A New Day At Landis Creek

A NEW DAY

AT LANDIS CREEK

Pandemic Turned Into A Game-Changer For Lutz’s Multi-Tiered Operation

By Tom McNichol, Contributing Writer

It was the first week of May and Brian Lutz was remembering what things were like at Landis Creek Golf Club in Limerick a year earlier in May of 2020 with the reality of dealing with a global pandemic was really starting to sink in.

“I guess it was May 1 when we got golf back, but we had more time between starting times and one person to a cart, so it was still tough,” said the 50-yearold Lutz, who took over the operation of the old Limerick Golf Club in 2014. “Our banquets and weddings (at The Loft at Landis Creek, a successful catering operation run by Lutz’s wife Jean) were all being cancelled. It wasn’t until June 5 that we got outdoor dining back.”

Since taking over at Landis Creek, a big focus for Lutz has been developing the Creekside Sports Bar & Grille into a thriving sports bar and entertainment spot. It is anything but a sleepy 19th hole for the golf course and that is by design.

And the patio outside the bar became a huge part of salvaging what could have been a lost year for the entire operation. The patio still had a tent over it, erected for New Year’s Eve. So, the patio at the Creekside became something of an oasis in a 2020 desert of entertainment options in western Montgomery County.

It was determined fairly quickly that golf was one of the few things that could be done safely. And golfers old and new came out in droves to Landis Creek and its many competitors in the busy publicgolf scene in and around Limerick. So much so that Lutz believes that COVID-19 might very well have saved the game of golf in this country and it certainly gave his business at Landis Creek a huge boost. “I know this sounds strange, but COVID-19 might have saved the game of golf,” Lutz said. “People who had never played before started to take up the game of golf. Maybe they were scared off before by four-hour rounds, but when it was the only thing to do, they came out and they

enjoyed themselves.

“It’s up to us to make sure they stay with it, but I think a lot of them will be back this year. You heard it a lot last year with people saying, ‘I kind of like this.’”

Jason Hilz has been the director of golf and club operations at Landis Creek for nine years, starting when it was still Limerick. But he is a critical member of Lutz’s team. Hilz believes the golf boom of 2020 came at a good time for Landis Creek.

Hilz estimates there were in the neighborhood of 28,000 rounds played at Landis Creek in 2020 and that’s with the golf course shut down for the better part of six weeks in the spring. Limiting one player to a cart and being forced to have 15 minutes between tee times for a while didn’t help the bottom line.

“As soon as we were allowed, we went back to 10 minutes between tee times,” Hilz said. “Our pace of play has been pretty good. We had 242 (players) Sunday (May 2) and our rounds were between four hours, five minutes and four hours, 15 minutes.”

Another key member of the team at Landis Creek is Brett Culbertson, the golf course superintendent. There was a point last year when there was so much play, it was tough to maintain the Landis Creek layout, which measures 6,068 yards from the tips, but Culbertson, who has been at Landis Creek for 10 years, and his team were able to get the job done.

“The golf course is in great shape,” Lutz said. “One of our strengths has been our ability to retain our employees year after year. When we were shut down last year, everybody was chipping in and helping out wherever they could.”

“The golf course got a nice little break when it was snow-covered for the entire month of February,” Hilz said. “Some of the fairways and tees were a little beat up by the end of the season last year.”

One of the more noticeable changes Lutz, Hilz and Culbertson brought to the golf course is a water hazard on the par-4 finishing hole at Landis Creek.

“The seniors can’t just get up there and rip driver, they have to think about it a little,” Hilz said. “There’s a lot of attention to detail here and people notice it.”

Hilz is planning a couple of special events in 2021 with the pandemic starting to wind down a little. He was pretty excited about a Hops Around the USA event July 23 that will pair golf with a beer-tasting with local breweries participating.

“We were working with the Conshohocken Brewing Company last year and they even came up with a special beer named for us, the Down the Creek IPA,” Lutz said.

Hilz will stage his ever-popular 8-Inch Cup event in October. Landis Creek’s Tuesday Night Ladies League and Thursday Night Men’s League are already under way. Hilz and Landis Creek continue to support junior golf as the home course for Spring-Ford’s JV team and the site of the local CYO Championship, among other youth initiatives.

One thing that was missing in 2020 were the outings so popular for companies and community organizations, but Lutz said he’s starting to hear from people who are interested in bringing those back in 2021.

For now, Hilz said people are booking tee times on-line that are keeping Landis Creek at full capacity for regular play.

“Our on-line booking engine is huge,” Hilz said. “If we had to book all those tee

times ourselves, we’d have to add two people to the pro shop staff just to handle it.”

The other part of the operation at Landis Creek is The Loft at Landis Creek. Brian and his wife Jean used to run MarJeane Catering in Lansdale and The Loft was able to build on the reputation they had established there.

The Loft suffered in 2020 with weddings and banquets large and small going by the wayside due to the pandemic. Lutz believes The Loft will come back strong in 2021.

But in Lutz’s eyes, 2020 wasn’t a total loss.

“This patio (at the Creekside Sports Bar & Grille) was busy all summer,” Lutz said. “We didn’t open up the inside until, I guess, mid-August. But between golf and the patio, we were always busy. People would sit out on the patio in the rain sometimes.

“When we were closed down, we were able to speed up our timeline on some improvements we were thinking about in the bar. We have done a lot of renovations in the bar.”

The Creekside’s weekend entertainment schedule is starting to fill up. Lutz was able to have some music outside last year and the bands, many of them shut out from many of their usual venues by the pandemic, were happy for the work.

And, of course, there is golf. Hilz brought in a new fleet of 65 carts in 2019. And there are all of those new golfers who discovered or rediscovered the joys of being outside with friends and family and hitting the ball around, a few hours away from the global pandemic that was keeping them holed up at home, a slave to Zoom calls for work and, for those with kids, school.

“There are so many courses in this area, I don’t think there were enough golfers to go around,” Hilz said. “COVID-19 introduced a whole new generation to the game of golf.”

And if that new generation of golfers wants a golf course that caters to them not only on the course, but in the Creekside when the round is over, Landis Creek is the place to be. TSG

2021 RATES

Weekday $28 walking, $42 cart 9 holes $18 walking, $26 cart

Seniors (Monday–Friday) $22 walking, $31 cart 9 holes $15 walking, $21 cart Weekends/Holidays $38 walking, $52 cart 9 holes $24 walking, $32 cart

Twilight rates available after 2 p.m.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: 610.495.6945 LANDISCREEKGOLFCLUB.COM

FOR MORE INFORMATION: