Ozaukee courses on ‘a great ride’

Bob Gosewehr wasn’t born on a golf course, just across the road from one.

Growing up on Highway I in the Town of Saukville, Gosewehr saw the development of the Ozaukee County-owned Hawthorne Hills Golf Course 60 years ago.

“My dad was a farmer across the road. We used to make hay on the back nine,” he said.

He began working at the course in the summer of 1969 while attending University of Wisconsin-Platteville, where he majored in agronomy.

“Working on the golf course suited me,” he said. “I wanted to be outside.”

When it came time to graduate in 1974,  the county was about to open its second golf course, Mee-Kwon Park in Mequon, and they needed someone to run it.

Goswehr, now 73, got the job and stayed  there for 35 years, retiring in 2009.

“I graduated from college and started working (at Mee-Kwon) the next week,” he said.

County Planning and Parks Director Andrew Struck said last week the county plans to celebrate the anniversaries of both courses later this summer, recognizing the assets the two courses have become.

In 2023, the two courses set records in both the number of rounds played and gross revenue generated.

The 2023 golf season produced 81,621 rounds of golf, up from 74,000 in 2022, and more than $2.9 million in gross revenue, up from $2.51 million.

Record monthly revenue was recorded at both Mee-Kwon and Hawthorne Hills golf courses in May, June, July, August, and September last year.

The golf courses are a county “enterprise fund,” meaning any “profit” raised goes back into the courses for maintenance or to make improvements. They are not supported by the property tax levy.

“From the get go, way back when, it was always the intent they would be self-sustaining,” Struck said. “And that has truly been the case.”

The only times the courses needed assistance from the general tax levy, it has been in the form of a loan, which the courses were able to pay back, he said.

In addition, golf course revenues help support other county park operations and staff, Struck said.

The two courses, which are generally regarded as a good value, draw golfers from outside Ozaukee County, especially Milwaukee golfers to Mee-Kwon, Struck said.

That helps the local economy, he pointed out.

“They not only benefit our county residents directly, but they’re an economic boon to the county,” he said, noting that when people come from outside the county to golf, they’re likely to eat at local restaurants, buy gas or engage in some other economic activity.

The increased use of discount ID cards has helped draw more golfers from outside the county, Struck said.

“The discount cards essentially allow golfers from outside the county to get the resident rate,” he said. “They’re very popular.”

While good weather has been a factor in the courses’ popularity, Struck said, “it’s clearly more than that.”

One unexpected contributor to the courses’ recent success was the pandemic, Struck said.

“Covid was actually good for golf courses because it was one of the few activities people could engage in” during the pandemic, he said.

He said he believes that Covid caused some people to take up the game for the first time, if not renew their participation.

“We’ve definitely seen a boost since 2020,” he said.

He said 2007 was when the courses “turned the corner” and took off in popularity, thanks to the closing of Squires County Club in the Town of Port Washington, which Struck called a “sister course as far as quality.”

“We’ve been on a great ride,” he said.

Hawthorne Hills and Mee-Kwon had slightly different paths in their development.

County supervisors and park officials, such as then-Park Commissioner Woody Voight, father of current Register of Deeds Ron Voight, were prescient when they purchased two dairy farms to create Hawthorne Hills Park, named for the hawthorne trees that grew there, and develop a golf course.

“The County Board clearly valued having a golf course there,” Struck said.

The first nine holes debuted in 1964. Four years later, another nine holes were developed after the county bought a third dairy farm.

The Mee-Kwon course was built on land owned by the Fromm Brothers Fox Farms Corp.

“There were still a lot of the fox pens and it was big rehabilitation process,” Struck said. “It was a significant task to develop. It would have been difficult to find a willing buyer.”

Remnants of the farm still remain, including two of the original buildings from the fox farm that were built in the 1930s.

To the rescue was a green-space preservation grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that financed the clean-up.

As a result, that area can never be developed and will remain parkland in perpetuity.

“It’s in effect a deed restriction, if you will,” Struck said.

Today, both courses are busy, with the par-70 Mee-Kwon course slightly more challenging with 34 bunkers, two water hazards and more elevation changes than Hawthorne Hills.

The par-72 Hawthorne Hills course has four water hazards and 14 bunkers. Both courses have practice facilities, clubhouses, pro shops and food-and-drink services. And they both hold a lot of memories for Goswehr, who has been a member of the Wisconsin Golf Course Superintendents Association for those 50 years.

“I would agree that they’ve been great assets to the county. The price (to golf) is right, and both are challenging in their own ways,” he said.

“I gave a lot of high school kids their first summer jobs. I told them it was a great summer job. You start early and you’re done by 2 p.m. and in the pool while the rest of your friends are working at the burger places. At least you get a bit of social life.

“I enjoyed working there and being outside every day,” he said. “I liked the people.”