McGuffins, Wilds Partner to Bring New Life to Golf Course
By Wade Littleton Tribune Staff Writer
Everything old is new again.
A new ownership group has purchased the former Morristown Golf and Country Club. The name was changed to Valley Ridge Golf Course, and the Morristown Area Chamber of Commerce was on hand this week to conduct a ribbon-cutting.
The ceremony was special, according to Chamber President Jim Price, because it represented giving new life to a longtime asset: “It’s getting changed in such a way that it’s going to be relevant well into the future. I think it’s just amazing that you guys are doing this for our community.”
Lance Wild, one of the members of the ownership group, expressed appreciation to the Chamber and talked about the goals for the course.
“Next year, this place will be 100 years old,” he said. “If you’d asked us on New Year’s if we had a dream of owning a golf course this year, it would not have been on top of the list, I can assure you. But here we are.”
Wild said that the course quietly became available on the market – “It really wasn’t publicly advertised,” he said. “It was being advertised, but we were doing the development across the street called Southwood that had homes on it. A Realtor called and said that he had a perfect piece of property where you can build more houses.”
Wild’s reaction when he heard the available property was the golf course was to say, “Absolutely not. We’re not going to tear down this golf course.”
Two other parties were looking at the course property to do just that, so when the Realtor called Wild a couple of months later, saying that he had dropped the price, he called Frank McGuffin.
‘I’ve got a good one for you,’ Wild said to Frank. “He said, ‘I’m sure you do.’ The quick response was ‘no,’ but I told him, ‘Let’s meet about it.’”
Wild and McGuffin ultimately made the decision to close on the property in April, with one answer to improving the property: nine more holes.
“We’re limited here on what we can do. It is hard to have tournaments out here,” Wilde said. “We’re in early stages with a design team for the property we own next door. We’re adding 100-plus housing units back there with nine more holes of golf so that Morristown will have, again, 18 holes on a public golf course, with 125 houses around here.”
Renovations to the clubhouse included gutting the interior, repainting and repairing it, with new floors and walls. A canopy will be expanded 24 feet for an outdoor seating area. A driving range will also be included in the new layout.
“We’re thrilled to see the impact that we now feel that the course is to this area and community,” Wild said. “The support we’ve had out here is unbelievable. Growth is up higher than it’s ever been. The future is very bright with the support of Morristown and the Lakeway Area, we plan to have this place for many more years and to see it grow into the opportunities that our kids and their kids can continue to know that Morristown has a place that anybody and everybody can come to play golf.”
Valley Ridge is open from 7:30 a.m. until the last tee time, around 5:45 p.m. There is an online tee sheet to book reservations ahead of arrival at 1180 Valley Home Road. For more information, call 423-586-9953.