Salt Creek Golf Retreat

Ben and Jennifer VanNess. photo by Ryan Stacy

~by Ryan Stacy

For a number of reasons, Salt Creek Golf Retreat stands out in our community. It’s the only golf course in Brown County, for instance. It’s also one of Indiana’s few stay-and-play courses, thanks to the 36- unit condo lodge right on site, featuring an outdoor swimming pool.

In other ways, though, what you find at Salt Creek isn’t at all unusual around here: breathtaking natural beauty and local people who, through integrity, hard work, and dedication, make Brown County an unforgettable experience for all who visit.

For Jennifer VanNess, who manages sales and events at Salt Creek, this combination of uniqueness and shared values has been a winner ever since her in-laws bought the retreat just over twenty years ago. Along with her husband Ben (who’s also the in-house golf pro), Jennifer’s now one of Salt Creek’s co-owners, and she can’t picture being anywhere else. “Every day I walk in to work, I love what I do here,” she says.

Just east of Nashville off of State Road 46, Salt Creek offers golfing, of course—and more. “When we got here, we wanted to have something for everybody,” Jennifer says. So the retreat dropped its members-only policy and opened to the public, the lodge was built to overlook the course, and the club’s restaurant and bar were combined to free up room for an event and meeting space. Soon, weddings, corporate meetings, and family reunions were as common as tee times, and car enthusiasts and bikers joined golfers at the clubhouse bar. These days, Salt Creek also sponsors a golf team made up of high schoolers, and twice a year hosts “Liquid Opens,” golf outings that benefit area charities.

“We follow all the safety guidelines, and we’ve had to make adjustments…. But because so much of our activity is outdoors, and the units in the lodge don’t share hallways or elevators, people feel safe coming here.”

—Jennifer VanNess

Jennifer’s approach to staying on top of all of this is simple: treat people like they’re family. (Some of them actually are: her and Ben’s three children have grown up around the retreat, and are expected to help out; their oldest son, a business major, even has plans to take over Salt Creek’s operations someday.) And to Jennifer, “The managers and staff here are so great. My assistant is my right hand, my everything,” she says. “We try to treat everybody pretty well, and give people the chance to move up. A lot of them have been here for years.”

courtesy photo

The family philosophy extends to customers too, says Jennifer. When they book Salt Creek’s space for events, she helps them plan each step in the process to ensure that they’re satisfied. “I really enjoy that part of the process. I love people,” she says.

Treating people like family is especially critical in the time of COVID-19 for Jennifer, and she says the folks at Salt Creek are doing everything they can to keep customers and employees safe while making the retreat as enjoyable as possible. “We follow all the safety guidelines, and we’ve had to make adjustments, which is a challenge sometimes. But because so much of our activity is outdoors, and the units in the lodge don’t share hallways or elevators, people feel safe coming here. Some of them say it’s the first time they’ve felt normal in months.”

In fact, Jennifer says, Salt Creek has had “a fantastic year” despite the pandemic. “We’re very lucky. Event booking has taken a hit, but golf has been a huge positive for us.” People aren’t taking big out-of-state trips, she explains, so they’re going to places closer to home like Brown County.

But Salt Creek is just one part of the Brown County experience, says Jennifer, and everything else there is to do here adds value to her customers’ stay. “We train our staff to recommend shopping in Nashville, places to eat, so they can tell people what’s here. The Playhouse, the Brown County Music Center, the State Park, that’s all huge for us. ” she says. “This community is special, and we’re going to be here forever. We need everybody in order for our business to work.”

More information on Salt Creek Golf Retreat can be found at <www.saltcreekgolf.com> or at (812) 558-5944.