Valparaiso farmer turns cornfield into 5-hole course

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BY WILLIAM LAUER / Lincoln Journal Star

VALPARAISO — Eight years ago, with corn around $1.50 a bushel, Valparaiso farmer Gordon Ohnoutka took seven acres out of production, planted grass and stuck red flags into round circles of sand.

“I wanted to play golf,” Ohnoutka said of the sport he picked up during college in the early 1960s, but a pastime hard to satisfy given a farmer’s work schedule. Driving to Lincoln and back for nine holes was a half-day inconvenience in need of a solution.

Initially curiosities among Ohnoutka’s farming neighbors, the sand greens, mowed fairways and air-conditioned clubhouse with a panoramic view of southwestern Saunders County are now a mecca for local duffers.

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Golfers Gordon Ohnoutka (left), Richard Komenda, Marvin Shanahan and Bob Kliment, along with the rest of the weekly crew, watch a shot during the Tuesday night scramble on Ohnoutka's farm. (William Lauer)

On Tuesday nights around 6 p.m., anyone who wants to play draws a number from a hat, teams up with three others and the weekly, 10-hole scramble begins.

The five-hole course consists of four par-3s and one par-4. Tee boxes are marked red, white, blue and black with ball washer, towel and garbage can provided. Boundaries include the cornfield along the right side of the first fairway — “We buy hail insurance for the first 50 rows,” Ohnoutka joked — the gravel roads west and south, and a wall of 30-foot evergreens to the east, making any search for an errant shot, let along recovery, painfully impossible.

There is only one official rule: Wait for cars to pass on the adjacent road before hitting. And one unofficial rule: Bring your own beer. There are no green fees or tee times. You just show up.

“Nobody pays anything unless they want to,” said Ohnoutka, who does accept contributions to defray expenses.

Neighbor Dale Rezac never played the game until Ohnoutka’s unconventional landscaping transformed the gently rolling hills a mile east of Valparaiso into a golfers’ oasis amid wheat, bean and corn fields.

“We can tee off from the orchard,” was Rezac’s first thought when flags sprouted on the greens. After an invitation from Ohnoutka, Rezac is now a Tuesday night regular.

Ohnoutka takes pride knowing he’s introduced the game to friends who had never played golf and most likely would never have picked up a club if not for his low-stress, down-home, user-friendly course.

“We are a farm team,” he said, cultivating players’ confidence to where they understand the basics of the game enough to play public courses nearby.

Valparaiso resident Craig Kliment is another golfer who never played until Ohnoutka’s invitation. “He says, ‘Come on out and swing the clubs,’” Kliment said. “If you like it, keep on coming out.’”

And he has. Now Kliment plays two to three times a week with buddy Rob Saf of Ceresco, who also learned the game on Ohnoutka’s course.

“We like to go out and hit a new course as often as we can,” Saf said.

The course’s popularity has grown to include a ladies’ scramble on Wednesday mornings and two tournaments a year. To the winner of the Valparaiso Open goes a coveted brown, polyester jacket.

With corn prices now flirting with $7 dollars a bushel, golfers expressed concern that their new hobby may soon disappear.

“We’re going to have to come back next spring and make sure he doesn’t plant it,” retired farmer John Hladik said. “Take away his tractor keys.”

Not a concern, Ohnoutka said.  “Seven acres of ground doesn’t matter. The monetary value isn’t important.”

Reach William Lauer at 473-2632 or wlauer@journalstar.com.