ENID — A year ago, a modernized and more efficient Oakwood Country Club reopened in Enid after a $4 million remodeling and reconstruction project.
The new look has been considered a major success at a time when other country clubs in communities the size of Enid often have struggled with membership, money and infrastructure issues.
Oakwood board members and personnel say the club’s proactive approach to improving its buildings and offerings is helping it gain membership. In fact, the club right now is trying to focus on benefits to the community and local families.
Pepper DeVaughn, a local attorney and an Oakwood board member, said many people in Enid do not know the country club is open to host events and activities for non-members, as long as the event is sponsored by a member.
For example, Enid Development Alliance holds quarterly luncheons at the club. The club also is open for weddings, receptions and meetings for any individual or group as long as a member sponsors the event. The club has hosted several business group meetings as well since reopening in May 2010.
“To further our efforts in providing a real benefit to young families, we have also focused on a young-member membership drive,” DeVaughn said.
The junior membership drive is open to those 35 and younger at a much lower cost than for a stockholder membership. There is a $250 initiation fee plus junior dues, which range from $218 for a single junior membership to $233 for a family membership. Applications for the junior membership are available at Oakwood Country Club.
The drive continues through June and so far has netted the club about 30 new members, according to David North, general manager.
“There’s no obligation if the junior members just want to try it,” North said. Yet, in a club that previously only had about nine junior members, the influx of new families is just what Oakwood Country Club needs to show families the summer activities that are offered at the club.
Tennis pro Jim Shaughnessy and golf pro Tim Mendenhall are enthusiastic about the tennis and golf offerings provided for members and their families.
“We have junior championships that are indoors and out of the wind and air-conditioned,” Shaughnessy said. In fact, Oakwood is one of the few clubs its size to have indoor tennis courts, a bonus for tennis players.
“We also have private lessons and clinics for kids and adults,” he said. One of the more popular tennis offerings is a cardio-tennis workout in the mornings.
“It is a different way to get fit and get your heart rate up,” he said.
Mendenhall also runs junior golf camps during the summer. In fact, children can participate in both tennis and golf programs at Oakwood as the programs are coordinated so both can be fit into a day.
Then after golf and tennis, there’s always the swimming pool.
“There is not a safer place in town to drop your kid off at 11 a.m. and have him or her doing activities until 3 p.m. that are supervised 100 percent,” Mendenhall said.
Along with the drive to get more families involved in the club, golfers in the next year also will see a major upgrade to the golf pro shop. Starting in October, the shop will see a complete remodel beginning with the outside and moving into the inside in January 2012.
Mendenhall said the project doesn’t include new construction, simply a complete redo that will provide more space and efficiencies for Oakwood golfers.
The upgrades to Oakwood Country Club are getting the attention of country clubs across the state. DeVaughn said the club has hosted several board members and professionals from other country clubs who have marveled at what has been accomplished at Oakwood.
So, what has made Oakwood unique to the other clubs? North says it is a commitment by the members.
“The members decided they needed to do something to make this club a premier club in the state of Oklahoma,” he said. “Three-fourths of this project was paid for in cash. That’s amazing in the last couple of years.”
Mendenhall said the word has spread across the state about Oakwood.
“What we also want to have spread is for other people in Enid who aren’t members to understand they, too, are invited,” DeVaughn said. “We feel (Oakwood Country Club) is an asset to the community.”
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