Course Impact | Blair Shadday & Bart Wolfe

What goes into running a successful country club and how do you continue evolving while still creating a welcoming experience for members and guests? In this episode of Impact: The Chamber Podcast, we sit down with the golf pro, Blair Shadday and general manager, Bart Wolfe of Forest Hills Country Club to talk about the behind-the-scenes work that keeps the club running smoothly and the role it plays within the Wayne County community.

We discuss recent upgrades and improvements being made to both the course and clubhouse, the importance of staff longevity and strong team culture, and the variety of experiences and amenities Forest Hills offers as a country club. The conversation also dives into what it takes to successfully coordinate large golf outings and events, including community tournaments like the Chamber Golf Classic, and how attention to detail helps create a seamless experience for participants.

From hospitality and operations to community connection and recreation, this episode highlights the many moving pieces that come together to make Forest Hills a staple in the community. Tune in to hear more about leadership, teamwork, and the impact of creating memorable experiences both on and off the course. Subscribe to catch new episodes each month!

Learn more about the Chamber: https://www.wcareachamber.org/

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Good morning, friends. I'm Melissa Vance, President and CEO of the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce, and thank you for tuning in to Chamber Impact Podcast. We are obviously not in studio today. As you can see, we're out on the beautiful golf course at Forest Hill Country Club, and we're gonna be talking about all the wonderful things going on out here. We have guests, our guests, but actually we're your guests today because we're right here where you spend your days every day. We have Blair, who's the golf pro here, and uh Bart, who's the general manager, and we appreciate you guys both joining us and allowing us to crash your space.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Absolutely. It's great to have you.

SPEAKER_03 0:54

And of course, Lynette. So um stay with us. We're gonna talk about things coming up, we're gonna talk about the great things happening out here, and then of course, we'll end with Lynette's list. Let's see. You never know what's gonna happen on there.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

So exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Here we go. Well, Bart, I wanted to start with you, and um, for those that might not be familiar, tell us a little bit about the country club and what all they can find that's unique here.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Very good. Um, this is a very, very exciting time for Forest Hills Country Club. Um, our hundred-year anniversary is next year, so we're already in the stages of uh planning several events to commemorate it throughout the year, and we'll be releasing those in a few months when we have the final details. Um but um Forest Hills Country Club is uh a full service country club. There are lots of different types of clubs, but our club has a championship golf course, uh new pickleball courts, new tennis courts, a swimming pool with a splash pad, um you know, a little biased, but most people say we have the best food in town.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

It's pretty good. It's really good food actually.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

And I know we have the best bar in town. I mean, you know, 60 to 65 bourbon selections, uh, the largest wine list in town. Um so it's pretty much we have everything here that you would want in a country club. And to play golf or tennis or go to the pool, you need to be a member or a guest of a member. Um, but but we allow non-members to book events here. We hold several weddings and proms, balls, those type of events. So uh we do offer that to you know the the residents of the area. It gives them an opportunity to go to a place where they have a full service experience all through one vendor.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

Right. And we're heading right into wedding season and graduation is upon us. So um I think a lot of people don't realize that if you're not a member, you can still utilize the facility for things like that.

SPEAKER_04 3:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Now we're out here constantly. Right. I feel like I'm out here all the time, which is wonderful because it really is such a great facility to have events at. So I I joke, I just walk in, I'm like, hey, I'm back.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

And one of the great things about our clubhouse, we have a historic clubhouse, it's 110 years old, uh, which allowed us, it became historical landmark, which allowed us to have a foundation. So we have a foundation that can raise money for the club for it. But we also have several rooms. We have a you know a small Izzy's room for groups of six to thirty, and we have the first bank roads room, you know, we can put up to 75 in there. It's got a drop-down uh projector and screen, and then we have portable ones for the other rooms, but then we have the Lingle Ballroom, which we can put 150 in. And we've done events for as uh many as 350 people here for some large holiday events where we just use the entire clubhouse. So whether it's a small event, large event, or something in between, we have a room and a space and capability of uh handling the event.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

