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We have Jeremy in the wings all right we’ll bring him on Jeremy rusco the new owner of the Formerly Known Emporia Country Club Jeremy thank you so much for taking the time to join us tonight BR to ulie thanks for having me on looking forward to it of course I
Have to say this uh the news of this breaking definitely caught my eye I have seen you know Pros going out and buying land or taking part in like making their own home course somewhere here but I’ve I I haven’t seen someone buy a an actual country club
Before and and that that’s a big I mean that’s a big big purchase with a lot of land a lot of Maintenance and everything so I’ve tons of questions but I guess my first one is like how did this come about like what was the uh the the beginning starting of
This uh well a little over year ago um more than that but the the country club has um as a lot of people are probably aware the country club model is uh doesn’t really work all that well in in smaller you know rural communities like Emporia
25,000 a little bit larger than that um the financial you know stability of a country club just doesn’t doesn’t seem to make sense and so last year the a little over a year ago the club actually went up for sale um I actually there was only two interested parties at the time
And uh the old shareholders and the old money I guess you could say um you know they had their group and then it was it was me and the I guess you could say the old money wanted to stick with the old money and um you tried to buy it a couple years
Ago correct back in 2022 okay well a year ago the end of 2022 yep okay and and that was okay had a lot going on with the you know the house of discs um you know Dynamic Discs merger acquisition and uh the timing just wasn’t right so it was certainly um okay
With that I knew that they were going to at least they said they were going to put some more effort into you know the the facility and and the disc golf course and the golf course and a year later uh here we are and um I’m I’m excited about you know what
We’ve been able to accomplish there and where we’re where we’re going with things so um they they approached me in October about um you know that the property was likely not likely it was going to go up for sale um they wanted to know if I was interested in
Purchasing U it I actually kind of at the time it said you know what I I appreciate it I’m I’m not the timing is right for me just yet and um they approached me again a little bit later and then you know and of course the intention is to keep things
In Emporia because if you have somebody from outside Emporia that acquires the property it’s probably not going to remain a dis golf course not going to remain a a traditional golf course and probably going to become a housing Housing Development so um anyway at one
Point they said hey if you don’t put an offer in by you know the end of the week just want you to know that it is going to go to the to the market and uh it’s likely that it’s going to sell to somebody outside oforia and so I ended up putting
An offer in and here we are today so did you get a better deal than your previous offer back in 2022 you know you would think that uh that would be the case um unfortunately it was not the case the pickle ball courts they’re like hey we
Got pigle ball courts now this is we got we got upcharge for this now uh no I’m I’m a little yeah a little disappointed in the way that uh yeah the uh the short-term turnaround um that they were able to make a pretty substantial you know profit on but um
That’s you know everything happens for a reason and um it’s uh here we are so so what’s your plan moving forward do you because obviously do you do you swing the sticks or do you plan on like keep keeping that growing and and uh keeping in a traditional Golf Course or do you
Want to make it a full-time disc golf destination course or like what are your plans kind of moving forward with that where do you want it to go Julie you tell me me that’s why you came on here to get our ideas yeah looks like you might be looking for some investors
Brody I want dis golf man you want dis golf yeah I want disc golf cut it in half make a really nice country club golf course the other half really nice disc golf course how about that well it’s definitely not remaining a you know a members only country club
Facility the emphasis is going to be more on disc golf obviously 113 years ago when the country club was established and the course was made it was solely focused on you know traditional Ball Golf and when we uh you know had our first disc golf tournament out there in 2012
Um you know we were working around the the golf course and you know and ultimately even today we still you know coexist with the golf course we we follow the you know the way that the course flows for traditional Golf and I think it’s a really pretty pretty sound
Course in the way that the two can coexist together all that being said um you know disc golf has still been a much more secondary Focus there at the at the at the facility or not really much of a focus at all until it’s you know more tournament time and uh absolutely going
