New Cape C.C. GM puts focus on clubhouse

TOBY CARRIG * tcarrig@semissouriancom

Dave Kaesheimer, who has 25 years in the golf business, is the new general manager at the Cape Girardeau Country Club.Kaesheimer to oversee operation of the 84-year-old Cape Girardeau Country Club.

By Toby Carrig

Southeast Missourian

Dave Kaesheimer likes a challenge in his work.

In a golf career that spans about 25 years, Kaesheimer has -- among other things -- supervised a golf course expansion, started a business and helped turn around a golf course that was in bankruptcy.

His new post as the business manager for Cape Girardeau Country Club is nothing as dramatic. Kaesheimer relocated from Texas about six weeks ago to oversee the operations at the 84-year-old country club.

"I liked the employees and the members that I met," Kaesheimer said. "The place was in good shape. It made me want to be a part of this."

Club president Gerald Jones indicated at the start of the search process that the club was seeking someone who could help increase the membership, meet the needs of the current membership and be proactive about meeting the needs of new, younger members.

"I feel good about the direction we're going," Kaesheimer said. "We have a lot of good businesspeople in our membership who have faced many situations, and they have answers to any challenge that comes up.

"I think just growing the business is an ongoing project. Our goal isn't to be the club with 1,000 members. Our goal is to be the good, medium-sized club that offers great service and value to the members so that it becomes generational."

Kaesheimer's focus will be on the clubhouse -- which the club would like to renovate and expand -- as well as hosting events and dining. Of course, the golf also is important. Among the immediate projects for Cape Country Club is upgrading the cart barn and the cart fleet, with 46 new carts coming in August or September.

"I'd like to see our play increase, and I'd like to see our food and beverage increase," he said. "In a club environment, they go hand in hand."

Part of Kaesheimer's job is making sure they go hand in hand smoothly.

"We have a lot of moving parts," he said. "We're almost a midsize business. We're here long hours, and we're here seven days a week. There's a lot of action that goes on in front of the house and the back of the house. Part of the challenge and part of the satisfaction is to get those pieces to work together and make it look easy.

"From the customers' standpoint, you don't want to see people struggling to get the job done. You want to walk into an environment that is comfortable, not tense."

Kaesheimer's own experience in the business has prepared him for just about any situation. He has worked at golf courses owned by municipalities, private clubs and sole proprietors as well as courses run by the military, courses that were part of Indian reservations and courses that were part of large real-estate developments.

"Every situation is a bit different, and every place has its own set of problems," Kaesheimer said. "They're run differently by different people for different reasons."

Kaesheimer, who picked up his PGA Class A card about 15 years ago, oversaw the addition of nine holes a few years ago at Hills of Cove, a municipal course in Copperas Cove, Texas.

But his greatest sense of satisfaction came with turning around a course at Cochiti Lake, N.M. Pueblo de Cochiti Golf Course had been in Chapter 7 bankruptcy and was being run by trustees that could only keep up the course but not improve it. The course, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design halfway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, was taken over by an Indian tribe that formed a corporation to run it. Kaesheimer said the project included overcoming equipment issues and doing some course improvements in rough terrain in addition to the management of the facility.

"It wasn't easy, and we had to make a lot of hard decisions," Kaesheimer said. "It became one of the top 25 public courses, selected by Golf Digest, when I left."

While the work at Cape Country Club won't be as drastic, Kaesheimer expects constant review to upgrade facilities and service.

"We're like any business," Kaesheimer said. "We're competing for people's time and recreation. People have choices, and service is a big part of it. We want to be a club that is active, positive and multigenerational."