Indian Ridge GC in Cincinnati area has another fire, clubhouse destroyed

[Criss Titschinger]

If Kiawah Island was where I first picked up the game, Indian Ridge (Brian Huntley, 1999) is the course that made me fall in love with it.  I still consider it my home course because I have not played any other course more than Indian Ridge, even being out of school for 5 years now.  It's not the toughest course, but the place is normally in good condition (especially the greens) and there are some interesting risk/reward holes there.

Unfortunately, the course has had some awful luck the last 5 years.  5.5 years ago, their cart barn caught on fire in the middle of the night.  I was still living in Oxford (Miami University) at the time and happened to be driving by the course when the fire was happening.  It was a horrific site, but the course was able to survive and re-stock their fleet.  Two years ago, due to drought and limited water supply, the course lost most of its fairways.

Now the course has lost their clubhouse due to another fire. (http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090622/NEWS01/306210025/1055/NEWS/Golf+course+fire+scrambles+wedding).  I considered it one of the nicer public course clubhouses in the area.  I even had my wedding rehearsal dinner there.  The clubhouse is pretty much a total loss and they'll have to operate out of a trailer for a while.  Cause of the fire is still unknown.

I'm posting this on this forum because I'm interested in what a course does in this situation and their chances for survival and if anyone else has experienced something like this at their home course.  The course remains open and other than damage to some keys, none of the carts were harmed.  At this point, I hope they have a good insurance policy, but I can't imagine the rate with two major fires in the last 6 years.  According to the news, $1 million in damage was done this time around.

[John Nixon]

Wow, sorry to hear that. I hope they can come back strongly from that. It's a pretty good course, with several very nice holes that I remember from the one time I played it 2 years ago. I've been thinking I need to get back over there and play it again, and revisit the sights of ol' Mother Miami.

[PCCraig]

I have some experience with this.

The Golf Course/Clubhouse I used to work at in High School/College in Wilmette, IL burned down thanks to a tiki-torch left lit overnight after party goers didn't put it out. Half of the clubhouse burnt down with the other half being "saved" by an old fashion firewall. But the building was so old (1920's or so) that the water damage from putting the fire out was too great and the park district decided to tear the whole thing down and build a new clubhouse.

All of the carts and course were unharmed, and the course actually opened either the next day or two days afterward. Eventually a week or so afterward they rolled in two temp trailers into the parking lot to serve as proshop/offices in one, and "restaurant/sitting area" in the other with 5 port-a-johns thrown in for good measure.

I think there are two ways you can take a situation like this. 1) would be to think this is a horrible situation and that the course will never make it without the banquet halls and the big clubhouse, and that a new and bigger building should be constructed ASAP. or 2) treat it as a great opportunity to start with an overhead-clean slate and to start a low maintenece golf club/course.

Many public (and some private) courses believe that food and beverage are these huge moneymakers...they aren't. The course I worked at was in a somewhat wealthy area, but the F&B part lost +/- $200,000 a year (!!!), while the course was and is a cash cow for the local park district. Unfortunatley in the end Park District ego and uncommon sense came through and they built a huge new clubhouse to compete with a "country club for a day" atmosphere.

What should they of done? Stuck with the trailers, torn down the clubhouse, and pumped the insurance money into the actual golf course. In the end, I think clubs should stick with their moneymakers, and try to get out of their own way. In the end, golfers really don't spend all that much money in on-course proshops anymore, they don't buy burgers and beers in the local snack shop...they play golf and come home.

Hope this helps! 

[Criss Titschinger]

In the end, golfers really don't spend all that much money in on-course proshops anymore, they don't buy burgers and beers in the local snack shop...they play golf and come home.

Hope this helps! 

Apologize for the late response.  Been pretty busy lately 

Very true, and I agree with what you said about pumping money into the course.  Now would be a great time to think about pulling in city water as a reserve if the lakes go out (which two years ago was a major deal with the water being used up).  I'll miss the old clubhouse and the various memories I had there, but as long as the course stays open in the usual good shape it tends to be, then all is well.

I have some time off next week, and I'm thinking I owe it to myself to get up there for a round.

[Chris_Blakely]

Sorry to hear about their bad luck!!!  I hope they can catch a break.  I can not imagine what the course's insurance rates are going to be in the future.

This does explain the poor conditions when I played 2 years ago.

Chris