NFL’s Kirk Cousins and Wife, Julie, Purchase Classic Michigan Golf Course

By Tom Lang

Word has slowly leaked out across Michigan that the nearly-100-year-old Clearbrook Golf Club in Saugatuck was recently purchased by the Kirk Cousins family, from the previous owners of 38 years, Jim and Candy Jeltema. As most Michiganders know, Kirk Cousins was a standout football QB at Michigan State and is currently the starting quarterback for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings.

Only the golf course property was sold, for now. The Jeltema’s retained ownership of the clubhouse restaurant, as a way to stay involved but also slow down their careers a little as they age.

“This is a plan for the future in making this financial arrangement with the Cousins family, so that we can be pretty well assured that the land will remain as a golf course,” Jim Jeltema told me. “Kirk has a real passion for it, and not just the game and playing the game, but the (property’s) heritage, history and design. He likes all of that stuff.”

Cousins is a native of Holland, MI, and now resides in the Saugatuck area.

"Our family recently purchased the Clearbrook Golf Course from our friends and longtime owners, Jim and Candy Jeltema," the Cousins wrote in a letter to the community. "They have managed the course for many years, making Clearbrook a place of connection and fun for our entire community.

"West Michigan is a special community, and we have enjoyed living in Saugatuck/Douglas since we built our home here in 2018. As Jim reflected on his future, he wanted to keep the golf course in the community. As we discussed the history of the golf club with Jim, we agreed it is a community treasure and should remain a golf course for the next generation.”

That action of kindred minds is why the sale happened. Jim said Kirk came to them in 2021 to begin discussions.

“It was a long process, but a very pleasant process, because we are dealing with like-minded people,” Jeltema said. “He wanted the same thing from the property we want, and that’s to see it stay a golf course and have the restaurant still thrive.

“We really responded to his passion, there’s no question. I had had offers from developers,” Jeltema added. “I just wasn’t interested. The course has been very good to the community over the years, and we want to see that continue. And Kirk and Julie are interested in that same thing.”

Jeltema described the 6,400-yard course as having over 2,000 linier feet of brook running through a valley. 

There are three blind fairways on the course and the greens are smaller than many golf courses, keeping it in line with classic layouts. He and Candy purchased it 38 years ago, and in that timeframe made changes to every hole, ranging from just tweaking a couple bunkers to complete do overs with a bulldozer – all without changing the routing. Most of the major work was to fix poor drainage.

“The two main things a superintendent has to do; get water on and get water off,” he said. “Most of the customers comment that our greens are smooth and true. We maintain it like a modern golf course with all the latest equipment, but it still has that old style classic design.”

The Jeltema’s first interest in the property was always the clubhouse, which was expanded about the time the course went from 9 to 18 holes. His research has shown that it opened for play in 1926, as Liberty Links, but he was never able to discoverer who designed it, or who the first owners were. 

In the 1940s it became Saugatuck Golf Club with its second owner. Then in the ‘50s it turned into Hamilton Lake Country Club. In the late ‘60s it became Clearbrook and the expansion included the larger clubhouse. The Jeltema’s became the fifth, and longest running, owners.

“Aside from enjoying the atmosphere of a golf property, I didn’t buy it so I could play a lot of golf,” Jim said with a chuckle. “We did it thinking it would become our career, and it has. It really came down to hospitality. The clubhouse was under-utilized and was probably over-built at the time and never really lived up to its potential.”

Over time they turned it into a very popular food establishment and its one reason they want to keep that going. 

“We felt the golf course has interesting topography and a fun history, so the combination of all that made us say we wanted to invest our life into it.”

And now the Cousins’ have taken one step in the same direction.