Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Emerald Valley Golf Club Opens – May 1962

Emerald Valley Golf Course has been featured on this blog several times over the years, including posts devoted to a 1969 interview with Emil and Emily Kucirek (the builders and co-owners of the course); a 1970 Journal article about the Emerald Valley Golf Shop; and a post with a 1972 newspaper ad and photos of how the clubhouse looks today.

Well, here's a good article about the initial opening of the Emerald Valley Golf Club. The story appeared in the Journal back on May 4, 1962. It provides a great history of the course and mentions the farm that used to occupy the site.

It notes, "Emerald Valley Golf Club, $300,000 semi-private nine-hole golf course located on Leavitt Rd. at the intersection of Jaeger Rd., will be available to its golfing membership for the first time Saturday.

"Emil and Emily Kucirek, builders and co-owners, added that trick shot artist Paul Hahn will appear for an exhibition at the Lorain links June 3.

Photo of Paul Hahn courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

"Construction of the 2,845 yard golf course began in November of 1960 on a 60-acre tract of land once known as the Glen Mauer Farm. Kucirek also has an additional 60-acre tract for another nine holes to be built "at some future date."

"The course is ideally laid out with two creeks and two manmade lakes offering additional hazards along with an abundance of natural tree hazards. It has three par three holes, four par fours and two par fives, No. 1 and 4 both stretching 530 yards.

"Play will be mostly on an open basis the first year.

"Emerald Valley's spacious clubhouse has been in use for several months now and is available for parties, weddings, etc. It contains a dining room seating 88 upstairs and a banquet hall seating 225 downstairs.

"Other clubhouse facilities include a southern exposure patio overlooking the course, lounge bar, snack bar, pro shop, locker room for men and parking for 200 cars. Future plans call for construction of a swimming pool by 1963 and tennis courts."

****

Unfortunately I never golfed at Emerald Valley. My career on the links was a short one, only spanning a few years in the late 1990s/early 2000s. (I mentioned my golf lessons at Bob-O-Link Golf Course back on this post.) I mainly played at Aqua Marine (another lonnnnng delayed post on this blog) on the way home from work, and patronized many driving ranges from Elyria to Westlake and beyond.

I may pick up golf again some day.

4 comments:

Mike M said...

Golfed many times at Emerald Valley. Wow, $1.50 for 9 holes when then opened. I miss having that local course where you can get in a quick 9 holes and not worry if you didn't have a tee time. I guess they never did add the additional 9 holes, swimming pool, or tennis courts.

Anonymous said...

The additional 9 holes are inside Joe Bidens head.That dude is nothing but one big hole,if you know what I mean.

Don Hilton said...

Wait…
You mean you’re NOT supposed to use two clubs at once?

Anonymous said...

Rumor has it that the Emerald Valley site will become a Tesla dealership.