To put more emphasis and focus on disc golf I think there’s a lot to lot to accomplish there and certainly when the disc golf pro tour comes to town when you guys come to town you know it’s it’s a big deal for empor it’s a big deal for
Dynamic Discs it’s a big deal for House of discs and I absolutely look forward to making sure that we continue to make that course better every year I think we have over the last you know decade every year we certainly make improvements we we take the feedback that that you guys
Provide we we make changes the course and I know there’s some criticism about the way the course is but um when you really try to think about the way that everything comes together uh in terms of spectating in terms of the player experience in terms of the media you
Know there’s a lot that goes into um having a successful disc golf event at the highest level and I think that the the current property there the current facility Well not perfect it’s it’s one of the better facilities that’s it’s out there on the disc golf pro tour
Pdj major swing today is this going to be the first time we actually see a disc golf basket in the middle of a traditional golf green is this gonna be the first time that we see that i’ I’ve always wanted to just take a spike Heiser right into the green on purpose you
Know so I was actually thinking about that like you know what if there was what if we did it that way and if you did a [ __ ] Kaiser into the grade and you you know you you tombstoned it whatever that you know however you want to say it
Is that a one-stroke penalty um right now it is right now it is yeah I mean you definitely by owning it and being because I’ve always had the idea or the notion of this analogy of where disc golfers at golf courses we kind of we kind of feel like we’re the um the
Scooter kids at at a skate parks yeah of where technically yes the sign does say we’re allowed to be there but the majority of people there are on skateboards and they definitely shun or don’t like the scooter kids and I’ve I’ve felt that way at um go Hill out in
California I feel that way here in Las Vegas and I certainly felt that way also at the Emporia country club or what was the Emporia Country Club of where yeah we’ll take your money and yeah you can play disc golf here but you are definitely you know peasants compared to
The golfers and even from the golfers there it’s it’s a it’s a headbutting thing so how are you going to tackle that if you are going to try to keep it um a golf course and a disc golf course how are you going to kind of tackle where these two
Groups don’t really like each other well thankfully in Emporia disc golf and dis golfers even though you know maybe had some mixed you know feelings and emotions in the past um the two you know disc golf is obviously very well um received in Emporia and very you know I’d say the community opens
Welcomes dis golfers with with open arms and is excited to have the dis Golf Community um you know the dis golf circus come to Emporia for the week uh I I would say it’s pretty pretty you know basic in the sense that um I’m pretty optimistic that under the new ownership
There’s going to be more passionate dis golfers that are amongst the staff at the facility um at what is now being called Champions Landing which maybe we can talk about here in a little bit but um you know I certainly expect that the people who are maintaining the course
Are I have a pretty good feeling that there’s going to be some passionate disc golfers that are amongst that crew the that’s inside at the restaurant bar and grill is probably going to be a stronger mix of disc offers um and just the Dynamics in itself at the you know at
The property is is certainly going to change where it’s been it really has been more of a members only country club type of a Vibe um every year the membership has been going down and um ultimately that doesn’t work anymore and it is going to be more more inviting uh
Announcing tomorrow that um and it’s been pay to it’s the only course in empor that is pay to play uh and it’s been a pretty I think they raised the rate to $25 round in Emporia that’s quite a bit of money and um all that being said I would say that it’s it’s
Absolutely worth that but I’m going to bring those rates down to a more um we’ll say reasonable disc golf rate uh going to have some free disc golf nights for the month of February disc golf is going to be free out at uh out at the uh on on the Cor
And there’s going to be more League nights more events more things to engage with the disc golf community and certainly make sure that they’re welcome uh inside and outside the facility are you going to make the country club a public uh traditional Golf Course uh don’t have the crystal clear
Plan but ultimately yes it’s uh um that’s you know there’s with the membership going away um and there’s just so many you know it’s a great location there’s a lot of people that are around the area and um to get more activity to make it more financially
Sustainable I think we need to be more inviting and more welcoming to the entire community so with that with that being said do you plan on um even doing renovations for uh traditional golf as well or do you plan on just kind of keeping it the same or there’s uh this
