Woman carries on dad’s dream with golf course
ZANESVILLE - How many people inherit a golf course? Diane Jewell and her brother, Bobby Fuller, did.
“As two kids growing up on a farm,” said Jewell, “my brother had a heart for farming, and I was just going to get a job after high school. We never dreamt of owning a golf course. Neither of us did.”
Diane (Fuller) Jewell now owns and operates Fuller’s Fairways, an 18-hole, 5,037-yard, par 70 course on Clay Pike. Her father, Robert “Bobby” Fuller Jr. passed away in October.
“It was my dad’s dream,” she explained. “We grew up in Zanesville on a farm our dad built into a golf course after he was stationed in the Philippines during the ‘40s. He played golf for the first time there and loved it. He dreamt if he ever had land, he would build a golf course.
“Now it really is me,” Jewell said sadly.
Both Jewell and her brother went to school at Philo. They started working at the course in 1972, which means 2022 will make 50 years for Jewell.
“My dad and my brother always had an interest in golfing,” Jewell recalled. “As for myself, after realizing my dad’s dream was coming true, I knew we would have to help out in this project.
“I had no career path before the golf course,” she added. “I just got married and started a family. I started at Fuller’s Golf Course when I realized they needed my help badly. Since then, both of my children grew up on the golf course.”
Jewell has always run the golf shop and, until recently, her brother was the course superintendent.
“When I think of my Aunt Diane, my first thought is that she’s a hard worker,” assessed Cassie Shrigley, who also works part time at the course (along with her brother, David Fuller). “My whole life I can remember her, and my dad, putting their blood, sweat and tears into helping make my grandfather’s dream a success.”
“While neither my dad nor aunt,” Shrigley continued, “dreamed of becoming golf course owners, they both stepped into those roles when my grandparents were ready to slow down and have always tried to do what was best for the course and the family. What an amazing family legacy they’ve been able to keep alive for 50 years. My grandpa would be so proud of all their hard work and I’m certain he would be thankful his dream lives on.”
“This is definitely a family business,” Jewell responded. “Looking back, it’s been a great place to work and make so many friends.
“We’ve always loved the business,” she summed. “But it’s a lot of work that’s never done. At my age of 72, I’d love to retire. But how do you retire with a family business?”
Fuller’s Fairways is located at 4370 Clay Pike in Zanesville. For more information, call 740-452-9830 or log on www.fullersfairways.org.