Gerald Knight is a heavy sleeper. His wife, Marci, is often quick to wake, worried that one of the couple’s two kids could find themselves in a predicament. So on Dec. 22, when Marci heard a loud bang, she was quick to get up in case her little ones had fallen or found some trouble.
But instead, she noticed a red glow outside. Since the couple lives across from the Dream Valley Golf Course they own — in a remote area outside Springfield, Missouri — this wasn’t a good sign.
“Next thing I know, she’s screaming for me to get up,” Gerald told Golfweek on Wednesday. “The cart barn was completely on fire. We think the noise she heard was part of the roof caving in. We called 911 and didn’t know what to do.
“It was a hard thing to stare at.”
The damage was significant, but Knight is uncertain on a dollar figure yet as insurance representatives have been off for the Christmas break. More than 50 carts were lost in the blaze, as well as everything else in the course’s maintenance area. Tables, chairs, even fishing poles were all charred after fire crews finally extinguished the flames.
The couple purchased the 18-hole course back in April 2019 with another couple, Ryan and Dara Knight (no relation).
Gerald Knight said business has been good since taking over, even though the ownership group has kept prices far below the national average of most public-use golf courses. Weekday rates for 18 holes start at just $13 and a full year’s membership, including unlimited golf with a cart, costs just $1,100.
“We’re a rural golf course,” Knight said. “We need to keep it affordable for people.”
The group had big plans for the Christmas holiday weekend as temperatures were warm enough to allow golfers to get out on the course. The local cart distributor moved into high gear and quickly brought replacement carts so the course could remain open through the weekend. But a new pro shop, which had just been in the framing stage of construction, was also lost in the fire.
Even though the fire has created quite a setback for the group, Knight is thankful that things weren’t worse.
“Hopefully, the insurance gets settled and we get back to normal,” he said. “We were a little behind on the pro shop and that might have been a blessing. We’ll have to tear down the framed walls, but our construction crews are due to get working very soon on this.
“But if not for a heavy south wind, this could have put our house up in flames quickly. And the amount of play we’ve had has been really, really good since we took over. So it’s been nothing but positive. This is the first major setback we’ve faced.”
