Golf course gets facelift
■ New management breathes life into the course.
The Siloam Springs golf course is seeing a facelift after a few years of neglect, new management says.
Jonathan Self, general manager, moved to Siloam Springs just three months ago. He said he admired the way the city and community took care of its downtown and said the support was promising when thinking about the golf course, now rebranded as the Course at Sager’s Crossing.
He wasn’t wrong. Since becoming manager, Self said membership has increased by more than 20 people and participation in monthly tournaments has gone from 15 to 50. The course is also now the home course for Siloam Springs and Lincoln golf teams.
“I want to make it into something we can all be proud of,” Self said.
Self and his father, Don, professionally build and design golf courses. The pair are working to restore the Course at Sager’s Crossing and began by replacing the golf cart rental fleet. The club house’s shop has also been renovated. Self and his father worked with area golf courses to reconfigure the chemicals that
groundskeepers use to grow and maintain the greens, instilling new life in the course in a way that is better for the grass. In the future, Self says there will be a new place to store golf carts and a women’s league to help facilitate the 15,000 rounds of golf played at the course every year.
The Siloam Springs Country Club board of directors oversee the general operations. President Jeremiah Pearson said the driving force behind restoring the course was to give the Siloam Springs community something it deserved — a place to play golf.
The rebranding and new management were a way to begin the restoration process, Pearson said. But the ultimate goal is to create a place for people of all ages to participate in the game, Pearson said.
Self, a golfer since age 5, also prioritizes a community atmosphere. But for him, it’s for couples like the husband and wife duo, Leo and Sona Setian, who have been playing at the course since 1970, or his five children.
The community needs this golf course, Self said.