Cole Acres of Golf Course & Supper Club
Founded in 1969, Cole Acres has prided itself in offering a quality golf experience for everyone. Cole Acres is a scenic, public golf course located less than 2 miles from Cuba City. A fun and challenging 9 hole course, Cole Acres features a pond, rolling bluegrass fairways and lush bent grass greens. Along with a beautiful course and clubhouse amenities, you will find Cole Acres to be very active, with leagues for men and women, along with a full calendar of events for golfers to participate in. The course also has a driving range and restaurant.
Green Fees & Rates: Please call 608-744-2476 OR CLICK HERE for current rates.
HISTORY OF COLE ACRES COUNTY CLUB
by Bob Schink
In 1967 a golf club for Cuba City was only a dream. Building one for the area had been a long time project of the Cuba City Lions Club. That year Cliff Kirk was Lion President; Fred Beinborn was Vice Pres. and Don Leibold, secretary. Cliff had worked hard to find a property for a course however whenever an owner found that is was to be used to build a golf course they became greedy and the price skyrocket.
One evening, after a meeting and after the euchre games at Whitey's Bar. Floyd Toddy Cole was overheard telling someone he would like to sell. some land he still owned. Cliff, Don and Fred approached him and found that he had not sold the 80 acres, which is now Cole Acres, when he sold the rest of his farm. When they asked him if he would consider selling it to be used as a golf course they were amazed by his response. "You know, my wife has just died and I have been wanting to do something in her memory. I'll sell you the land for $250/acre and give you $2000.00 to get things started. All I ask is that my 2 daughters and I have lifetime membership." (FHA later determined the loan value of the land to be $450/acre). Cliff Kirk handed Toddy a dollar bill, There were handshakes and the deal was made. The dollar was later returned to Cliff and was a proud possession in his billfold until the day he died.
At the organizational meeting each of us kicked in $100.00 to get things going. We unanimously chose Cole Acres County Club as the name of the project. The Articles of incorporation were signed on May 21, 1968 by the charter board and filed on May 28th.
Norm Kvalheim - President. Fred Beinborn - Vice President. Don Liebold - Secretary. Cliff Kirk. - Treasurer. Ozzie Barth - Member. Bob Schink - Member. Richard J. Byrne - Member
An interesting section of the bylaws reads as follows: " Upon dissolution, after payment of all obligations, the assets of the corporation shall be conveyed to one or more Wisconsin non-profit corporations operating with in a 15 mile distance of the Township of Benton, which are organized and operating for education, recreational or charitable purposes on a non-profit basis."
Our only hope of financing was an FHA loan. Fennimore and New Glarus were building golf courses with FHA financing. We made inquiries and began a great association with Sam Hardin, the FHA representative in Darlington.
Because the FHA loan was to provide recreation for rural areas it was necessary to serve a certain rural population and area. Two thirds of the members had to come from communities with a population of less than 5500. It meant we had to sell stock in Shullsburg, Benton, Hazel Green, Dickeyville and Kieler to demonstrate that coverage. At the time Cuba City area had 9 families belonging to the Platteville course, about 23 in Darlington and a few in Galena. Almost all of the 252 families purchased stock because of the Swimming pool or because they wanted to aide the community project. The original membership was limited to the 252 until it was determined that the swimming pool capacity would not be a problem.
One problem was that the FHA program was scheduled to close on Aug. 1. We had to have the stock sold, land purchased, plans finalized and ready for construction to begin by that date. This deadline resulted in little delays becoming major problems. As a result decisions had to be made and plans changed almost daily. During a one-year period we would have 257 board meetings!
It was decided that the permanent board of Directors should have 9 members. Dick Byrne offered to step down and Boyd Wilson and Walter Calvert from Benton and Bob Hull from Hazel Green were added. The officers remained the same.
Early in the process Cliff Kirk asked to remain on the board but to step down as treasurer, Bob Schink replaced him as treasurer.
FHA stated that they would not consider a loan unless we had a liquor license. We found out on Friday that never in it's history had Benton Township had a liquor license and that it could only happen with a referendum at the spring election. We had until noon on Monday to get 150 signatures on petitions to get that done. Thank God for Harold McCrea of Benton. He organized us and we had the signatures on Monday morning. A referendum would pass that the township could issue one liquor license, but only to a. golf club.
Because of the deadline the land had to be in our possession that year so we could begin construction. When Cole agreed to sell the land he had already signed a lease with Wayne Helbing and Harry Kilkelly for the 1968-growing season. We needed to get to the lease released. We were never able to get both Wayne and Harry together. Each would tell us that they would be happy to release but the other would not. After several weeks of almost daily contact we got the job done by finding and paying the cash rent on 40 acres of good corn ground for them.
