It is Christmas season at the Oaks Course! We host several holiday parties in the Champions Room during the holiday season and it’s always a challenge to decorate every year--keeping it fresh while adhering to a budget. We start planning a month ahead of time looking at Pinterest and other decorating sites to get some ideas, which is a good thing, but soon we find ourselves wandering off into decorating fantasy mode and “Boom” there goes the budget. Luckily, we refurbish and recycle just about anything creating new decorations for the clubhouse.
The Golf and Science Summer campers plant a garden with herbs, cucumbers and tomatoes every year at the Oaks Course. We recycled and refurbished one of the garden trellises as a greenery base for platters on our buffet. The trellis base will hold three different platters or one long one. Food always tastes better when it is too beautiful to eat. Using the leaves from an artificial tree and hot glued to the trellis, the project cost a whopping $7.00. Not too bad for a lovely addition to our buffet table.
Turf Talk is brought to you by Oaks Course Superintendent, John Fields. Stay tuned formore about the turf of our course and additional information as we roll out this new blog series!
On August 24th, 1990, The Oaks Course opened its doors to a new nine holes of golf. Since the 1930s the land that lies along the Yellow River has been a golf course. First, as an amenity of the Porterdale Mills, then under various names such as Silo Cay and Fox Run. But through the 1980s the land and course lay dormant until a group from Atlanta, The Oaks Associates, purchased the land in 1989. They hired a young “up and comer” in the golf industry, Dick Schulz, to design and restore the facility. Schulz was sensitive to the storied history of the course. Local historians claimed that the famous amateur golfer Bobby Jones, a close friend of Jack Porter and Charlie Elliott, whom are Newton County legends was pegged to lay out the original nine holes for the mill employees.
Newton County, known for an idyllic quality of life in 1990, had a population of roughly 41,000 people. Bringing golf back to the community was an opportunity of a lifetime for Schulz. The first shovel of dirt was turned on November 1, 1989. The project was proceeding as planned until January 1, 1990 when it began to rain. By February 1stwhen the animals began showing up two by two and no end to the rain was in sight, Schulz began to wonder if the dream would ever become a reality. But by August, all was well and the front nine was opened.
Those who played during the 1990’s will remember that the current back nine was actually the front nine. Just to keep it interesting, the nines have been reversed and then hole number 8 became hole number 1.
The original clubhouse did not include Putters Restaurant or the Champions Room—they were added in 1998. The “snack bar” was in a corner of the building and the Oaks Room located along the south side of the building. Customers wanted more than just a hot dog and a coke—hence the addition of a kitchen, bar, banquet room, locker room and second floor. The expansion occurred in stages. The first phase a large deck followed by enclosure of the deck 6 months later.
If the trees and land could talk, they could share stories that would amaze all of us. If you have a story to tell about your experience at The Oaks Course, please share it with us. We hope you enjoyed your trip down memory lane of the Oaks Golf Course.
I often ask my students what gets the ball to go in the air? A good majority get it right. It’s not complex with a ton of scientific equations, it’s quite simple…loft. Every club has it to a varying degree (pun intended). Putters have 2-3 degrees of loft and wedges go all the way to 64*.
This is great news to all golfers of all ability levels…IT IS NOT YOUR JOB TO GET THE BALL TO GO IN THE AIR. It’s the job of the club companies who build the clubs. They manufacture the clubs with loft so the club comes out of the box and works. Your job is to simply put the club face on the back of the ball. The loft will do the rest.
I see people all the time try and getting the ball to go in the air by flipping their hands at the ball. This will lead to skulled shots that do not get in the air or hitting the ground behind the ball. You CANNOT be consistent by trying to help the ball in the air.
Practice by taking a swing and just brush the ground 3-5 times with no ball. Then hit a ball still trying to just brush the ground. If your club comes into the ball fairly level, the loft will get the ball to go into the air and the contact will be much more solid.
Coaches Corner:The Coaches Corner is brought to you by our Oaks Course Golf Pro, Brad Patton. Brad is the Lead Staff Instructor and PGA Assistant Golf Professional. He has real a passion for golf and instruction, and has been part of the Oaks Course team for several years.
It’s that time of year again; the weather is starting to turn cooler. I look forward to the changing of seasons each year because it always feels like a new beginning. Anything is possible and each season brings tradition. We are almost to the celebration of the harvest and we at the Oaks Course are bringing our own traditions to the season. We are doing hayrides, hot chocolate, putt-putt and more.
The fall season is full of opportunities to get together and celebrate our blessings. It’s a time to celebrate food and family recipes that have been passed down from one generation to another. It’s a time to remember the people who have gone before you and the impact they had in our lives and are still with us in spirit. We each have a memory that is forever etched in our hearts and minds.
Come to the Oaks Course Friday, October 27th and be a part of our traditions and blessings. We can paint your face, pumpkin and then play pumpkin bowling. Take a hayride on the course with a cup of hot chocolate, close your eyes and remember all the people that have walked these grounds since 1933. I don’t know, but I bet if you listen really closely you will hear whispers in the wind of loved ones and you just might hear whispers of some new ones.
Karen Presley is the Hospitality Manager at the Oaks Golf Course, and has been a part of our team for many years. Karen and her culinary team work daily to help clients plan their parties in addition to preparing the delicious meals and refreshing beverage specials that we offer at Putters Restaurant.