You guys probably don’t have enough time to uh talk about everything with uh with what’s what’s you know potentially going to happen but there is some substantial um state of Kansas um tourism and entertainment um grant money Bond money that can be can be awarded to you know
Something that’s going to be a tourism and entertainment uh draw for you know our our area and obviously disc golf is certainly a tourism and entertainment draw we got this you know data already about how you know many people I me not just for the for the one or two
Tournaments of the year but for year round I mean almost on the outside of the winter every day there’s people that are coming to Emporia playing the disc golf courses touring the Dynamic Discs you know facilities going to the retail store the Pro Shop um shopping staying in hotels eating in the restaurants
Enjoying the you know the disc golf experience and everything that Emporia has to offer and so there’s more than That to to go to the you know to the property I absolutely want to add a indoor pickle ball facility um that we got the six outdoor pickle ball courts that are already there and uh indoor pickle ball facility as well as you know multiports complex I think would
Absolutely um help things out we’ve got a music festival in town that um is is is a growing music festival and I expect that that’s going to start to migrate from downtown andoria to the facility there and hopefully in the long run maybe not really the long run I’ll find
Out actually go to um TOA to meet with the Department of Commerce um on Thursday I guess about uh about this and I’m very optimistic that U we are going to be a prime candidate and approved for this state funding to really make a transformational change and um change the whole entire property
Wow because I think the biggest issue that the people that have you know I guess that people that just don’t like watching disc golf on golf courses I think the biggest issue is literally just the look of it because as a player playing it I actually prefer playing on those type of
Courses because you can really adjust how the OB lines work you can adjust a lot I think it’s better for the fans too CU I mean worlds this year at New London I love the course it’s an incredible course Very it’s a very wooded awesome course there’s only going to be a couple
People being me to watch it that’s it there you’re not going to be able to have thousands of people watching you throw the t-shot on whole one so I think what Julie was trying to say too with the court M the Course Maintenance is is there going to be something like on hole
One are we going to see the Fairway shaped and the grass length change for disc golf so now when I look at it I’m like this is a sick looking Disc Off hole where the OB grass is higher the Fairway is lower and it’s it’s appealing
To the eye and it looks good versus we’re playing where it’s like the road over here is OB the sidewalk the cart path over here is OB but then there’s different lengths of grass but that’s still in bounds like are we going to be able to see a kind of a transformation
In the grass length where bunkers are placed where greens are going to be that’s going to suit disc golf more than golf uh yeah I absolutely think so and you know now that we’re going to have more freedom at the you know at the property uh certainly look forward to the
Feedback that we get part of that’s going to be implemented this year and just you know a couple months but um I’d love for you know Brody since you like playing on golf courses and I appreciate that by the way and I actually I really
Do think in terms of the growth of the sport having a you know these high level events played on or a facility that’s set up specifically for disc golf is really important to accommodate you know I think at World’s in 2022 when we hosted the professional World Championships I think we had a
Little over 3,000 Spectators that’s not easy to you know facilitate at a lot of the disc golf courses um that are out there and I think having a good spectating base is is a pretty important component to the growth of the sport the excitement of what’s going on and and
You know it’s it’s it’s really um just something that you can’t get in those tight wooded courses even though they’re fun to play even though it it brings out a different skill set and maybe caters to different players it don’t throw as you know the
The max distance um it uh yeah I think I think the the golf course is is really important and I think that over time there will be less criticism to um to how that is being done yeah okay sweet go yeah go ahead well I was just going to say um I
I really do you know thinking about things now looking forward where you know it doesn’t have to be just you know the golf course is the golf course and you can’t really change the golf course I really do look forward to seeing you know the different things that we can do
