Pine Crest Golf Course owners Chad and Karla Knutson purchased the property from former owner Doris Severson in 2010, when their youngest child (a son) was just 5 years old.
Eleven years later, that child is now a high school sophomore (the Knutsons also have an older daughter), and the couple have decided that the time has come to sell.
New owner Indiana Thompson, of Chetek, will be on hand when the course bar and grill opens for business this Friday, March 5, 2021.
“Chad and I had been talking about this for a year or two,” Karla Knutson said Monday, March 1. “We never listed (the property), but there was some buzz out there,” she added.
Thompson, who responded to “the buzz” by approaching the Knutsons about buying the course, has golf course management experience in Hayward, Knutson added. But she said the current owners still plan to be around to help with the transition.
“We obviously want the place to do well, so we’ll take some time with the (process),” she said.
During their years of ownership, the Knutsons worked to keep the course maintained, boost patronage and attract customers.
In January 2017, the owners added a chili cookoff to the winter schedule. They sponsored or hosted a number of golf tournaments, and got involved with Dallas community projects – notably a $100,000-plus renovation at the village park.
But the biggest change happened during the fall and winter months of 2018-2019, when the Knutsons hired Pat Ziehme Construction to add a 24-foot by 48-foot addition to the clubhouse. It eventually included a kitchen, a new bathroom, an inside beer cooler and more storage space.
For the outgoing owners, the change is a bittersweet moment, Karla Knutson said.
“It has been nothing but fantastic, good times, and good memories, but the bottom line is we’re tired,” she said. “I work full time (she is a credit analyst at Community Bank of Cameron), and Chad is at the course every day. We both reached the point where we were ready for something different.”