C URSE CHARTING a new C URSE

By CODY CUTTER | Sauk Valley Media

SUBLETTE — Whether it’s playing golf or just looking to get out and have a good time, Jeff Dagenais and Lucas Ross know how important it is to pick the right club — and they’re pretty confident they have the right one.

The two are new faces at Shady Oaks Country Club, but they’re definitely not the last. They’ve been working to get some more new faces at the golf course and clubhouse, and they’re doing it by helping people see Shady Oaks in a new light.

Dagenais, 39, runs Shady Oaks’ clubhouse and Ross, 37, operates the grounds. This golfing season is their first in charge of day-to-day operations at the club, and their think tanks are full of ideas to put a fresh spin on the 62-year-old course.

Operating golf courses has been a challenge in recent decades as courses face a more difficult time attracting new customers, but this pair of young managers are bringing fresh new ideas to turn Shady Oaks into a destination not only for golfers, but those looking for food, drink and fun.

A player swings off the back nine at Shady Oaks Country Club May 3. Grounds Superintendent Lucas Ross has been busy maintaining the course and making improvements, including a project to make sure no parts of the course are left high and dry. One of the bigger projects he’s worked on is fixing leaks in the irrigation system. "The greens and the course can now get the water they need," he said. ALEX T.

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Jeff Dagenais Lucas Ross

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‘Fore!’ — and more

One of those ideas is to make the golf course about more than just golf.

Both Dagenais and Ross see Shady Oaks as a place where people can stop for a bite to eat, enjoy a band, or have gettogethers, parties, meetings and other events.

“They can come out here and there can be stuff for them to do besides just golf,” Dagenais said. “You don’t have to be a golfer to enjoy what Shady Oaks has to provide.”

Currently the clubhouse offerings are in line with most other clubhouses — a pro shop that sells balls, clubs and other golf gear, a bar with a hot food menu, a meeting and venue space with an attached deck, and gambling machines — but Dagenais wants to expand on that.

Bingo and trivia nights are among the activities Dagenais plans to add to get more people through the clubhouse door, he also has some other ideas on his plate, like an expanded food menu — all designed to make the clubhouse a go-to place, whether you’re a golfer or not.

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“I’m all on board for all of the ideas that Jeff has for the clubhouse,” Ross said. “He’s got a bunch of great ideas, bringing in new food, and stuff for the customers, like new apparel and things like that, which I’m really looking forward to.”

A new and improved clubhouse is just the latest step in the evolution of country club courses. At one time, such courses were designed with a more exclusive clientele in mind, and “exclusive” meant excluding others — like women, for example, who were discouraged from playing on Sundays because the men felt they were too slow. As time pushed aside such outdated rules, and memberships began to shrink, private clubs became public, and country clubs became more inclusive.

While Shady Oaks is keeping the “Country Club” in its name, Dagenais wants people to know that everyone is welcome. Offering more opportunities for more people, even if they’ve never played a lick of golf, is one way to overcome that “country club” roadblock.

“It’s a new approach for the course and the clubhouse,” Dagenais said. “When this place was built, the country club name meant members only and there came a point when they realized that to sustain and continue to grow, they would need to open their doors to the public. We’re just kind of taking that and want to create an atmosphere where that country club title doesn’t deter people from coming here. We want them to know through new events, and new and digital advertising.”

Improving the course

Outside, Ross has been making several improvements to the look and feel of the course. As ground superintendent, he keeps the greens in tip-top shape, the bunkers smooth and sandy, and trees trimmed.

The irrigation system on the course’s front nine holes has improved greatly since Ross took over this past July. That system was original to the course and had about 80 leaks on it, but Ross and his maintenance crew have already cut that number by more than half, and plans to fix more through the year.

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“The greens and the course can now get the water it needs,” Ross said. “Our system was originally put in on the front nine when the course first opened. It had the original system, and an added system for the back nine. With that integrated, we had some leaks and stuff, but I worked very hard last year to get rid of some of the leaks. We’ve gone from about 80 leaks down to about 20. All in all, we’re making very good progress, and I have a good feeling that, by the end of the year, we’ll have it all shored up and ready to rock and roll.”

