SAUGATUCK (Michigan) — The new owners of Saugatuck’s Clearbrook Golf Course wrote a letter to the local community in response to questions.
“Our family purchased Clearbrook Golf Course from our long-standing friends, Jim and Candy Jeltema,” wrote the new owners, the Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. Clearbrook is a community hub that has been running the course for many decades.
It is located 35 miles from Grand Rapids, and only 10 minutes from Holland, a small tourist town. According to its website, it has been used as a qualifying site at the Michigan Open, and also hosted other regional events such as the West Michigan PGA Championship.
The Grill Room Restaurant was not included in the sale. It remains the property of Jim and Candy.
Kirk and Julie Cousins wrote that West Michigan is a special place and they have loved living in Saugatuck/Douglas ever since we moved here in 2018. Jim was reflecting on his future and decided to keep the course in the community. Jim and I discussed the history of the club, and we both agreed that it should be kept as a community treasure for the future.
“Our family would prefer that it not become a housing project or a summer rental community. We are looking to make an investment in this wonderful community and see this purchase as an opportunity for us to do so. This will allow us to keep the golf course in its original form, which has been there since 1926.
Clearbrook Golf Course was sold to Kirk Cousins, his wife Julie, and their daughter. (Photo courtesy Clearbrook Golf Course)
According to the couple, there are no plans to make any changes to the course.
They wrote that they had discussed and dreamed of ways to improve the course and would continue these conversations in the coming days. We want the course to provide a great experience for golfers so we will start by making small aesthetic changes such as adding landscaping around the perimeter and burying powerlines that run overhead.
Jim Jeltema will manage the golf course for the moment.
“Jim and Candy will continue to operate The Grill Room as our family acquired the golf course land and business. Not the restaurant or clubhouse.
“We hope the community will continue to enjoy the course and support Jim and Candy at their restaurant as they have done for so many years.”
Learn more at clearbrookgolfclub.com.
Contact Holland Sentinel editor Cassandra Lybrink at [email protected]. Follow her @CassLybrink on Twitter.
