Businessmen kept club, golf course from fading away
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – An important part of Slidell history was on the verge of fading away for good not that long ago when financial pressures on Pinewood Country Club began to mount after 2000.
Following years of seeing membership decline over changing times, the board of directors began to face the reality of losing Pinewood through possible bankruptcy. The city of Slidell had an interest in buying the club and golf course, but that meant the land might all turn into a retention pond or residential development.
But that is no longer the case today as Pinewood prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary in Slidell, something that was made possible after two Slidell businessmen created a unique approach to save Pinewood, purchasing the golf course and the country club in separate business deals in 2017.
With the 60th anniversary celebration for Pinewood set to be held at the club on Friday night, Oct. 6, golf course owner Chris Smith and country club owner Louis Ochoa both smile when talking about the state of affairs today.
“Pinewood Country Club is now a stable, profitable company,” Ochoa said.
And Smith echoed those comments for the golf course, adding, “the future for the golf course is good.”
None of that would be said today if the businessmen hadn’t both seen the potential in the longtime, historic club and course, not to mention their willingness to sink millions of dollars into the business venture that still had plenty of risk involved.
Ochoa purchased the country club, pool and tennis courts for $350,000 in the spring of 2017, but did so with a vision that has been the key to reviving the interest there. A very successful businessman previous to Pinewood, who owned NOLA Southern Grill and a growing catering business, not to mention an extensive real estate portfolio, Ochoa said he was already looking for the right place to build a state-of-the-art, new wedding and events venue.
The golf course seemed like the perfect place, he said, and immediately after purchasing Pinewood, announced plans to build the $1.2 million Sadie Jane that sits right where the 10th tee box used to be.
Smith, who grew up playing golf at Pinewood, admitted that the demise of the longtime club got to him personally. But as he watched the news stories suggesting the golf course might become a retention pond, his retirement after a 34-year career with Shell Oil gave him the assets to buy the club for $900,000 in December of 2017.
Since then, he has also put plenty of money into Pinewood, along with some outside investment from another partner, and has found the right lane to make it profitable again, during a time of fewer golfers in the country, as well as the high cost to maintain a golf course.
“We’ve found the right way to make this work by offering a good course for very reasonable rates,” he said. “Pinewood is a family friendly place, with a fun atmosphere that is still drawing the public.”
Smith said that the course had 12,000 rounds of golf played in the first year he owned it in 2018, then had over 17,000 rounds played in 2022, with a projection to hit 18,000 rounds in 2023.
“The biggest challenge here is to have the funds to do the maintenance needed, all while we don’t charge high prices to play. But we keep doing what we can to improve the condition every year, and we will keep working to make it the best it can be,” he added.
Ochoa said the real key to saving Pinewood country club was building the Sadie Jane (named for his daughter), since the sparkling new wedding venue in Slidell has introduced the Pinewood complex to a new, young crowd.
“We have young wedding parties, and the guys get to play golf, while we have a beautiful, new wedding venue for the girls, all right on the golf course,” he said. “Talk about great wedding pictures? It doesn’t get much better than stepping out the back of the Sadie Jane and having photos with a golf course backdrop.”
Ochoa admits the entire purchase by he and Smith was a risk.
“I knew this was a gamble when I bought it, but I felt I could get it to work as long as I could build the Sadie Jane,” he said. “I wouldn’t have bought Pinewood if I didn’t already know I was going to be able to do that.”
Ochoa’s growing catering business was the reason he initially signed a lease with Pinewood in 2014 to take over the struggling restaurant side of the club.
“It gave me another kitchen for my catering business, even though it wasn’t a big money maker at the Pinewood restaurant,” he said.
His research into wedding venues gave him the vision for Sadie Jane, and he said the number of bookings has gone up every year, with the Sadie Jane voted into the Knot Wedding Hall of Fame for five years in a row as the best wedding venue in the region.
“We built something that is called rustic, shabby, chic,” he said. “I went to lots of wedding conferences and conventions and learned what the next trend was going to be. That’s what the Sadie Jane has with the beautiful wood finish everywhere—it feels good, it smells good, and the brides love it.”
The Sadie Jane has already held 120 events for 2023, aiming for yet another record year.
Pinewood’s country club ballroom has also seen bookings increase every year with lunches, business gatherings and smaller weddings, something that wouldn’t have happened if Ochoa hadn’t sunk several hundred thousand dollars into renovating the place. Some weekends he hosts an event in both venues at the same time.
“Pinewood was an older building when I got it, and unfortunately, many people had that impression of it. We had to completely redo the inside, and that is what we have done, including everything from painting, new flooring, new lighting, a new bridal suite, new tennis courts, new pool pump—you name it and we have probably redone it.
“Now, it has a fresh, updated look and people always comment on that when they come in,” he added.
While Ochoa gets the attention for the success at Sadie Jane and Pinewood, he quickly points to his staff as the real key.
“Our number one commitment to our guests is to provide great customer service and food,” he said. “My staff is second to none and that’s why this has gone so well. People have a great time when they use our facilities, then they tell others. You have to get good recommendations or things go south in a hurry, but our staff has made sure people keep coming back.”
Smith said that Pinewood’s golf course was voted the favorite course in east St. Tammany the last three years, and he believes it is because of the reasonable rates and family atmosphere.