Oceana Golf Club Growing the Game
By Tom Lang
Forgive me … I am guilty of having some of my favorite golf stories.
This one in particular is a west Michigan community golf course built by the townspeople who lived there in the 1960s. It thrived on the pride of hands that got dirty building it. It allowed kids a safe place to play and brought joy to adult golfers in the region. Their own place, that they created. We’re talking about Oceana Golf Club.
But just a few months before Covid-19 hit, the property was ready to file for bankruptcy and ready to close its doors after serving the rural fruit-orchards area of Shelby and Hart for roughly 60 years.
One of those kids who found it a safe place growing up, Jason Wenk, grew up to make it big in the financial world and purchased a controlling share of the property to save it in March of 2020, just eight days before the pandemic shutdown. As we know, the blessing in disguise is that the sport of golf has thrived ever since.
Oceana continues to thrive to this day with Wenk investing money into it, including the addition of three new holes, which allowed the expansion of a first-ever true driving range and practice area this summer, where the original 15th and 16th holes used to be. For the first 60 years, all that golfers had there was a net to hit into near the old cart barn, or some would jump out on holes near the clubhouse to warm up but got in the way of the grounds crew.
“I've shared many times how much golf, and in particular, golf in Oceana County, helped shape my own life,” Wenk said recently. “As a teenager there was no place I'd rather be than a golf course. It was a place where you learn a lot, including that you can achieve anything if you're willing to put the work in. Having a world class practice area is quite nostalgic for me, and I really hope it helps usher in another generation of West Michigan golfers. It's a great addition to our amazing golf course, but also a great addition to the area, which has been sorely missing a place to work on every aspect of your game.”
A longtime member, Tom Kirk, who as a child picked rocks out of the ground during its build in the early 1960s, is a 6-time club champion.
“When I started playing at Oceana in the spring of 1963, it was just the original nine holes and I practiced by hitting balls into the orchard across the road from my house,” Kirk said. “The practice area is something that we have long talked about but were never able to attain. Jason's commitment to OGC and its improvement is much appreciated.”
The new practice range has the old 16th green as a chipping and putting surface. It’s over 260 yards deep with a big hill at the end that stops balls from going into the woods. It’s the width of more than two side-by-side golf holes. Oceana built a new 14th and 15th holes last year to make the accommodation possible.
Shelby High School launched a girl’s golf program for the first time this fall. It’s starting as a club team to hopefully make it a varsity program in the fall of 2026. This practice range is a great addition to make that happen. There are still hopes to make it a future hub for First Tee West Michigan. A building at the site is planned for future meeting and storage space for developing more golfers. Independent teachers are already using the range to give lessons.
“We want to make Oceana known as a home for Junior golf, so the kids will keep coming back as they grow,” said Marc Inglis, director of golf operations at Oceana for more than three decades. “It’s a long-term build.”
