For the past year, construction workers have been hammering, carrying and slatheringplaster at a pace that seems to get faster every day at Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach.
Tucked away in the shade of the 405 Freeway, set off a brief distance from Seal Beach Boulevard sits the seaside city’s only golf country club that for years has been among the top 10 in sales tax producers for Seal Beach.
For the city’s bean counters, the club is a welcome addition to the city budget’s bottom line.
“We hope to move up that scale and add even more to the city’s sales tax stream,” said Rick Williams, the club’s general manager last Friday.
Williams was discussing the club’s expansion that comes at a time when most businesses are scaling back and looking for a
place to hide. Despite the doom and gloom that has gripped most economic sectors of the country, Williams said the club’s management is bullish on the prospects of the club’s ability to grow.
He said the expansion is a matter of growing a business whose leaders believe they need to face the opportunities for them to fill the needs of their current and potential customers.
At the root of the expansion is the plan to make the facility more accommodating for people from within and without the club to make use of the banquet halls for such activities as weddings, business parties and special events.
“The club is situated at the northern edge of Orange County,” according the club’s Web site.
“Old Ranch is within a short drive to three airports and several major freeways, making it convenient for local or out-of-state travelers en
route to your celebration.”
“We are actually expanding our banquet facilities by about 50 percent,” Williams said.
The club’s administration said the $4 million enhancement project would be completed by the end of November, about a month later
than the original completion target date.
Club officials tried to make the construction project as minimully intrusive for members as possible, according to Lynne McDaniel, the club’s food and beverage manager who will be responsible for overseeing the events that are booked in the current and new facilities.
According to Williams, the project will result in the addition of about an 8,000-square-foot outdoor pavilion area, featuring a gazebo with an open seating area for 550.
“It will be perfect for outdoor weddings,” McDaniel said during a golf cart guided-tour of the project.
According to Williams and McDaniel, the Old Ranch Country Club expansion has two goals— one is to offer its regular customers
a better value and keep them included in their commitment to the club and its values.
The other goal is to open the club up to new membership and in some respects to keep an open door to the community to make use of the club’s banquet amenities.
According to the club’s Web site, “Old Ranch is a private country club that showcases a newly designed Ted Robinson championship
golf course.”
The Old Ranch Country Club offers membership opportunities that it says will fit in any lifestyle.
They are as follows:
• Corporate Golf Membership
• Regular Golf Membership
• Weekday Golf Membership
• Annual Golf Membership
• Seasonal Golf Membership
• Junior Executive Golf
Membership
• Social Membership (for the
non golfer)
For more information, call Membership Director Shirley Barto at (562)-596-4425.
Old Ranch Country Club is located at 3901 Lampson Ave.