An architect was contacted and plans drawn for a clubhouse with a dining room and a pool. Although the FHA would not OK the project unless we had a liquor license, we could not have the words Bar, Lounge or Dining room on our plans when submitted.
The first meeting of the 252 members was held on May 23, 1968. Board members were approved and authority was given to borrow $225,000.00 from FHA. The plans and application were submitted to FHA in early July, not too much time for the approval process before Aug 1 deadline. In a follow-up on about July 15, it was discovered that the application was on the desk of Ralph Monroe, the State FHA director, and that he had just left on a two-week vacation.
Don Liebold drove to Madison, went through Ralph's desk and rescued the documents. Meanwhile Walter Calvert has called his friend Senator Proxmeire in Washington. The next day Liebold, Norm Kvalheim and architect Jerry Steirman flew to Washington. They were escorted to the FHA by Proxmeire to meet with people who could give us immediate approval. They were approved but, in an attempt to impress the senator, the FHA officials crossed the dining room form the plans. A celebrating delegation had a great trip home with the availability of two for a quarter drinks on the return flight.
When the application got back to Madison they didn't want to refigure the original amounts so they decided that we needed a house for security of the property. Thus we were stuck with a house instead of the dining room.
In the original plan there was a lounge where the bar is now, a U-shaped bar in the other side and the dining room extending to the west. When we lost the dining room, the plans were changed to the current bar location.
The Golf course bid went to Gordon Cunningham for $43,069 (20,259 Materials & 22,810 Labor). This amount included the design. His plans called for a 100 gpm water supply. There were some legal problems with our getting a well certified for the 100 gpm. Cunningham, therefore,built the lake/reservoir at on additional cost.
The contractor for the swimming pool and equipment got it for about $44,000. He went bankrupt after he had done the design but before the construction started. We were able to get another contractor to finish the work for the same price.
On September 9th we opened bids for the clubhouse. All bids came in over $72,000. They were all rejected because we only had $50,000 to spend. We invited the bidders to stay and discuss alternatives. All of our fine builders walked out on us. Vince Conrad of Dubuque was the only one to stay and we negotiated a building very close to the original specs for the $50,000. We gave the house contract for $14,600. They then subcontracted the house to Gene Willadson. The bare bones bid would lead to a lot of tension between Conrad and the board members during the construction.
On Oct 31 Ozzie Barth left the board and was replaced by Jim Nedelcoff of Hazel Green.
The original $$225,000 loan included $10,000 for contingencies and also money to make The first two years payment. Because it was a very wet year the construction overruns used all of this money.
When the pool was dug it opened a spring. It was necessary to put in a complete drain field under the pool and clubhouse. It also took hundreds of yards of sand. Similar springs cropped up on what is now #5 and #9 fairways. In the early years the dogleg on #5 was enforced with a swamp complete with swamp-grass and cattails.
The money for trees was also spent in construction overruns. A nursery in Potosi was going out of business and would gie us all of their small trees. On a Saturday workday dozens of members dug, hauled and planted all of the pine trees on the course. There were a few 2 -3 foot trees, which were planted around the house. The rest were about a foot high. Local farmers supplied equipment to water the trees that summer. Not realizing that Cole Acres was a 'Windy Acres' the board decided not to plant any broad-leaved trees.
The bar, stools, chairs and tables, which are still in use, were purchased from B. L, Murray for $8031,97. Kitchen equipment also came from Murray for $3942.52. Dishes cost $376.74.
Jim Nedelcoff was in charge of the pro shop. Club sets were sold to members at 10% over cost. There are very few of the early members who do not now have a grandson learning to play with that old set of Sam Sneed Blue Ridge Clubs. It's also reminiscent to come across an old Max Fli Blue Dot ball.
Getting the final touches on the clubhouse and the clubhouse area depended on a lot of good volunteers. Although there were many hard working families, I do recall the extended Weber family hand painting all of cement basement walls and the Tom Ryan, Weber and Schink families working all day cutting and laying sod.
Dick and Shiela Harris were hired as the first clubhouse managers, which was opened in late May. We had grand plans for a great dining facility; two cooks and offered lunch and dinner 7 days a week.
Bruce Hilvers was the first lifeguard, George Westemier was the first greenskeeper.
Cole Acres club house burnt in May 2021.
New Club House and Supper Club opened March 2023.