So take us into your day-to-day. What does it take to run a club like this? Because people people walk in, we see the clean facilities, we see the hospitality and taste the delicious food and experience the golf course, but there's a lot behind the scenes that you guys do to keep this place running.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Well, you know, the most important thing in having a successful business is the employees. That's the biggest asset that you have. Uh and having consistency in there and longevity in there. Uh Blair's been with us for 13 years now. Amy Baines, our restaurant event manager, she's been with us for 11 years. Uh Chef Flacco Santos, you know, he's been with us for 10 years. Uh Jeff Martin's our green superintendent out there. He's been with us off and on for 20 years in a few different roles. So we have consistency of staffing here, and they're all very dedicated professionals. And um, that that makes life easier for me, having them. Absolutely. Uh they're all very good at their job and they do it, and and uh just at least to consistency, and that's that's what makes us successful.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Yeah, and never worry about anything we do out here because the whole crew has us well taken care of. Absolutely. We appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

It's um it is nice when you I mean I feel blessed to have a great team as well, and and it's it is nice when you have a team that they can be welcoming and professional to the you know, on the front side and on the back side things are things are running smoothly. And right um every now and then there are hiccups in life and you still have a smile out here and you fixed it back in the back room.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

So calm in the front, chaos in the back sometimes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

That happens. Somebody's gonna hit off a tin here. Welcome, welcome to the golf course. It's awesome. So we have a not so little event coming up, Blair, just around the corner in um the first week of June where we bring golfers out and spend the day. So um tell us a little bit about what golf is like out here and what's life like in your world right now. In my world.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Well, uh, as far as the golf course goes, it's we have one house on the golf course. So when you're out here, you're completely just outside with beautiful landscaping and uh you know the manic golf course is manicured perfectly right now.

SPEAKER_03 6:55

It's gorgeous.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

We got uh some new equipment this year that's allowed us to do a couple new things, and it really has enhanced what the golf course is is looking like, and it's in great shape right now. Um obviously the April weather helped us and everybody. It's been a good year so far.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

Well, it's going to continue, and we love coming out here in June, and we love that it's past rain season, and we hopefully not. Do you remember last year?

SPEAKER_02 7:30

It's not gonna rain. It's not gonna rain.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Yeah, we're two weeks away from the pool opening, and we hope it warms up too much. I know it can warm up a little bit too.

SPEAKER_03 7:36

Yes, absolutely. So, um talk a little bit about. I mean, you mentioned new irrigation, some of the um buildings out on the course have been improved over the last few years. What if people come out here and they haven't been out here in a few years, what would they experience that might be a little bit different?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Well, I guess uh we did pour a new concrete pad on the driving range. So we have some mats, we have a smaller range, it's really more of a warm-up area. So we did we got a concrete pad poured, we got some great mats out there, it looks fantastic. So we're able to hit balls more often. Right. Um when it's wet, it really causes a problem because you really plow through the tea and there's really not a lot of good grass left by you know come August.

SPEAKER_04 8:25

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Um depends on how long they have since they've been out here, but the the new pool house and everything like Bart was talking about is absolutely fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

It's gorgeous, and you have a golf simulator in there.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

We do, we do. We have a golf simulator that allows all of our members, uh allows me to give lessons in the winter and it allows us to do like a little winter sim league and it is packed uh I bet every email. I bet.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

So talking about lessons, if people have not golfed yet this season, which many have not, or maybe it's been a little bit and they just want to refresh her, you and your team give lessons out here as well, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:04

I I do. I give lessons and we can give lessons to outside. You know, you don't have to be a member to come take a lesson. Um you know, we're happy to give them to anybody who wants to learn how to play golf. It's a great game, and you know, to get to spend a couple hours out with nature and the you know, wherever that might be. Yes, we wanted to be here, but wherever it might be.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

Well, and I've I've come and taken lessons out here with you before a couple different times and enjoyed it thoroughly. You make it not intimidating, which you know, I always think, man, trying something new is so intimidating, but you are really good about making it not intimidating.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Well, it's about having fun. And if you come out, you want to have a good time. Um, hopefully, you know, if you hit a great shot, great. But you know, as long as you're having fun at it.

SPEAKER_03 9:53

And the great thing about the um tournaments is that it's a scramble and it's best ball, and so you only have to have a great shot every now and then as long as your teammates have a great shot every now and then, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:05

And it's that one great shot that brings you back. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

It makes people really good to play in scrambles, I'm just gonna say. So um what keeps people coming back?

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Uh out here for our members, um, I think Bart touched on just the atmosphere in general, but I I don't you can't find anything in eastern Indiana that would come close to rivaling this. Uh with the pool, with the pickleball, the tennis, the fitness center, the golf sim, the bar, and the food, like Bart was saying. And I mean what a what a great place to come and eat dinner and have that view. I know look out.

