Beechmont Country Club in Orange celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2023. That longevity is a big reason why club president Ryan Lepene takes both his and the board\u2019s responsibility of protecting and preserving the site so seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at the club and its place in the history of Cleveland, particularly in the Jewish community, it\u2019s a cultural institution,\u201d Lepene told the Cleveland Jewish News. \u201cIt\u2019s the last Jewish club in Ohio. We have a great and historic facility, and over time you need to embrace that and recognize that you have to keep investing in it. What people were looking for 40, 60 or even 100 years ago is a little bit different than today. We want to make sure we create a legacy that\u2019s going to live on for the next hundred years and a 100-plus on top of that. You need to continue to evolve and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beechmont is taking the initiative to do so by leading a $12 million-plus renovation that will rework every area of club property, redesigning holes on the golf course and bringing a new look and feel to each corner of the clubhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re extremely excited,\u201d Lepene said. \u201cThe way we look at this, it\u2019s transformational. It\u2019s something that hasn\u2019t been done in terms of this type of scale and investment since the 70s. It\u2019s a project that will transform this club into something spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n
Construction is being led by Willoughby-based Marous Brothers Construction, while design work is being overseen by Cleveland-based Vocon.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeechmont Country Club has been a pillar of their community for many decades, and it\u2019s an honor to help steward its next chapter,\u201d Adelbert \u201cChip\u201d Marous, CEO\/president of Marous Brothers Construction, said in an email to the CJN. \u201cThank you to the Club\u2019s leadership for your trust. Our team takes great pride in our long-standing partnership with the Orange community, where we\u2019ve been fortunate to contribute to many projects over the years. That continued confidence drives us to deliver work that both respects legacy and looks ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
The retooling started in 2025 with holes on the golf course, which were designed by Canadian architect Stanley Thompson, known as the \u201cToronto Terror,\u201d in the 1920s, being reworked to bring the course back closer to its original design.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to bring it back to its roots,\u201d Lepene said. \u201cWe hired a golf course architect named Ian Andrew (a Canadian architect), who specializes in Stanley Thompson courses and refreshes them. We\u2019ve worked with him for many years now, finally culminating in the construction project that started last year. As we continue to move through this season, there has been a focus on beautifying the course with attention to detail.\u201d<\/p>\n
So the course wouldn\u2019t be unusable for members, each hole was worked on individually, allowing play to go on with minimal impacts. New bunkers, drainage and tee boxes were added while fairways were widened and trees were removed or had their branches trimmed or cut.<\/p>\n
Lepene said over the years, trees grew taller or were planted, and mounds were installed because it was the hot trend on golf courses many years ago. By undergoing this renovation, members will golf the way Thompson intended them to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would argue that it was always a really fun, playable course that plays long because it\u2019s largely uphill going into most holes,\u201d he said. \u201cBut now going forward with the redesign, with what we\u2019ve done, it is going to be the best course in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
The finishing touches are being made, according to Lepene, and the course will be fully playable on opening day in May without any ongoing construction work to interrupt.<\/p>\n
The club is being fully redone, with the interior taken down to the studs and nearly every space undergoing renovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe library that was just off of the ballroom that had a little bar in it, that wall is getting knocked out and there\u2019s going to be a wraparound 26-person bar with high top tables and banquet seating around TVs to give it that pub restaurant type of feel,\u201d Lepene said. \u201cThe ballroom is the biggest on the east side of Cleveland. It provides great functionality with a lot of Jewish related events that we host. Part of the reason for that is we can accommodate a significant number of people that other areas cannot. That wraparound bar will increase the function of the room, which is being refreshed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mixed grill area, which has historically served as the dining room, is also being redone \u2013 giving guests a more traditional, refined dining experience in addition to the casual, hang-out vibe the bar lounge will bring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really accommodates the best of every world \u2013 from young families to older members and everybody in between,\u201d Lepene said. \u201cWe\u2019re also adding a fireside lounge which will be used for private dining and available for members to enjoy on a standard night.<\/p>\n
The Garden Room is being redone to become the women\u2019s lounge, which will have tables for cards and TVs. The pro shop has been knocked down and is being rebuilt from the ground-up with a pair of golf simulators that will include family-friendly games on it like dodgeball or baseball in addition to golf. A large firepit is being constructed outside the pro shop to allow people to gather around and mingle.<\/p>\n
Several dining areas are being redone to create more of a lounge-type feel. The fitness facility is being fitted with new equipment, flooring and a fresh layout. The men\u2019s locker room, the kitchen and tennis facility are all being refreshed, as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is not just create a club strictly for golf members,\u201d Lepene said. \u201cIt really is a club for everybody. And we encourage and are promoting this to young families that want to be around and embrace what this club has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fitness center is on track to open later this winter while the men\u2019s locker room and dining area will be available by early spring. Construction should fully wrap up by the end of May, in time for its prime season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe door is open for new members,\u201d Lepene said. \u201cWhat\u2019s special about Beechmont is that both the community and the people we have at the club are very welcoming. We want to continue to cater to that and bring more members in. When people set foot in this facility when it\u2019s done, it\u2019s going to be jaw dropping.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beechmont Country Club in Orange celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2023. That longevity is a big reason why…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3023],"tags":[6285,1347,2622,44,747,291,2850,6286,6287,6288],"class_list":["post-14884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cleveland","tag-beechmont-country-club","tag-cleveland","tag-cleveland-golf","tag-golf","tag-golf-course","tag-grass-field-surfaces","tag-lawn-games","tag-orange-ohio","tag-restaurant","tag-stanley-thompson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}