Steve Bergum: Ranch Club has come a long way

PRIEST RIVER, Idaho – Some people will do just about anything to keep from having to move to the Midwest. I grew up back there, so I understand.

But buy a golf course?

That takes “just about anything” to a new level.

Yet that is exactly what Dennis Napier did back in 1986, when he partnered with Bill Taite to purchase a brown, crusty and severely burned out nine-hole course that sits along Highway 2 about a mile west of this North Idaho recreational area.

Napier, who grew up in Seattle, was living in Portland and working for the Union Pacific Railroad at the time. He was also about to get transferred to St. Louis.

“But I wanted to stay in the Pacific Northwest,” Napier recalled earlier this week. “So I came up here, without a clue as to what I was doing, and bought a golf course.”

He and Taite looked at a couple of other small nine-hole layouts in the area, before settling on the executive-style Ranch Club Golf Course.

Napier, who had developed a deep love for golf while working for Union Pacific, knew from the onset that his business venture was a bit risky.

But he saw potential in the quaint little par-33 course that features six par-4s and three par-3s, while playing to a mere 2,510 yards.

So Napier and his partner, who has since sold his half of the course to another investor, gradually began upgrading the Ranch Club facilities. As finances would allow, they added sprinkler heads to the irrigation system the previous owners had started to install. They put in 30 new sand traps and did some minor work on the tee boxes.

And they hired a knowledgeable and friendly staff to take care of the course and tend to the recently remodeled restaurant that has become a major part of the Ranch Club’s allure.

I made my first trip to Napier’s course earlier this week.

The friend who went with me had played it a couple of decades back when it was still under the previous ownership, and he warned me not to expect much, recalling one particular hole that had telephone poles running down the middle of the fairway.

But once we arrived, we were both surprised by the newly paved parking lot and the expanse of deep green, freshly mown fairways stretched out in front of us. In addition, there was a nicely appointed club house with a logging-themed full-service bar and dining area.

Once out on the course we were again surprised by the pushiness of the Ranch Club’s fairways and smoothness of its small, but interesting, greens.

The layout of the course, which was built in the early 1940s, is a bit quirky. And the hole my friend remembered – the wickedly narrow, 407-yard par-4 sixth – still has telephone poles protecting the center of the fairway. But a local rule gives golfers who hit one of the poles, or the wires draped between them, the option of hitting another ball, penalty free, or playing the first one where it lands – which isn’t a bad option, considering how little fairway there is to hit.

Two of the par-3s on the course are well more than 200 yards – long and tough enough to challenge even the best of golfers.

But the course, in general, is geared to a more casual clientele.

Most of the holes run parallel to each other, and it’s not uncommon to see golfers walking down one fairway stop and talk to friends walking down another.

“I think that makes it fun to have tournaments out here,” Napier said of the intimate nature of his layout, “because when you’re out there on a big course, you never see anybody again.”

Napier’s statement shows that he has a refreshingly realistic view on where his golf course fits in – which is why he sunk a good deal of money into his restaurant, which is open 12 months a year and features prime rib specials on Friday and Saturday.

Shortly after purchasing the Ranch Club, Napier tried to compete with the big boys, stocking his pro shop with top-of-the-line golf clubs and apparel. He soon realized, however, that his regular customers weren’t all that keen about dropping $400 for a set of irons or $60 for a golf shirt.

“We tried that for a couple a years,” he said, “but it was really hard to get to people to buy. I’d take thousands and thousands of dollars and put it into inventory, but by August, I’d be selling most of it off at almost cost.”

So Napier and Taite shifted their focus to food, putting in a couple of pool tables and arcade games while specializing in pizza and catering to parties and other special gatherings.

“That actually made us a lot more money than the pro shop ever did,” Napier said.

Since then, Napier has expanded the Ranch Club’s culinary offerings to include the weekend prime rib specials, which are reportedly playing to rave reviews.

“We’ve touted ourselves as a fun, friendly, nine-hole course,” Napier said. “But you’ve got to have both things – golf and good food, because this is not a big, challenging golf course like Qualchan, where purist golfers can go out, play and walk away going, ‘Man, what a golf course!’

“In our case, we have to create a total experience, so we do that with our restaurant and friendly staff. Our goal is to have you walking away going, ‘Now that was a fun little golf course.’ And I think you would say that because you’ve played on a course that’s in good shape and then taken the opportunity to come in and have a good meal and maybe a couple of drinks or beers.”

Hey, looking at in those terms, the Ranch Club Golf Course works for me.

And best of all, it’s not in St. Louis.