SPRING VALLEY — The Spring Valley Golf Course has been around for 55 years, and while Bob and Kathy Rupakus have only owned it for seven of those years, they have built a tight connection with the people who made the course a special place to be.

Over what used to be a ski hill that operated along with the course back in 1968, a brand-new Hollywood-style sign that reads “Spring Valley” now overlooks the Highway 29 landscape.

What started as a funny message from a friend photoshopping a Spring Valley Golf Course sign at the top of the hill turned into a way to honor the history and the community that have made the Spring Valley Golf Course what it is today. 3 Acre Studio constructed the sign, and letter by letter, the sign was put up in September.

Here is the story behind each letter of the sign:

S - Put up by one of Rupakus’ best friends John Sebion.

P - Put up by Rupakus himself.

R - Put up by Robert Alton, one of the engines of the operation. Alton is a key player in maintaining the equipment and the grounds.

I - There was no post for the letter ‘I’, but the letter itself is designed as a tee with a golf ball on top to “dot the ‘i.’”

N - Put up by Telly Awsumb, a tribute to honor his mother Nikole. Telly is an owner of The Flatstick Restaurant, which is inside of the course’s clubhouse.

G - Put up by the Ducklow family to honor Gen Ducklow. Gen was a long-time member of the course whose memory lives on through a bench at the course and hitting a hole-in-one there.

V - Put up by the Spring Valley Lions Club for their efforts to support community activities in the village.

A - Put up by Jay Arneson, the town arborist. Arneson was recognized for his work supporting local events through the Lions Club and working with the DNR on property restoration.

L - Put up by Keith Larson, the lone member of the course who has been a member for all 55 years of its existence.

L - Put up by Guy and Wendy Leach, who owned the course for 21 years. The two have supported the Rupakus family every step of the way.

E - Put up by Bill and Luann Emerson. Bill Emerson has spent 40 years as the groundskeeper at the course. His father, Dr. Gordon Emerson, helped design the course.

Y - Put up by Dean Madson, one half of the only known father/son charter member duo at the course along with his father Clarence. At the age of 81, Clarence hit a hole-in-one during golf league. Madson was the one that came up with the idea for the Hollywood sign.

“That was a blast. We’ve only been here seven years, so we’re short-time stewards. It’s a community asset, basically. To get those people that have been helping, so many people over the years, was great,” Bob Rupakus said.

Since purchasing the course, the Rupakus family has removed over 2,000 trees in an attempt to make the course more playable for the average golfer. Many were nervous or skeptical about the changes, but the results have seen near unanimous approval. Scores are improving, and the pace of play has decreased from about 5.5 hours down to four to get through an average round.

“The course was extremely difficult for the everyday golfer,” Rupakus said. “The quality of our product of golf is improved. They’re playing faster, getting lower scores. Now that we’ve been clearing the trees, people do see the benefit to it just from the quality. We had fairways that weren’t able to grow grass, tee boxes, greens.”

After multiple attempts at sodding, the fairway grass was not growing because of how much tree coverage there was. With widened fairways and reduced canopies, that is not as big of a problem as it was.

“These trees grew out six to seven more rows,” Rupakus said of hole eight. “With their huge canopies, you could be in the middle of the fairway and not have a clear shot at the green… On a par four, on two good shots you should be able to be on the green. Here it was almost impossible.”

That is not all the Rupakus family is up to, though. As was featured on popular golf site www.wisconsin.golf, there is a three-phase plan to increase the offerings at the course.

Phase one is coming after the winter is through. The course will feature two stay-and-play cabins, which can be rented out. Rupakus said they could build more cabins in the future if the demand is high enough. Another use for the cabins will be for bride and groom parties for weddings.

Phase two will then take place the year after that. The phase includes a three-season pavilion to seat about 250 guests for a wedding and virtual driving range bays. Phase three is less set in stone, but Rupakus said they are exploring bringing in a housing development off of the course to help cut into some of the operational costs.

“Just seeing the improvement on a day-to-day basis. Progress every day is the motto. We’ve got such an incredible grounds crew. When you get 8, 10, 11 people all rowing the boat in the same direction because they see what the course is, where it can be, it just gives you a sense of accomplishment,” Rupakus said.

One of the tee boxes on the course had actually been a temporary tee box for all these years. Groundskeeper Bill Emerson’s father Gordon designed a 17th hole tee box that started construction but was never completed. When going through the tree trimming and removal process, they decided it was time to complete that work.

“Bill actually brought us into the woods. This was thick forest at the time. You couldn’t see the valley, this was so thick. You didn’t know this view existed just a few years ago,” Rupakus said of the view from where the cabins are set to be constructed. “I was like, ‘Well Bill, do you want to finish your father’s work?’ He was like, ‘I’d love to.’ So, we came in, we cleared the trees, built the fairway, built the tee boxes, but we hadn’t cleared the trees on the hillside.”

Rupakus said Bill is the heart and soul of the course, spending 40 years of his life helping make it a place to be.

It is not just the play that has improved; they have helped uncover views that people would have otherwise missed.

“This view did not exist four years ago. You always get well-meaning feedback. Some of the members were like, ‘I don’t know about the changes.’ Now, they’re all very supportive,” Rupakus said. “So far, so great.”

To recognize the impact Emerson has had on the course and the community, Rupakus built an island in a pond that will have a bronze bust to honor Gordon and Bill, with a walking bridge to cross the water.

That historic ski hill is being turned into a connection to the community walking path. That path will be a part of the experience that those staying in the cabins get to enjoy.

Recently, employee Telemachus “Telly” Awsumb, along with Mariah Smith, opened the Flatstick Bar and Grill, a restaurant located in the clubhouse. That restaurant has been a win-win, as the restaurant receives a customer base from the course, and the course receives another draw for its golfers. Rupakus said Telly is like a member of his family at this point.

“It just gives me hope for the future. He’s 22 years old and he’s running his own payroll, and his own employees and schedule,” Rupakus said. “You want to have multiple offerings. As restaurants are closing, and you’re seeing it I’m sure, getting staff to work a restaurant is challenging… It does give an offering to the golfers that when they get done golfing, they can go up and have a burger and fries.”

Rupakus said for many courses, the lifecycle is as follows: someone buys low-priced rural land to build a course, the course draws new housing developments to the surrounding area, those developments raise property values, the increased property taxes hit courses where it hurts because an increase in property value does not simply mean revenues increase and a developer buys out the course to use the land for housing. Rupakus is increasing the course’s offerings to keep the course as a community staple while adjusting to the times.

“In 10-15 years, nobody will really remember that we were here, but we’ll know, and we’ll know that we really tried to set it up for success,” Rupakus said. “We have a literal plan in place that it should be viable for the next 55 years.”