Owosso Country Club: From Nine Holes to a Stage for Michigan Golf

On August 16, 1924, Owosso Country Club president B.A. Hathaway hit what the club remembers as the first tee shot on its new course. The club’s history adds a distinctive detail: it says the ball became embedded in the fireplace masonry in the clubhouse dining room.^[1]

That opening-day story sits within a timeline that begins a year earlier. The club dates its organization to 1923, when local business leaders formed a member-owned country club. Michigan State University’s golf-course directory lists an “Owosso Golf Club” by designer Tom Bendelow in 1923, while a Shiawassee Arts Council history exhibit says the country club opened north of the city in 1924. These sources support a useful distinction: organization and course planning in 1923, followed by the course opening in 1924.^[1][2][3]

A nine-hole beginning

The club’s own history says 116 people joined as charter members, including local author James Oliver Curwood. It reports that the selected property cost $7,200 and that Bendelow designed the original nine holes. The MSU directory independently supports Bendelow’s connection to an Owosso course in 1923; it uses the name “Owosso Golf Club.” The membership count and purchase price currently rest on the club’s published account.^[1][2]

The course occupies a bluff along the Shiawassee River. The Golf Association of Michigan describes it as a member-owned club founded in 1923 and credits Bendelow with the original design.^[4]

Jake Fassezke and the second nine

In 1929, according to the club, Owosso Country Club bought 55 acres from the King estate and began expanding to eighteen holes. The club credits head professional Jake Fassezke with leading the development of the new nine, including an island green beside the river at the fifteenth hole. It also says pines planted along the entrance drive became known as “Sackrider Row,” after Charles Sackrider.^[1]

Fassezke’s connection to the course was part of a notable Michigan golf career. The Michigan Golf Hall of Fame says he worked as a club professional at Owosso, won consecutive Michigan Open titles in 1934 and 1935, and was credited with redesign work on the club’s Bendelow course. The club’s history specifically associates him with the 1929 addition; the surviving online accounts do not detail how design responsibilities were shared.^[5]

Keeping a club going

The club’s history also records the financial and social work behind the course. It says members bought $10,000 in bonds in 1938 to refinance bank debt during the Depression. The same account describes a wading pool added in the 1940s and a women’s association organized by charter member Ag Hasse, who arranged interclub matches and other activities. The club says it had more than 300 members and a waiting list in the 1950s, when a new kitchen and grill room were added.^[1]

These details make the club’s history more than a chronology of course design. They point to a social institution with family recreation, women’s golf and member governance. The bond issue, membership totals, clubhouse alterations and women’s association are documented in the club’s retrospective account; contemporary newspaper reports and club records would help establish their dates and fuller context.^[1]

Michigan championships and a 1965 snapshot

Owosso hosted the Michigan PGA Professional Championship in 1955 and 1965, according to the Golf Association of Michigan. The Michigan PGA’s official champions list names Walter Burkemo as the 1955 winner and Brien C. Charter as the 1965 winner. These were professional championships, separate from the Michigan Open and other tournaments also listed by the Michigan PGA.^[4][6]

A program for the June 27, 1965 championship offers a close look at the club before play began. Its map and scorecard show the course as presented to competitors; the welcome, staff profiles and advertisements document the people and local businesses connected to the event. The cover features a photograph of the clubhouse that the program’s owner identifies as taken in 1965. The program says irrigation had been installed in 1964. It is a preview booklet, not a results record, so Charter’s win comes from the Michigan PGA’s champions list. The photograph is reproduced here as a user-directed provisional publication; its photographer and reproduction rights have not been established.^[7][6]

A 1966 University of Michigan area survey places the club within a wider recreational landscape. It reports that Owosso and Clinton country clubs offered golf to members and guests, while public nine-hole courses operated in Corunna, Durand and Shia-Town. The survey described golf courses as developing rapidly in the area.^[8]

Arnold Palmer visits Owosso

The club’s history recalls a June 1975 appearance by Arnold Palmer tied to a Woodard’s Furniture promotion. It says Palmer held a swing clinic for more than 350 people and played the front nine in even-par 36. Those memorable details remain based on the club’s account; local newspaper coverage or event materials could provide independent confirmation.^[1]

An unfinished record

The known sources trace a club organized in 1923, a course opened in 1924, an expansion associated with Jake Fassezke, and two Michigan PGA championships. They also reveal how much of the story still depends on the club’s own institutional history. The next records to seek include 1920s newspaper coverage, deeds and plats for the King-estate purchase, club minutes or bond documents from 1938, records of the women’s association, and contemporary reports on the Palmer visit.

The club’s own chronology makes clear where research can go next; independent records can help fill in how its landscape, membership and community role changed over time.^[1]