photo by: Chad Lawhorn

Renovations at the Lawrence Country Club include an updated dining area.

Any time I go to an upscale golf course, I always check the clubhouse’s dining room before I begin. On average, I’ll play at least four shots from the dining room, and if I’m going to have to hit off Berber, I need to prepare for that. Well, golfers, if you haven’t been in the dining room of Lawrence Country Club for a while, get ready for quite a few changes.

As the country club competition heats up in Lawrence, the Lawrence Country Club has just completed a major renovation of its first floor.

“It is a complete facelift and modernization of our dining facilities,” said Rheanne Etken, general manager for the club.

Gone are most of the small rooms that divided up the dining and bar area. Now the area is much more of an an open expanse, with new furniture, flooring and a new style that features lots of natural stone accents.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn

Renovations at the Lawrence Country Club include an updated dining area.

The new design also highlights the dining room’s large windows, giving diners a better view of the golf course and the horizon of northern and west Lawrence.

“We feel like we have really opened it up to the most gorgeous views you will find in Lawrence,” Etken said. “That was one of our big goals.”

photo by: Chad Lawhorn

Renovations at the Lawrence Country Club include an updated dining area that gives diners a better view of the golf course and the horizon of northern and west Lawrence.

In addition, the renovations included a new bar area and a new bar menu that features dishes such as noodle bowls, a charcuterie plate from Lawrence’s Hank’s Charcuterie, potato dumplings, and a country club classic: shrimp cocktail.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn

Renovations at the Lawrence Country Club include an updated bar area.

Even if you are not a country club member, you may notice some of the changes. The country club is used frequently by the general public for a variety of club meetings and events. Those of you who have been to those meetings perhaps recall the cold cut, salad and soup bar that was a staple for lunches at LCC. (Hopefully I never ran you over with my wagon that I used to carry my plate back to the table.) Well, that food bar is gone and has been replaced with a made-to-order lunch menu. The dining makeover by executive chef Todd Schneekloth includes salads, soups and sandwiches that range from Philly cheesesteaks to salmon. The dinner menu includes a variety of steaks, pasta, fried chicken and one dish that Etken said will always be a mainstay on the LCC menu.

“You will never see liver and onions leave our menu,” Etken said.

The renovations come at a time when the competition between the city’s two country clubs is likely to heat up. As we’ve previously reported, Alvamar Golf & Country Club has been purchased by a local group led by businessman Thomas Fritzel. Alvamar’s private clubhouse is currently under renovation, and plans have been filed with City Hall to add more housing around the course.

Etken said industrywide country club business has begun to bounce back from a sharp downturn during the recession. At LCC, she said a new generation of residents are now starting country club memberships.

“Our average age of members is 50, but the average age of new members is 42,” she said. “In the industry we have a pretty young membership. As a result, we’re trying to do more family events at the club. We want the club to match our members’ lives.”

The club currently is in a period of community outreach. The club will have an open house from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on April 15 where the general public can tour the club and sample some of its appetizers and cocktails. On April 11, the club also is opening up its 18-hole golf course for play by the general public.

As for future plans, Etken said the club — which is owned by its members — is considering other renovations, with a plan to improve the outdoor deck space of the clubhouse high on the list of possible projects.

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