History of
Cedars Country Club
Cedars Country Club is a public golf course, located in the Van Buren City Park. The course has been constructed and is operated by private capital and managed by Cedars Country Club Inc. Carved from a thick, wooded hillside, in 1964 by Maurice Sagely, Kenneth Sagely, Floyd Sagely and Earl Robinson, it is the fourth oldest course in the area.
Unfortunately, Cedars was born of a hard piece of property and generated very little revenue. Through the recession of the 1970’s, Cedars fell into financial difficulty. Then in 1980, while in the advanced stages of bankruptcy, Cedars was purchased by club members, Aubry & Shirley Boze.
Members since 1972, they dreamed of a better club. Since acquisition the Boze Family has renovated every hole on the course with greens & tee work, irrigation and drainage projects as well as upgraded the course's budget.
For the next twenty years the Boze's continued to improve the course with the help of their two son's Chris and Rick Boze. Along the way the family built a new maintence faclity, cart storage building, on-course restrooms as well as remodeled the club house. In 1998, Chris Boze assumed the helm as President of the Club.
In the Fall of 2001, work began on a total renovation of the golf course that would be focused on upgrading playability. The scope of the renovation plan was large for a nine hole facility. It had to be broken into three phases: Phase One- Greens renovation and tee box construction. Phase Two- Pump house and pond construction and the relocation of the first fairway along with a few more tee boxes. Phase Three- Installation of the irrigation system and equipment upgrade. All phases of the project would then take the better part of six years to complete, at a cost of over $300,000.
Upon completion the course was stretched by over 300 yards, multiple teeing areas were constructed, greens were re-surfaced with a hybrid Bermuda grass and a totally modern automatic irrigation system has been installed. Throughout the process, the club acquired the equipment needed to maintain a well groomed golf course as well as increased our maintenance budget by over 400% to ensure it gets done.
Currently, work has ceased at 90% completion. Work is still needed on some of our tees and we hope to break ground on multiple sites later in the 2009 season. It has been quite a journey for my family, our membership and the golfing patrons of Cedars over the last few years, but everyone involved has been supportive of the project and the clubs change in direction.
However, one aspect that will not change is our family atmosphere. Spend a little time here and get to know us and the folks that play Cedars and we think you’ll enjoy it too!
Thanks for playing Cedars, it really is “growing better... everyday!”
Chris Boze,
President, Cedars Country Club