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This 9-hole, par 36, 3007 yard, 76 acre course was started by Charles Bugbee in 1964. Rick Toncray bought it in 1979. He was noted for allowing non-player guests on the course at no charge. His rationale was it would encourage the guests to become interested in playing themselves. The course operated until 2015. The Medalist Golf Course at 15701 N-Drive N, Marshall sort of took its place.
Statement on closing from Rick and Pam Toncray June 2015:
Businesses are started with one purpose in mind, to make money. Thirty-six years ago we bought the Olivet Country Club aka Olivet Golf Club without having seen it, without knowing anything about Olivet, and on a cold January day. Our plan was to move back to Michigan from Florida, keep the golf course for five years and then move on. Well that didn't happen! We never expected to put down roots in Olivet, but as so often happens in life ones plans change and 36 years later our children are grown with families of their own and have moved away and the business stopped making money.
People ask all the time if we are sad about the decision to close the golf course, if it will ever be a golf course again, why we closed the golf course, what is going to happen to the golf course etc.
Our answers, "No we aren't sad, most likely it will not be a golf course again, we closed it because it was time both personally and financially, and whoever is the next owner will decide what will become of it." I think that it would be a nice place to raise a family with land to roam and hunt, others in our family think it would make a great motocross track, another a sod farm! Time will tell.
The golf industry has suffered greatly in this economy with less and less people playing golf and we have seen a decline in business for the past several years. Then with the road closure last year and the news that it was going to be closed this year, it was enough for us to make the decision that it was time for us to move on. So for those who are wondering about our lives after Olivet Golf Club. Our lives have been different since making the choice to close and we are taking advantage of the unrestricted schedule. We have been able to spend time with family that never would have been possible if the golf course was still in operation. We now have time to be retired and create new memories before we are too old to do those things we didn't have time to do. Life is about choices and for us, this choice although difficult, was the right choice. Life is good, we are definitely blessed.
We want to thank those who have supported us and we will be forever grateful for the incredible lifelong friendships and the wonderful people who came into our lives through the years. Thank-you all so much!
Rick & Pam
"And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." Abraham Lincoln