To um your point of having taller grass in certain areas having different um you know obstacles variables out of bounds Liv out of bounds lines those sorts of things are going to be I think pretty important to um the course continuing to evolve to keep up with the growing
Demands of um you know the highest level players like you guys yeah and I’m sure it gives you so much more land to um design better holes I mean different shots I I feel like when you have uh when you have to navigate the golf
Course in such a way to make sure that everything flows together having the freedom of owning the property and being like okay this weekend we’re putting in these holes there’s no golf and you’re able to actually use the land for disc golf I can’t imagine all the ideas
Especially having a great cour designer like Eric over there I can’t imagine his his wheels turning right now and getting excited to you know really get the whole potential of the entire property he was actually out there today um and you know I know that his mind and
We talked about it it’s in a different state of mind now you know it’s not just working within a smaller you know set of restraints he’s got way more freedom or ultimate freedom in in most regards so yeah I look forward to seeing the changes that we’re able to
Make you mentioned the new name and I want to touch on this a little bit Champions Landing uh can you you know expand a little bit on where where this name came from why why it came about uh yeah absolutely so um it was actually the uh the the general manager
That’s been at the at the facility for he had a couple you know that the country club name and they and when the new ownership purchased it they changed it to Emporia Community Club and Club just doesn’t work in Emporia it makes people not feel welcome because you have
To be part of the club to you know get inside the get inside the gates inside the facility use the use the golf course use the diff golf course and that’s that’s not where you know we’re we’re going to that’s just not that’s going to
Be at and so the uh the general manager Chris her over there he had a couple name suggestions Champions Landing was one of them I was like wow that’s actually pretty cool and when I thought about it we Crown we’ve crowned maybe should put pull out I mean we’ve crowned
A lot of PDGA Junior world champions amateur world champions Masters world champions professional world champions this year we’re hosting the Masters World Championship next year we’re hosting the junior World Championship there’s You 113 years of uh you know City golf champions crowned at the um at the property and I think I just thought that name was very fitting and as we continue to have more World Championships in a 4 for disc golf I think Champions Landing is a really fitting name for the
Property and I was actually kind of surprised that uh there’s not another golf course that I found that was named Champions Landing or something yeah I played I played at a lot of courses with champ in it I’ve played a lot of courses with Landing but I don’t think I’ve ever
Played Champions Landing course love the name yeah it’s a cool it’s a cool thing um all right so first first want to say you know I think for disc golf to continue to grow I think people have to take risk because obviously this is a massive risk take you know taking on
This massive project here things like this have to happen to kind of set the future or the path of where maybe disc golf is going going to go in 10 20 15 years from now but I do want to push back just a little bit because in the uh
Emporia Gazette uh you had the quote saying Champions Landing will solidify Emporia as the dis golf capital of the world and dis golf destination for decades to come when you go to Emporia you definitely feel like holy cow like disc golf is a lot of a bigger deal here than
In other states in the United in other cities in the United States but one thing that is a little bit of a concern to me is the tournament I can’t remember what year it was but it might even been last year one of the tournaments there
You guys decided not to hold the Am tournament on the same weekend as the professional tournament and the attendance was a massive dip for like just for me seeing the crowds and stuff it was and people kind of had photos of like hey this is what it looked like
Last year final round lead card this is what it looks like this year so I guess for the people the naysayers or whatever out there saying like no Emporia is never going to be a destination spot no one’s going to be driving into Emporia no one’s going to fly into Emporia what
Are you going to do differently at Champions Landing because we’ve seen it not really work at Eagles Crossing right Eagles Crossing everyone’s talking about it this course is the course of the future I haven’t heard anyone talk about it I haven’t heard anyone go out there play it and it’s an incredible course
It’s just in the middle of nowhere so what’s going to set Champions Landing apart from all the other courses that are going to basically have people flock in to play to watch the tournaments and all that you got enough time for this hey the chat the chat loves this trust me