SPEAKER_04 10:48

Lovely.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

It's finally the time of year where they can get on the patio. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

I was thinking of the guests we have come for chamber events. I walk them to this back window over here. So they see and they're like, whoa.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

You know, they're yeah, it's beautiful. When we bring especially right, especially when we're bringing people in from outside communities that have never been out here and they just can't believe this is Richmond, Indiana. It feels it you know, we don't have a lot of rolling hills in Indiana in this part of Indiana, central Indiana. It's more southern Indiana where you start to get those rolling hills, but we've got them here, and it's beautiful. So, um tell me what is your favorite thing about the chamber golf, and what is your least favorite thing about chamber golf? Oh, wait a minute. We're gonna like we're gonna get the the nitty-gritty.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Well, I think my new favorite thing is the golf ball cannon that you started last year.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

It's coming back for this year. All right.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

It it is great, and that is also what have been one of my least favorite things is standing on the tee for that long and how I felt the next day when I hit the drives. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

We used to do drive with a pro and kill Blender.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Love talking, love seeing everybody. You can feel it the next day.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Swinging out of your shoes all day long, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

Everybody would pay 20 bucks to have you hit their T shot.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Blair gave me a very quick okay to the golf cannon.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

We have we have two interns. One is uh watching from afar at the moment. Um but we have two interns this year that are both golfers and play one for high school, one for IU East, and um they have tournaments out here that they play in too. How how often do you have students out here?

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Uh well this spring we've had a high school tournament. Richmond High School hosted a tournament out here, and the IU East ladies hosted a tournament out here. Uh last year we had Urlum's conference tournament.

SPEAKER_03 12:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Uh and then we do so do uh always do a tournament for Urlem in the fall as well. Um we'll have a few high school events. We actually had National Trail reached out and had an event out here last August. Um and then Miami University always hosts an event out here uh in the fall, kind of at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_03 13:21

We've been talking a lot internally about um uh obviously workforce development is top of mind for us. And when we think about the you know, the next the future workers, you have to also think about what are the future workers of Forest Hills, who's gonna be the next general manager down the road when someday you decide to just come out here as a member and not not having to take care of it, or who's gonna come out here and uh be the golf pro someday and you know all of that. How do how do you all approach that and kind of mentor the next the next group?

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Um one of the great things about the club here, and it's going almost almost a hundred years now. Many of today's members that are in their 40s and 50s and 60s were members when they were little kids. So they grew up here.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Um many uh and and we have several members who started out working here as you know, a server or a busboy or you know, a cart attendant, or whatever it is. Um that that you know they grow out of that, they go to college, they get a jump, and then they come back as members. Um so we try to to cross-train a lot of our employees so that they're always improving and they're able to help in different departments, and that can lead to them progressing and moving up to a position down the line.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

And you have students out here all summer.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

I do. I've been very fortunate over the last 13 years to get some really good kids that have, you know, worked, and a couple of them that have been with me for forever, since almost day one.

SPEAKER_04 15:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

And they've kind of hung around, and it's great to see them. I think kind of the final end of that group, but we got more coming.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

So that's right. Always, always good things going on, and and there's some great up-and-coming people.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

So back to lessons you were asking Blair about lessons, he does junior clinics in the summer as well. Wow, wow. And uh so so should have mentioned. Yeah, well, yeah, and it's it's a great way to uh introduce the game to all me.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

Right. So what ages is that for?

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Uh five to eighteen. Uh this year we have a beginner and an intermediate uh class that we're gonna that we're gonna teach, and you don't have to be a member to come out for those either.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

Awesome. So if you have kids that you wanna you wanna expose them to the game of golf, and they may fall in love with it, may get a college scholarship down the road. Um give give call to the pro shop and call the pro shop. Wonderful. Well, Lynette, I think we are ready for your line.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Okay. First of all, we have to talk about our special guests that we haven't mentioned yet. For those of you who have watched every one of our episodes, and I know there's many of you out there that have, uh we always have a very interesting setup, but you may not know that we actually bring some things from our chamber office that make it part of our set. So I couldn't do this without my plant here, but it's actually Melissa's plant from her office. So uh if you're wondering why is there we're on this beautiful golf course, there's a plant that Lynette keeps holding on to because it's gonna blow away. Uh that that's the special guest. So look for it in the next episode when we're back in the studio. We uh we always have our plant here. So it's kind of like a security plant. Yeah, it should have a name. I want to work on that. If you if you have an idea for a name, submit names, drop comments, submit names for the plants, we'll have a contest, we'll get away. Great, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

