Oak Hills Par 30 Golf Course in Clear Lake will be celebrating 40 years of operation with Tom and Sheila Sherman at the helm, or 50 years when you count the time since Tom’s father, Gene, built the course in 1974. During the entire month of April seniors aged 60 and older can play for a discounted fee all day on Mondays, everyone can win some fun prizes with guessing games and sweet treats will be provided on the weekends.
As time marches on change is inevitable and there has been plenty of that at Oak Hills over the years. In the late 1960s Gene Sherman managed the (former) All-Veterans Golf and Social Club in Clear Lake for two years before moving his family to South Dakota where he owned and operated a driving range and a roofing company.
“When we moved back my dad said we can either buy a nice big house in Clear Lake or we could buy this property and build a golf course,” Tom said. “We all said, ‘Let’s build a golf course.’ It was a cornfield and pasture when we bought it and it took about a year to develop it into a golf course.” He joked that he, his father and brother probably roofed 20 houses while building the golf course, which opened in the spring of 1974.
Sheila said that when Gene decided it was time to retire and sell the course she and Tom had only been dating for a short while. “And I said, ‘Well, we should probably be married if we’re gonna run it together.’ So we got married.” Tom and Sheila bought the course from Gene and Betty Sherman in 1984.
The golf course was Initially a Par 3 course until Gene changed it in 1982. Tom said, “It was a nice operation. Then we started making improvements to the golf course. Building new sand traps to make the course a little more interesting and challenging.”
The golf course has expanded to 32 acres over the years and changed to a Par 30 course. “We bought more ground and lengthened out some of the holes. We have seven Par 3s, one Par 4 and one Par 5. It gives people a chance to hit a longer shot,” Tom said. “People enjoy being able to hit a driver… so it helped to bring in more varieties of golfers. This course is a challenging course. If somebody shoots Par out here, they’re playing a really good round of golf." The clubhouse has also seen some major changes over the years, changes needed to accommodate the hundreds of people that play up to 300 rounds of golf or more on good days. The clubhouse was expanded by adding on a lower level that includes extra storage space, a kitchen and dining area that looks out to the wrap-around patio area and the greens.
Even more space was gained last year when the Sherman’s decided to take out their Pro Shop. Tom said that for almost 20 years, “We had a nice little middle-road business… supplying a nice need for the people. Then all of a sudden, everybody just started shopping online.” When sales went from over 20 sets of clubs a year down to just two it was time to call it quits.
Tom, a former PGA player in the 1980s, has been giving golf lessons for over 40 years and still does the majority of the grounds maintenance himself, while Sheila runs the clubhouse.
“We’ve had times when we’ve got four generations out here playing together, from the great-grandparents down to the little kids, because this course is so playable for such a variety of people. The professional can go out there and test their talents and they’ll feel like they worked for it. A beginner can get out there and have a lot of fun and learn the game,” Tom said.
The Shermans would like to thank everyone who has played golf with them over the past 40 years.
