In 2015 I was approached about writing a history of Old Ranch Country Club which would be celebrating its 50th anniversary in March 2017. It was a fun project and so at the request of some former members, I am making available some PDF copies of some of the chapters.
The links below will take you to a separate post for each chapter, so if someone wants to add, correct or dispute any of my information, they can do so in the comments section.
Chapter 1 — The Beginnings — This covers the reasons why the property was available and why the Bixbys eventually chose to use the property as a private non-equity Golf Club.
Chapter 2 – Open for Business – Despite delays caused by incessant rains, the club finally opened in March 1967 and became an immediate success for its golfing, gourmet food, and gregarious membership.
Chapter 3 – The Second Decade – The club continued to grow under two new general managers, but also faced competition for the recreation dollar from the growth of youth sports and cable TV.
Chapter 4 – Renovation to Renovation – 1989 saw the arrival of Bill Elvins as GM, the completion of a new look for the club. But the renovated club competes with societal changes which cause many challenges for the club.
Chapter 5 – Golf Course for Sale – With the Bixby Ranch Company preparing to close down, the members see if they can raise the money to buy it. When that falls through, a new owner arrives and initiates many changes, just as the economy goes south.
Chapter 6 – Old Ranch Today – (Remember this takes a look at current members and staff at the time of its writing (in mid 2017operations)
Chapter 7 – Club Champs, Hole-In-Ones and Other Miscellaneous Records
Chapter 8 – The Course – A look at every hole on the Old Ranch course with comments and advice on each hole by multiple club champions.
Chapter 9 – The Old Course – A look at the pre-1989 course which included two holes south of Lampson.
This completes upload of most of the text chapters of the book. I see there are some font issues I’ll have to fix and then re-upload. Still to be uploaded are four sections of photos, and the index. Because they aren’t included here, the page numbering may seem off from one chapter to the next.