Greystone Mountain Springs in Cabot
Jim Cooper was only looking for a deal on some golf course maintenance equipment.
He came away with an entire golf course.
Cooper was already owner of the Cooper’s Hawk course in Melbourne and hoping just to break even when he attended an auction last year attempting to find a few good buys.
He wound up as owner of yet another course, Greystone’s Mountain Springs in Cabot, which had sat idle for almost a year. Cooper worked out a deal with Wilson Auctioneers and Metropolitan National Bank, which held the note on the course, to buy the property.
Adding one more course to his acclaimed Cooper’s Hawk — the No. 1 public/daily fee course in the state as rated by Executive Golfer and Arkansas Business readers — was enough for Cooper.
But the Greystone development had another 18 holes, dubbed Cypress Creek, also sitting idle.
A similar deal was worked out with an investment group that included Mitch Ward, who owns Red River Dodge in Heber Springs, and some silent partners. Ricky Self, a golf professional who helped get the state-owned Ridges at Valley Creek State Park up and running last year after an initial stumble, was brought in to join the Cypress Creek group.
So two scenic tests of golf in central Arkansas for the past decade-plus bucked a nationwide trend that had seen courses shutting down. They rose from the dead thanks to ownership groups committed to putting the money back into their courses and not concerning themselves with profit.
Since the nation’s financial crisis of 2008, the golf business has taken a hit. Nationally, the number of golfers reportedly is stagnant at about 30 million, and the number of people taking up the game annually has equaled the number giving it up the past several years.
Because the Greystone courses were a separate business from the residential development, the previous owners took a bath trying to profit from golf and maintain the courses while keeping up memberships to fund the operation.
“Let’s face it, golf, though it is called the sport of a lifetime, you do it with your extra money,” Cooper said. “And when you’re in tough times, golf dues are the first things to go.”
Now, the courses are separate entities. Cooper kept the name Greystone for his course, while Ward’s group operates Cypress Creek Country Club.
And though it might appear a rivalry for the golf dollar has sprung up between the businesses, neither group sees it much that way.
“You have to understand, we have two different business models,” Self said. “Greystone, or Mountain Springs, is a country club, with swimming pool, golf course, the total package.
“We are solely a golf club. We’re not a social club and we’re not going to have a pool. That’s not who we are. If you want a social atmosphere and you want a country club atmosphere, you’re going to be joining up there.”
(Jim Cooper may own a few courses, but how often does he get to play? Click here to read Giving It Back to Golf.)
Greystone-Mountain Springs
The Mountain Springs side was originally built with a large clubhouse on the highest point of the golf property, and Cooper saw an opportunity; Cypress Creek only has a golf shop and small dining area.
“I was amazed at the spacious clubhouse and all the amenities that were included with it,” Cooper said. “Subsequently, we put $300,000 in renovation of the clubhouse and sports bar. We’re so proud of what we’ve got up there.”
Cooper also decided the club needed an upscale pro shop as well as a learning center for golfers, and it already possessed a good driving range. Cooper brought aboard former Nationwide and PGA Tour golfer Richard Johnson as pro and contracted with Justin Hill to operate a golf academy on site.
Greystone was up and running with 18 holes early last May.
“We had a really good first year,” Cooper said. “We’re expecting a really good year this year. … We ended up with over 220 members that came back, and we’re going to add to that this year.”
Cooper said the membership and residents of Greystone understood “they would have to share this with the public for it to work, and they overwhelmingly agreed to it.”
Greystone has daily fee rates, and the clubhouse and sports bar are open to anyone.
The course came with zoysia fairways, and Cooper had a Mini-Verdi ultra-dwarf putting surface installed on the greens in place of the harder-to-manage bentgrass. Over the course of nearly a year, some bunkers had washed out and landscaping had deteriorated.
All that was tackled in 2012, he said.
Cypress Creek
Self serves as pro and main superintendent under the title “ Director of Golf.” After changing the greens from bentgrass to a fast, TifEagle Bermuda grass, the course was ready to open at the end of July.
A bunker renovation product was scheduled to start this March, as well as some irrigation work to help the course better conserve water, Self said.
Cypress Creek immediately began operating with a daily fee rate as competitive as any in the market: $25 for greens fee and cart. Self said that likely would be bumped up $5 this spring.
The course also offered two monthly membership programs, one for golf at any time for $170 and another for golf Monday through Thursday for $125 a month.
Cypress Creek also is part of a 13-club partnership program, the brainchild of pro Tim Jenkins at Country Club of Arkansas, which allows members to play several of the leading daily fee courses in the state.
“We don’t owe anyone money, we’re not going bankrupt,” Self said. “The guys who bought this course said they’d put all the money back into the course for a minimum of the next three years. … They’re not worried about their investment.”
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