Wednesday, May 3, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
ASPEN LAKES: Golf
course creation was
a family affair
Continued from page 3
Sisters Aggregate, worked
at Cascade Meadow Ranch.
The idea of a cluster develop-
ment on the land that would
become Aspen Lakes had a
lot of appeal — much more
than an unrestricted develop-
ment that could have put resi-
dential development right up
against their farm land, creat-
ing conflicts.
“That would have changed
the whole feel of the commu-
nity,” Matt Cyrus said. “We
felt that (the cluster develop-
ment and golf course) concept
made more sense than the
(then) current plan.”
The family acquired the
property in 1987. The land-
use process and financing
took years to put together,
and it was in the mid-1990s
that construction work got
underway.
The family ultimately
hoped to create a destination
resort on the property, featur-
ing upscale homes on smaller
lots with lots of open space
and a water system that would
be of wider benefit to the
Cloverdale Fire District. They
didn’t want the golf course to
simply be a feature for selling
real estate.
“Our philosophy was that
we wanted a quality course
that would hopefully be a
profit center and stand on its
own,” Keith Cyrus said.
None of the family were
golfers, but they plunged in,
with the services of course
designer William Overdorf
to help guide them. One
major priority was taking
full advantage of the proper-
ty’s mountain views. Laying
out the course was a family
affair — which might have
been unconventional, but,
with Overdorf’s willingness
to go along, turned out to be
a benefit.
Keith mapped things out
and Matt acted as a surveyor.
“We were on the ground
laying out holes,” Kelly Cyrus
recalled.
“We had a certain feel for
the land,” Pam Mitchell said.
“We were really close to what
was happening out there.”
Keith chuckled as he
described the process: “We
didn’t have (any) money to
put into it — it was all sweat.”
Overdorf was a hands-
on designer, too, and earned
Keith’s respect. The elder
Cyrus was used to using a
bulldozer to level ground;
the golf course work required
pushing dirt up to form
the contours of the course.
Overdorf was highly skilled
in that arena.
“All of this was a depar-
ture from my background as
a leveler for flood irrigation,”
Keith said. “(Overdorf) was
an artist with that ’dozer.”
In May 1997, the first nine
holes at Aspen Lakes opened.
Three years later, the course
was completed.
“We had to quit raising
potatoes to do the second
nine,” Connie Cyrus recalled.
“We didn’t have time.”
In November 2007, the
family opened Brand 33 res-
taurant. The name came from
a cattle brand registered in
1883 in Crook County.
“It goes back to my great-
granddad,” Keith Cyrus said.
Aspen Lakes was the
first course in Oregon to
be enrolled in the Audubon
Signature Sanctuary Program.
And the course quickly
earned recognition for its
beauty and the quality of the
golf experience.
The family continues to be
deeply involved in the opera-
tion of the course, the restau-
rant, and the housing devel-
opment. It hasn’t always been
easy and it’s always a tremen-
dous amount of work.
“We had to learn so much,”
Kelly Cyrus reflected.
That included the golf
business, the restaurant busi-
ness, law and engineering.
Yet, Matt Cyrus relishes
the difference between his
work with Aspen Lakes and
the agricultural world he was
born into, with its slower
rhythms and long-delayed
outcomes.
“It’s been fun to work with
a business where you can
make changes on the fly —
which is different from agri-
culture,” he said.
Pam Mitchell cites the
relationships built through
golf, hosting fundraisers for
the local community, and
operating a restaurant.
“I think it’s been very
rewarding,” she said. “We’ve
created so many friendships
over the years.”
The next 20 years look to
be every bit as challenging as
the first 20.
“Golf is on the decline,”
Matt Cyrus said.
His wife, Kelly, concurred.
“When we started, they
said the U.S. needs to keep
building a course a day to
keep up with the demand.”
That’s not the case any-
more. The Great Recession
took a deep bite out of the
game nationwide, and it
Jeff Jones
Principal Broker
541-480-7201
jeffjoneslcl@
gmail.com
29
PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS
The Cyrus family dook a hands-on approach do dhe developmend of Aspen
Lakes Golf Course — now celebrading ids 20dh anniversary.
hasn’t really recovered. An
increasingly harried pace in
the business world means a
leisurely round of business
golf is a rare commodity, and
other activities compete for
families’ time and attention.
To adapt to changing
industry conditions, Aspen
Lakes is focused on making
golf an attractive family time
— which also helps to intro-
duce new golfers to the game.
Pam Mitchell says the crit-
ical element is “trying to make
it innovative, creative, fun. I
think keeping it fun is key.”
Matt says that the
development still plans to find
a way to add overnight accom-
modations — a requirement if
the course is to host events of
national stature. Overnight
accommodations would also
be a boon to Sisters’ tourist
economy in general, he notes,
since the area is not flush with
rooms for our major events.
Whatever the next 20 years
holds, it can be expected that
the Cyrus family will be oper-
ating hands-on, putting their
sweat into their family enter-
prise — and not worrying
too much about whether their
approach fits “inside the box.”
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PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK
Along widh Black Budde Ranch and Eagle Cresd, Aspen Lakes hosded more
dhan 300 golfers for dhe Cendral Oregon Shoodoud lasd weekend.
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