Posted: 7:00 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015

Weatherwax’s future hard to read

By Rick McCrabb

Staff Writer

BUTLER COUNTY — 

Those hoping to play Weatherwax Golf Course may not want to book a tee time beyond next year.

Weatherwax will remain a 36-hole public golf course through 2016, but the owner has refused to announce future plans.

Myron Bowling, of Myron Bowling Auctioneers Inc., in Hamilton, purchased Weatherwax from the City of Middletown for $1.6 million in 2014. Since then, he has leased the course to Jim Kraft, former golf pro at Pleasant Hill Golf Club in Monroe. Kraft signed a one-year lease in November 2014 and that lease expires on Nov. 2, 2015, but Kraft has signed a one-year option through 2016, he said.

Kraft and Bowling have declined to disclose the value of the lease agreement. Just two weeks before Kraft signed the lease in 2014, an auction for the property, equipment and other items was scheduled, but later canceled.

When asked what will happen to the 425-acre property after the 2016 golf season, Bowling refused to disclose his intentions. He confirmed the sale of the property, but refused to say if the owners will continue to operate it as a golf course or another use. There has been much speculation that Weatherwax, once called the “gem” of Middletown, will be turned into green space or used as horse trails.

“You can write everything you hear on the street,” Bowling said, “and it will be all wrong.”

Tim Sorrows, 58, who holds the course record (63) at Weatherwax, has heard all the rumors and said none of them “make any sense to all of us golfers.”

Sorrows has joked he wanted his ashes spread at Weatherwax.

“I planned to play there forever,” he said.

Eventually, Bowling said, he will announce who purchased the course and their business plans.

“I can’t talk about that right now,” Bowling said Wednesday afternoon. “There will come a time.”

He was asked if Middletown residents and the golf community will be satisfied with his decision.

“I think so,” he said.

Bowling said he purchased Weatherwax, not for its 36-hole tree-lined layout, but for its acreage.

“Golf is a terrible business,” he said.

If given the opportunity, Kraft said he’d like to continue leasing Weatherwax.

“This golf season has gone well,” he said. “It’s been a good year.”

And what happens after 2016?

“I’d rather not guess,” Kraft said softly.

Bowling sounded impressed by the work that Kraft and his golf management team have done keeping Weatherwax’s playing conditions up to its reputation. The course has traditionally been ranked as one of the best public courses in Ohio.

“He certainly has done everything to the letter,” Bowling said. “He works hard and he’s dedicated to it.”

Weatherwax, one of the few 36-hole public facilities in the state, hosts numerous men’s and women’s leagues, the city’s golf championships, charity tournaments and the boys and girls Ohio High School Athletic Association District Championships every fall.

Several people who were putting their clubs in their cars after playing Weatherwax this week, said they have heard rumors that Weatherwax will be something other than a golf course after 2016.

“That would be a shame,” said Ken Knight, who lives in Fairfield and started playing Weatherwax when he worked at Akers Packaging in Middletown.

Years ago, he said, those in the Cincinnati area considered Weatherwax a golf resort, a facility typically seen in Myrtle Beach.

Another golfer, Tom Gallagher, of Middletown, called Weatherwax “part of the community” because of its rich history and connection to the city.

Gallagher said when city leaders voted to sell the course to an auctioneer, that sent up red flags.

He said auctioneers “aren’t in the business of keeping property. They want to make money.”

For city leaders, selling Weatherwax was all about saving money. At the time, Weatherwax was operating at a $150,000 deficit, which didn’t include the $250,000 annual debt payment for past improvements, said then City Manager Judy Gilleland.

The city received two bids for Weatherwax: $1.6 million from Bowling and $225,000 from a local developer, Midwest Golf Investments LLC, which listed Howard Jackson from MiddCities as a partner.

Just 12 years ago, Weatherwax was appraised at $4.5 million to $5 million, but because of the weak economy and health of the golf industry, its worth has been estimated at $1.2 million.

WEATHERWAX GOLF COURSE HISTORY

1969: Weatherwax is built on land purchased from W.W. Sebald to be used for a golf course and public park. A $75,000 donation by Bessie Weatherwax, in honor of her husband Russell S. Weatherwax Sr., is used for landscaping the course.

1972: The four nine-hole courses, designed by Arthur Hills, open and Tour professional Tony Jacklin plays the first round. Funding for the construction of the course is through a 20-year bond that’s retired in 1995.

1996: The entire 36 holes and the driving range are reconstructed with bunkers, tees and fairways. Another 20-year bond is used to fund the work. As a result, the course rises from a three-star rating to a four-star rating and is a top-10 ranked public course in Ohio from 2002 to 2006.

2012: Tim Sorrows fires a 63, sets course record.

2014: City sells Weatherwax to Hamilton auctioneer company for $1.6 million. Myron Bowling leases course to Jim Kraft, who signs a one-year lease with a one-year option.

2015: Kraft plans to accept option year and operate Weatherwax as golf course through 2016.

SOURCE: City of Middletown records