to go,” Gold said. “This is a community asset, and we need to get that word out. It’s not expensive, and we want the people to come out.”
Wright is the head pro at Harrison Lake Country Club, which is undergoing a redesign and renovation. The club currently has 14 holes open for play and will shut down in August until around June 2022.
“You’re not going to go out there and be playing anything similar to what it was,” Wright said. “It’s all going to be different. We’re going to a completely new golf course — USGA greens. It’s going to be really special once it’s done.”
With traffic down at Harrison Lake, John McCormick, chair of the Otter Creek board and a member at Harrison Lake, devised a plan where the two courses would share Wright’s services.
“It is a unique situation, there’s no doubt,” Wright said. “I just wanted to do something that’s helpful to not just Otter Creek, but Columbus golf as a whole. We are in a unique situation at Harrison where we’re getting into the meat of the season, but with the redesign going on, (HLCC chief operating officer) Bob Haddad and I discussed it, and the best thing for Columbus was for me to provide assistance at Otter while they continue to search.”
Wright will run the pro shop and do some teaching at Otter Creek. Umphress will oversee the budget side of things, including the restaurant, pro shop, golf course and maintenance.
Umphress has played golf since middle school and played football, basketball and baseball at Columbus East. He was on the football team one year at Indiana State.
From 1996-2006, Umphress and his wife owned a medical oxygen company. They sold it in 2006, but Wiley kept working there until 2014. He worked at Hoosier Sporting Goods from 2014-18 and has worked in the pro shop at Otter Creek the past two years.
“I do have a little bit of a business background, and that’s what made them interested in me in the general management, but not as the head pro, of course,” Umphress said. “I’d worked in the pro shop for a couple of years. I’m just an old retired guy. I love Otter Creek. I’ve played here for many years. So I told them I’d be interested in talking about it, and we just kind of struck a deal.”
Umphress said he is sad to see Hoover leave Otter Creek.
“Jon Hoover has just been gold to me,” he said. “I hate that we’re losing him. I hate it that he’s leaving because I consider him a friend. But it will all work out, and I wish him the best.”
Gold called the arrangement for the courses to share Wright’s services a win-win for both courses and the city. Harrison Lake members will also have the chance to play Otter Creek.
“Bob Haddad and the folks at Harrison put on their Columbus hat,” Gold said. “John worked out a terrific arrangement to do that. Otter gets a solid local pro, gets to look for a long-term replacement and we have an arrangement where the Harrison Lake folks can play Otter. Harrison gets a reduced cost for its pro, an alternative place for its members to play, and a place to stage their main events. The city wins because Otter gets more revenue and less costs, and it’s another step in restoring Otter to its past glory.”
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Otter Creek Golf Course has revised its rate structures.
Season Passes are $1,200, and a Family pass is $2,000. They include unlimited, unrestricted play any time of day seven days a week, 9 or 18 holes; your own account for use on the course, restaurant and pro shop; can book online or with a call; discounted cart fee of $15; 60% off on full-year range and practice area ($200 all year for all you can hit on the range); 10% pro shop discounts; six guest passes for friends to play at $35 per round and access to passholder events, competitions and leagues.
Twilight Passes are $269 for a rate of $29 with cart any day of the week for 18 holes or $15 for 9 holes after 2 p.m. It includes full-season driving range privileges for $299 ($500 retail rate), three guest passes to play for $35 with cart, four $10-off discount cards to use any time of the day off local rack rates and 10% off pro shop discounts
Single-round rates with cart for Bartholomew County residents are $49 weekdays and $55 weekends. After 2 p.m., it’s $39 weekdays and $45 weekends. First responders, military and seniors are $39 with cart, and the Bartholomew County special remains 9 holes on the East for $18.50 and $35 for 18 with cart all day.
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