The chat loves this everyone when when no one is chatting when no one is saying anything that’s when I know everyone’s listening so yeah everyone everyone’s dialed in to hear what you have to say say yeah hey and I appreciate the question and I do know there’s some you
Know certain criticism around uh Emporia being a great disc golf location or great disc golf destination and I would say that we are uh not in the middle of nowhere you know we’re not a metropolitan area but um we we are not that you know we’re an hour 15 from the
Witchy airport an hour a little over hour and a half from the Kansas City Airport center of the country easy to get to people passing by all the time from the two interstates that are uh that are you know they go right through Emporia and I think the well
Udisk named Emporia the number one small town disc golf small town for disc golf um you know in the United States or in the world a couple years ago and that was not just like they just you know threw the dart at the dart board and and
Picked Emporia that was based on uh you know user generated data from the feedback from the you know Ratings I don’t know all the specifics around that but uh you know when you come to him where as a disc golfer you feel welcome most people at restaurants most people in you know in the stores when they see somebody wearing something disc golf they talk to them you know
They talk to the to the person the only place I’ve ever gotten a discount or for food Planet shout out to Planet Subs I think they give like 10% off for disc offers that I mean that that does make you feel like oh wow okay this is kind
Of cool uh and that’s the only place that’s ever happened to me yeah um we got dis golf baskets at almost every every school the senior citizen you know centers um fraternities sororities there local restaurants local businesses hotels dis golf baskets are everywhere in Emporia um I think the number of courses
That we have in such a you know literally like a five minute proximity or 10 from center of town is is pretty incredible and while they’re you know not the number one or number two or you know top 10 courses on those people’s list there’s a lot of really quality
Courses in such a such a small area you get to come to the Dynamic Discs Pro Shop you get to come to the Dynamic Discs headquarters building you get a tour of the facility you get a stamp a disc you get to see the museum um now
Inside of House of discs there’s even more brands underneath of the umbrella so even more of an experience when you come to Emporia I’m hopeful that we’ll have Manufacturing in Emporia at some point um how much more time do I have to keep talking on this Brody you’re no
You’re good yeah no I think I I think uh you know when it goes to like destinations right coming from a golfer back when I wasn’t nearly as busy as I am now I would go on these golf trips with my boys every year and I mean
When when it when it came season to start trying to figure out where we were going to go I mean it was flooded with ideas of like Northwest Florida Northeast let’s go to Hawaii let’s go International let’s go to I it was flooded with all sorts of
Ideas the only one that really ever like pops up that I hear people talk about a lot is Rock Hill uscgc which that course is not the same course as when we play it and then Maple Hill right those are the two courses that I hear when oh yeah
I’m doing a guys trip we’re going to go up play some disc golf I guess like what is what is going to make Emporia what is going to make Champions Landing in that conversation of like oh this is where we’re going next summer we’re going to go out and play uh Champions
Landing well maybe the I mean there people are coming all the time to empor the amount of Tours that we give at you know the dynamic disc headquarters building is absolutely incredible I can’t believe the number of people that come almost every day outside of outside
Of the winter that come to them for you and so um I think it’s just a fact that you know those what you’re hearing about those um Maple Hill those those Rock Hill those destination places uh people are um it’s maybe easier to talk about on social media and gets maybe in the
Newsfeed a little bit little bit more but um the the actual number of people that come to Emporia um for disc golf and to enjoy you know everything that we have in Emporia is it’s it’s really a pretty incredible number looking at the udisk reports on how many people come from uh
The different states how you know it’s it’s it’s really cool to see and yeah I have a little push back with that Brody because I’ve I’ve definitely heard of so many people saying we’re making a trip to Emporia to go play all those different courses without a doubt but I it might be
Because I’m I’m from Texas and it’s a lot closer and they want to go they want to fly somewhere and make it more of a trip than like a road trip that might be it um so I I could I could definitely stand corrected on on that statement for
Sure I would say that it’s definitely a I would say a top five destination for especially amateurs to go somewhere um and play there but I do want to go back to the question that you had Brody of um which I I feel like is a great
