‘A Facility with a First Name’: How Customer Service and Attention to Detail Have Kept the Warrior Strong for a Quarter Century
Published 12:06 PM Tuesday, July 30, 2024
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From left to right: Warrior Golf Club founders Gerald Staton, Brian Lee and Rich Houston – Chandler Inions
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Warrior Golf Club-Photo by Joey Benton
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Warrior Golf Club is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. – Submitted
CHINA GROVE — Twenty-five years ago, four families had a vision to create a semi-private destination for the middle class golfer who wants balanced accessibility And affordability of quality. A quarter century later, Warrior Golf Club is flourishing, thanks in part to the founder continued commitment to their vision.
“We are a First name “The club is a great place to play,” Club Pro Brian Lee said last week. “We are not a Mr. and Mrs. club. We are a John and Jane club. We want you to feel at home here, whether you are a member or a guest, and to feel like you had a great time and want to play again next week or next month.”
Curating that culture didn’t happen overnight, but it’s still the rock of the founders’ plan since the get started. Lee, Rick Houston and Gerald Staton are the three remaining names of the original founding quartet after the Johnson family sold its stake in the company.
The Lee Family was represented by Brian and his father, Donald. Houston, the general and his father ML “Red” Houston owned another 25 percent. Staton, the accounting and maintenance manager, and his father Roy owned another quarter. Finally, the Johnson Family consisted of Ray and sons Brian and Todd.
“Can not let the article be running without saying thank you our parents (Mark and Edith Houston; Roy and Geraldine Staton; and Don and Jane Lee) for investing in our dream and helping us realize it by staying the course,” Houston said.
Looking back now, Houston, Lee and Staton are proud of what they have achievedbut that wasn’t always easy.
They chose the land because of its proximity to Charlotte and its central location in Rowan County, but it was not a singlean area that was easily accessible.
“We had to buy several parcels of land from different landowners,” Lee said. “We had to encapsulate the entire property and then work with the city of Landis because (Lake Wright) was one of their water sources in those days.”
It was 1999 and construction had officially started when the first disaster happened.
“We had the worst drought in a hundred years shortly after we opened,” Houston said. “It started during construction and lasted until 2001.”
At that time the track was largely wooded areasso converting it to a typical golf course terrain required growing lots of grass, which required lots of water. Not just ideal during periods of drought.
“We had to come up with an idea and depend on some neighbors to survive Through “That particular summer,” Lee said.
Houston explained that if the was not For Randall Patterson of Patterson Farms, the golf course would likely have “burned down.”
“Great neighbors and great people,” Lee added.
When the drought eased, the course seemed to do wellbut then Tragedy struck the nation when terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing two into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon. A fourth plane, United 93, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
According to Houston, 9/11 had a greater impact on golf than expected.
“A lot of people stop playing,” Houston said.
It will take some time before golf rates rise would return to something resembling normal, and the 2008 financial crisis didn’t help things either.
“We’ve tried to hold on and even invested more,” Houston said. “We took over the clubhouse and made some improvements, like adding a bar.”
Despite the difficulties, the trio never deviated from their original concept.
“We just tried to stick to our vision and move forward,” Houston said. “We kept that focus.”
In 2018 the club underwent a drastic reform.
“We lost our vegetables,” Houston said.
Lee added: “They were outdated in a way. It was hard to maintain them.”
With hot summers and cold winters, Rowan County proved are relatively inhospitable to the kind of originally laid out bentgrass greens.
“When “When we first opened, bentgrass was the best surface you could have in this particular part of the country,” Lee said. “That has changed and with the new hybrid Bermudas out there, it is cost efficient that we have that.”
However, changing the greens was not going to are a quick solution. It ended up costing Warrior Golf Club a season’s worth of golf revenuewhile the club was implementing the changes.
“God’s not going to give you more than you can handle, and if you get through it, maybe you’ll come out better,” Houston said. “It’s been a blessing to us.”
Those words would prove true again at a later stage. a few short years in which a global pandemic turned the world upside down. It was difficult in the beginning as COVID-19 shook our lives to the core. a lot of things, but the resulting consequences have Actually been positive, even though that wasn’t clear at first.
“Post-COVID, golf in general has become popular again,” Lee said. “Golf was, in a sense, a dying sport until then, with a lot of course closures and the baby boom generation goods become older. The new generations were not to play as much as golf. When COVID hit, suddenly the young people came out to play.
“Now that people can work on their phones and don’t have to work, brick and mortar 40 hours or 50 hours a week, you have a little more free time and they seem to have the resources to get out and play a little more. That has been good for golf in generalnot only us.”
Members tournament
Warrior Golf Club is a semi-private course open to all and offers membership.
This past weekend, the club held its 25th annual membership tournament. Lee estimated ahead of the two-day tournament that about 60 members would participate.
Chris Owens repeated his club championship title, with a score of 68 on Saturday and 69 on Sunday. Robert Shoaf defended his senior club championship title, immediately 70 and 71 on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
“There was another once-in-a-lifetime thing that happened on the final lap on Sunday,” Houston said.
Steve Yates hit a hole-in-one on hole 6 and in the group behind him played his weekly playing partner and old friend Billy James, hit a few minutes later a hole-in-one.
It’s a weekend they’ll both never forget.
Providing those kind of moments is what Lee, Houston and Staton are trying to do every day for members and guests, because like Lee said, that is WHO it’s all about.
“We feel very privileged and grateful to all the people, not only locally but also regionally, who come to support us, because if it used to be “If we didn’t work for them, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing now,” he said.
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