At the age of 65, most people are eyeing retirement.

Fortunately, Sheaffer Memorial Golf Course is not a person. And instead of moseying off to enjoy retirement as a park or maybe a prairie, the course is being renovated in order to continue thriving for many more years to come.

Doug Snaadt is the acting president of the Sheaffer Golf Course board of trustees and spoke recently to the Fort Madison Rotary Club, which includes many golfers and current and past board members.

Instead of focusing on a celebration, Snaadt said, the board and staff are focused on renovation.

The goal of the capital campaign, which went public around a month ago, Snaadt said, is to sustain, improve and preserve the community aspect for generations to come.

“That’s going to kickstart a lot of very good things for our course,” he said. “We’ve already invested $168,000 in improvements and that will benefit us greatly. We have a ways to go.”

In addition to the capital campaign, Snaadt said, there will be sponsorships, tee markers, and scorecards. The capital campaign has brought in around $334,000 in pledges toward a $750,000 goal.

“In the future, we may be able to do sponsorships on carts that we lease. There are some other ideas that we’re going to work on as well,” he said.

Another critical step is increasing rounds played at the course.

“We have some great ideas there,” he said.

“And the final thing we’re going to do is an investment vehicle on the back of the capital campaign,” he said. “So if you look back at the last 30 years or so with all the people that have come and gone, if they had entrusted in their will or memorialized and made donations to the course, we probably wouldn’t be doing a capital campaign; there would be enough money there to support our needs to maintain this asset.”

Snaadt said the course is an asset for community outings and fundraisers, bringing in close to $200,000 a year.

“We have about eight different outings out there for fundraising,” he said, “so it’s a very important asset.’

There are a variety of upcoming and recent events at Sheaffer Memorial Golf Course, including an Iowa PGA peewee tournament.

“The Iowa PGA couldn’t say greater things about the environment and the attitude at Sheaffer Golf Course,” Snaadt said.

There will be an upcoming ‘wine and nine’ in August, a recent state KC’s tourney, a large outing held by Koch Industries in September, an Elks tournament and a YMCA fundraiser in October.

“Those are the things that are going on at Sheaffer Golf Course,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of helping hands. Hands-on versus advisory approach and I think that’s a great thing for how we approaching it for Southeast Iowa.”

Youth programs are also important to the board, Snaadt said. He himself does a volunteer program with the YMCA Test Kitchen and other youth-focused groups.

“[We] try to get kids out of the basement, away from the video games, out on the golf course,” he said. “If you follow the information that’s out there in the summertime, our kids in this generation are busy. Oh my goodness. There is so much going on. So much travel. Cooking camps and STEM classes and volleyball camps, baseball camps, softball camps. It’s endless. And I think sometimes kids need to maybe sit on a couch and relax a little bit. But maybe get them on a golf course after they rest up.”

The golf course isn’t just for golfers, Rotarian and past board trustee Gene Enke pointed out.

Snaadt agreed.

“I will mention that if the golf course wasn’t here, what would we do and that’s concerning for me,” he said. “That creates a little bit of passion for the people that are on the board of trustees or people that are invested in the course to guarantee that it’s here for generations to come.”

The Sheaffer family — the same family that founded Sheaffer Pen — founded the course in 1961.

Snaadt said the Sheaffer Foundation is ready to “age out.”

“I know that they want to support the Sheaffer Museum; they have supported the golf course in the past, to what degree I don’t really know. I know the clubhouse was a significant support,” he said. “Beyond that, I think they’re asking us to turn to the community, to turn to individuals and say ‘OK, how much do you want this golf course to be here, how do you want it to be.’ So we’ve taken that, we’re running with it and we’re going to try to make it the best ever possible. I know there’s competing factors. There are other fundraisers that are going on and I think they are all good causes. And if it’s meant to be, we’ll find a way.”

Women golfers are also encouraged to come play.

“The more the merrier,” Snaadt said. “Our sustainability is all about increasing rounds. So yes, we would like women to play and play often. For me, that’s a non-issue, that’s an absolute.”

Snaadt said the board wants to make sure that the golf course is available more often to the public.

“I think last year we had three if not four outings that were maybe 30 people and we closed for. Made no sense. Why are you closing a golf course for 30 people. Put that group on one side and have the other side open,” he said. “So we put the onus back on those groups: please increase your numbers or we can’t guarantee you anything for having the golf course.”

He said those groups have chosen to step away.

“But that’s a good thing because the feedback we’ve gotten over the last two years is we can never get on the course,” he said. “Well now you can. And we want to increase our playing. Especially on weekends.”

The clubhouse is also available for special events held by individuals or groups in the community.