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Golf course grew around a dream Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell A foursome tees off at the 16th hole of Stone Ridge Golf Course off Highway 140 near White City. But owners had to go to Yreka, Calif., for financial backing By JOHN DARLING Jim Cochran wanted to build his own golf course. He had no experience in it, but he had the land - 400 scenic, rolling acres off Highway 140. He also had the vision: Something affordable to all pockets, yet challenging to all skill levels. All he needed was the money. Cochran, a longtime Rogue Valley home builder, and his wife Tammy dressed up and visited local banks, seeking up to $6 million for an 18-hole course. BUSINESS CARD Name : Stone Ridge Golf Club Owners : Jim and Tammy Cochran Location : 500 E. Antelope Road, just off Highway 140, three miles on the right after you leave Crater Lake Highway Phone : 830-4653 Employees : 25 Hours : dawn to dusk, seven days a week, year around. Notable : Owner designed and built with no parallel fairways. Rated best public course in Oregon under $50 by Golf Digest. "We thought they'd be eager to back us," Cochran said. "The Rogue Valley needed an 18-hole course as a draw for tourism, retirement and for corporations wanting to locate here. But they all saw me as a neophyte." Cochran had done his homework, traveling with his family to study dozens of courses in the West. He learned that golf course architects cost $600,000 to $1 million. "Jim decided, hey, I could do a better job than the architects," Tammy said. "All golfers dream of doing that and, of course, the banks thought, well, here's some kind of hoe-dad with no experience and no architects asking for millions of dollars." Cochran designed an unusual layout, with no fairways parallel to each other to enhance privacy and safety. He gave each one a spectacular view of surrounding landmarks - Mount McLoughlin, Table Rock and Roxy Ann. Where he designed risks, he also put in rewards for overcoming those risks. But one thing he wouldn't do, said Tammy, was give up. "This man is very persistent." With his children helping, Cochran flagged fairways through oak trees and poison oak brushlands. He bulldozed a rough layout and kept trying with lenders. "All the bankers said that the valley needs a golf course, but you're a home builder, not a golf course builder, so too bad," Tammy said. Then, in 1992, someone told him about little Timberline Bank in Yreka, Calif. The bank is run by Bob Youngs, a self-described "last of a breed of old-time entrepreneurs - and not just a number-cruncher." "We talked for half an hour and he said, 'I think I can do it.' He had the authority to make decisions himself, without handing it to a board," Cochran said. The now-retired Youngs recalls, "It was needed in the region, it was going to be good for the economy and Jim's numbers said the project had to be done. I looked at his track record as a builder and it was exemplary. We drove the field and it was absolutely beautiful. "He owned the dirt. He'd already moved 300,000 yards of it himself. I saw no risk at all." Cochran and Youngs cut the budget by a third and moved forward, opening Stone Ridge Golf Club in July 1995. To say his banker was committed would be putting it mildly, Cochran said. "Bob came out and moved rocks and shoveled gravel for the patio. He's one guy that can count on free golfing for life." The Cochrans and their children, Scott and Casey, ran everything at first, expanding to 25 employees as the course caught on and earned four stars on Golf Digest's five-star scale. A big boost came in 1998, with an article in Golf Digest declaring Stone Ridge the best public golf course under $50 in Oregon. USA Today splashed the story on its sports pages. "It's one of the prettiest, best-landscaped courses in the U.S. and I've golfed about 500 of them," said Frank Gleich, president, Southern Oregon Golf and Tennis Association. "Jim gave us a quality, championship course - a 10." The Cochrans aim to keep fees lower than any other four-star course in Oregon. "I think of it as a working man's course, where the average Joe and the country club set can all feel at home," said golfer Bob Lima. The course varies in elevation more than 200 vertical feet and offers 6,938 yards playing from the red (more distant) tees and 4,900 yards on black (closer) tees. Stone Ridge has no fringe of private homes and plans none. Homes are barred by local planners because of the nearby Jackson County Sports Park and the Cochrans wish to keep the area attractive and open to wildlife, Cochran said. Cochran left in place a historic stone wall built by homesteaders on an 1866 claim and running hundreds of yards through the upper slopes. Also preserved are concrete foxholes from Camp White, a World War II Army training base that once occupied the area. The Stone Ridge PGA pro Pat Akins, an Ashland native, has worked as the head pro at Longview (Wash.) Country Club and Willamette Valley Country Club and has golfed on the Albertson's and Fred Meyer teams. Stone Ridge logs 40,000 rounds of golf a year - about 75 percent of capacity - and pumps $1.5 million into the local economy, Cochran said. Fees are $25 weekdays and $30 weekends ($15 and $20 for nine holes), with opportunity for league play and tournaments Mondays and Thursdays. Senior Day is Wednesday and Ladies Day is Thursday. Ministers golf free anytime, Tammy said - except Sunday morning. John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.