Dagenais and Ross are employed by a nine-member board of directors that oversees Shady Oaks’ operations. The duo makes every effort to inform one another about what’s happening around the course, inside and out, and it’s that constant communication that they feel will make their first season together a success.

Shady Oaks’ sprawling course offers fun and challenging play and a large clubhouse where guests can enjoy a drink or grab a bite, try their luck at gambling machines, or just kick back and relax after a round on a large outdoor deck. Dagenais, who runs the clubhouse, wants to expand its offerings. Bingo and trivia nights are among the activities he plans to add and he also wants to expand the food menu. “They can come out here and there can be stuff for them to do besides just golf,” he said.

“You don’t have to be a golfer to enjoy what Shady Oaks has to provide.”

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“What I like about Jeff is that we’re able to communicate back and forth very well together,” Ross said. “He’s got my number, I have his, and if need be I’ll stop in the clubhouse and update him on the course. It’s how I like to operate. I think we both have the same ideas going forward for the course.”

Dagenais came to Shady Oaks last year with experience in retail management, and learned the ropes of running the clubhouse from outgoing manager Kris Welker. The course opened for the season in April, and the first month has already seen a rise in membership from the same time a year ago.

“In order for any place to be successful, you have to have good communication,” Dagenais said. “Our communication is really good. Lucas will call in the morning — especially if we get any bad weather the night before — he’ll call in the morning so we can notify golfers whether they need to go only on the cart path or stay on the rough or fairway. Without that communication, it would be kind of a free-for-all out there and it would make his job harder.”

‘No better place to be’

The course opened in 1961 with just six holes, but was soon expanded to nine, eventually doubling in size with the addition of the back nine in 1996. Today, it serves as the home course for the Amboy High School golf team, and as a rotating site for local golf events such as the prestigious Lincoln Highway Tournament and the Rock River Classic.

Each of the 18 holes has a four-tee system with varying distances to each hole; one tee is caters to women golfers, and is the closest tee to each hole. The longest tees total 6,212 yards among the 18 holes. The course is par 71 for all but the ladies tees, which is par 72 with the addition of one more stroke on the long No. 8.

The course, one of just two in Lee County along with Timber Creek in Dixon, is “a diamond in the rough,” Ross said, and he should know: He’s been swinging clubs at the course since he was a child, some of those rounds with his grandfather, Emanuel James Ross, who was one of the course’s developers.

“It’s a shot maker’s course,” Ross said. “You definitely have to hit your ball straight and keep it in the fairway. I’ve played golf here since I was five years old, and there’s no better place to be.”

Now, Ross is excited to help write the next chapter of the course his grandfather had a hand in.

“It’s good to try to give back to what he and all of the other guys started so long ago,” Lucas said. “It really gives me an opportunity to put my name back in the ring.”

In striving to attract more golfers, Shady Oaks keeps its rates competitive with other courses: $18 for nine holes and a mobile cart, and $29 for 18 holes and a cart from Monday to Friday, with an extra $5 per nine holes during the weekend. Players ages 14 to 18 are half-price with an adult, and those 13 and younger play free. Sets of smaller “junior” clubs are available for free to golfers 11 years old or younger who are with a paid adult.

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Dagenais and Ross encourage younger golfers, or those who just want to learn about the game, to try their hand at it and help grow the sport they love. In addition to youth discounts, the course has a two-day youth training program in the summer.

Getting new golfers on the green and new customers in clubhouse will help ensure the course’s continued success.

“I love meeting new people,” Dagenais said. “It gives me the opportunity to talk to them and get to know them. It’s a great group of people that are out here. I get to come to work and not sit in an office, and if I want to come outside and get some fresh air for a few minutes, I can.”

The new team is hoping their first year in charge together will be the start of more success to come.

“We’re looking to make upgrades and improvements all over the course,” Ross said. “Having fresh ideas from young minds I think is a good thing that’s going for us going forward.” n

Shady Oaks Country Club, 577 U.S. Route 52 in Sublette, has tee times from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Find it on Facebook, go to shadyoakscc.com or call 815-849-5424 to schedule a tee time, facility rental, or for membership rates and more information.