Extensive renovations completed at Elmwood Country Club | News, Sports, Jobs

TR PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Alyvia Chadderdon, Elmwood Country Club’s event, marketing and membership coordinator and 2019 MHS graduate, shows off the new bar area in the ballroom. Several major renovations to the clubhouse were recently completed, plus pickleball courts were added and there are plans to introduce fine dining options in the future.

Elmwood Country Club will always be primarily a place to play golf, but Events, Membership and Marketing Coordinator Alyvia Chadderdon wants the public to know that it has much more to offer for both members and non-members.

Chadderdon, a 2019 MHS graduate who “grew up” at the club as her parents are members, worked as a waitress and bartender for three years before taking her current position just over a year ago. She said David Eichhorn, Elmwood’s general manager, spearheaded a major renovation project in the clubhouse area that was recently completed. They were able to raise the money primarily through private fundraising from members.

“Right now we’re really focused on events. This is just such a beautiful (place). I don’t think anything in the area compares to its magnificence when you look at the whole course and everything and the clubhouse and its historic (look),” Chadderdon said. “It’s always been here and we just need to make it more beautiful – not that it wasn’t beautiful for the time with the green carpet and the brown ceiling. It was great at one point, for sure, but it desperately needed some help.”

The grand ballroom, as she mentioned, was renovated and came with a brand new bar. They also added outdoor pickleball courts because a member requested it and contributed the money for it.

“This is how we really get things done now. It just takes people who want it to happen and who have the resources to help us do it,” Chadderdon said.

Another new addition that members have long wanted is an upscale restaurant, so Chadderdon and her team got to work making that happen. Couples looking for a night out and individuals heading out of town – often for Des Moines – for that experience might now consider Marshalltown again, she said.

“It’s really important to us, not just for Elmwood, but for all of Marshalltown, to offer this fine dining so people don’t have to leave town,” she said.

Chadderdon hopes some of these attractions will inspire members to bring guests who want to see all that Elmwood has to offer, and perhaps eventually become members themselves. The final details have not been worked out, but she said there are discussions about offering table reservations for members only on certain nights and for the general public on others.

As their title suggests, Chadderdon is interested in making Elmwood a place for large events like weddings and parties in addition to everyday country club life, and another project on the horizon is working on some areas affected by the natural disasters of 2018 and 2020. There is also a smaller space on the lower level of the clubhouse that they would like to convert into a fitness center.

“I just think it’s another convenience that adds some value,” she said.

Elmwood Country Club is located at 1734 Country Club Ln. and can be reached at (641) 753-6228.

——

Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 or

[email protected]