I I love it.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Yeah, so anyways, back to what I'm supposed to be talking about. The Lynette's list with events. So we've been talking about golf um in June. The exact date of that golf event is June 5th. Um, hopefully it will be beautiful sunny skies like right now, and uh we will have a great day with it. We have two rounds, as mentioned. We'll be very full, but we make it a lot of fun. We have the golf cannon that I mean it flies, it shoots those golf balls.

SPEAKER_03 17:34

How far is that? How far is that gonna play?

SPEAKER_01 17:36

They can shoot it, they can shoot it however far they want. They have to kind of dial it in.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

Yeah, it will it will go.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Typically about 350 yards.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Yeah, yeah, that thing will go. And they do have somebody from the company that does it. He's out there, he's showing them how to do it properly, so we're not you know sending it into somebody's window or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 17:56

Sponsored by Transcindia.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Sponsored by Transcindia, yes. So big shout out to Transcindia. Cody loves the thing, so yeah, he was on board for doing another year. Um, we have other things. We have um we'll have a chipping contest that will be for prizes, lots of fabulous prizes donated by many of our chamber member businesses. Um, lots of sponsors out on the holes, and they do their own giveaways out there. Um, JB Industrial. I think they're scheming up something to for a giveaway again uh this year. Just had um uh Sinstore just come in as a sponsor to be on a hole, and he's scheming up some stuff. So it's gonna be a really good day. Like I said, a couple spots available that I can get some more teams in, and we'd love to have you out here. It is a fun day. Um, it it's it makes me very happy to hear that everybody really likes our our golf outings. So um we have a lot of fun. We'd love for everybody to get out here.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

Um it's a great time, not just to have, I mean, it's a wonderful time. You can bring your own, put together your own team. Some people bring clients or you know, people that they w want to build stronger relationships with. It's a great opportunity to network during, you know, the turn when you're grabbing lunch or in the 19th hole when we're finished and everybody's hanging out. So, you know, you can uh sell it to your boss that it's work, is what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Yeah, it's the hardest work you'll ever do, but and when it's work for me to spend the day on the golf course, it's not a bad gig. So um, one other event I wanted to mention that we have coming up is just a few days after golf. June 9th, we're gonna do our next chamber 101 session. Um I like to make sure that we publicize these well because um it's just a quick overview of what the chamber is about. Um, what are our committees, what's the work that we do, who's on staff, um, all of those kind of things. So it's a great thing for um members who have just recently joined the chamber. Um if you have been a chamber member for a while but you need a refresher about all the benefits that we offer as two chamber members because we have a lot, um, it's a great refresher course. Or if you're thinking about becoming a chamber member, um, something that that you should attend as well. So that is scheduled for June 9th. Let me make sure I get this right and pull it up here. June 9th, 8:30 a.m. to 9 30 a.m. and we host that at the chamber office, so there's no charge to attend. We just would like for people to register so we know they're coming. Um, but uh after that we uh we might be taking off to Greece. So our next chamber trip is coming up. Now, can I give one more special shout out to something that we just scheduled out here for the chamber? Can can I give can I go ahead and mention that? So uh Flavor of Wayne County. We're a little ways away from Flavor of Wayne County, it's not until October, but we're gonna do it out here at Forest Hills, and I'm really excited about that. We're gonna have you know lots of space out here so people can, you know, feel spread out. We're gonna spread food vendors out, and uh hopefully the weather will cooperate that we can use the patio too. Um but we're gonna bring Flavor of Wayne County out here to Forest Hills.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

Wonderful, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

We're excited about that.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

Well, thank you for all that you do. Thanks for um letting us be a part of it and for being such excellent hosts for our events and all the things we do. And when we call you and say, Hey, can we move some furniture out on the golf course and talk for a bit? Yep. You say yes, even though it might not be a part of your initial plan. So thank you for that so much. We're excited to um be out here in just a few weeks. Thanks for tuning in, hopefully. um watching has inspired you to get out, golf, come out for a lesson, have some great food, check it out, and we'll see you next time on Chamber Impact.