Question of so we did see a a downward um drop at the last tournament as far as Spectators this year coming up um do you guys have plans to to run more am tournaments or to be a little bit more inviting to grab those people to come in
Because I feel like that’s definitely an issue that we all that we all um were sad about too because we love playing in front of those big crowds right yeah and Brody I appreciated I apologize for not answering that earlier you I’m glad that you brought that back up
Because was a little bit worried about that well last year obviously we we saw what we saw the spectating base was was not there like we had hoped and we are absolutely combining the disc golf pro tour Dynamic disc open with the uh amateur Dynamic disc open this year as
Well to make sure that we bring in more amateur players it’s going to be more of that Festival like at atmosphere that people have been familiar with with you know the old glass blown open days um as well as when we had the Dynamic Discs
Open the Am pro um we are focusing on Emporia only for for this year um to make sure that everybody is Rock Solid right here in Emporia the amateurs are going to play on Thursday Friday and Saturday Pros are going to play Friday Saturday Sunday so that you know
Certainly expect that 80 90% of the AMS will stick around to spectate um on that final Championship Sunday out at the out at Champions Landing um with some of the new impr and um yeah I’m you know I think it’s an important piece to have the
Amateurs um as a part of the event I would love to have like every couple years maybe every five years we kind of bring back the The Big Show of sorts where you know kind of the glass blown open um when we had 1500 1600 competitors and the Heyday of that but
Um it’s it’s a lot to part of it is it’s so challenging as an organization to run a disc golf protour Elite Series event or a PDGA major you know every year the requirements to make that be what it needs to be to to put on um you know
Such a high quality event really pulls a lot of resources a lot of Staff a lot of volunteers and when you have you know multiple other forces that are you’re trying to put on a good amateur experience it’s it’s hard to do um but we’re going to do it this year and we
Can’t wait to see everybody in Emporia for the dynamic is open yeah well I will be there I’ll be very excited to kind of see what changes uh you guys are making in the next couple months I know it’s going to be very busy for sure and I’m
I’m 100% on board too I know there are some pros that push back with like why are there AMS out here there was some push back when we did uh out at OTB open not OB sorry Portland open they shut down one of the courses and the pros
Could only practice one of the courses while the other course was available for purchase for amateurs to come out and play which helped increase costs or I guess reduce the cost from the disc golf pro tour of renting out all the golf courses out there I think right now with
Where disc golf is like I think that’s essential I think you have to marry these things together and the idea of like oh I’m just going to run a disc golf course uh tournament bu myself and nothing else I think that only works in certain communities in certain spots
Right now and until you kind of build it up to where you have 3,000 4,000 people that will show up to your tournament and not have to play this golf or have any skin in the game I think you have to do it this way because I know for a fact
People will travel from Texas to Kansas to play in the tournament and then watch the tournament on Sunday and and a lot of them too come out after the rounds they’ll walk 36 holes they’ll play in the morning and then come out and watch walk another 18 so um and I know going
Off of what Julie said you know this this works for us too like we like playing in front of fans as well and uh that’s what we want to see so yie did you have something else no that was it yeah sweet well I know you’re a busy
Person we really do appreciate you taking the time of coming on we wish you all the best and uh I look forward to playing my first round at Champions Landing soon so thank you so much you guys better have at least one hole where we can throw spikers into that green
I’ll bring a big divot a big divot uh fixer well what about about this what about on Monday we do the ball golf disc golf Challenge and Spike heisers are allowed on one hole all right I’m down yes I’m in I’m in and and think about this so whole
Disc golf hole one what if you did we’ll say traditional golf ball golf off the tea and then you through a disc uh from there Spike Heiser onto the green like you want and then you putt from your divot I’m in we’ll see you guys next
Time all right all right I’m all all say is any of those houses on the right side of that street if if we have a bunch of people hitting t- shots off there beware the slice is coming to play so all right thanks so much Jerry for coming on good
Luck on Thursday too uh with your meeting up there as well and we appreciate it thank you so much have a good night thanks guys He
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