This patch of earth that we call home has quite an interesting history. Please know that the information being disclosed is either from first-hand accounts or others.

In the late 1960s, a nine hole golf course and country club was built on this property. A 25 acre lake was constructed to supply water for the course’s irrigation system. During the construction of the lake, a small series of natural water springs were unearthed. It was soon decided that the name of the establishment would be Spring Lake Country Club. A small grass covered air strip was constructed to accommodate small planes from Austin, Dallas and Houston. The spring-fed Poole Creek originates on this land and provided beautiful scenery as it wandered through several fairways. An Olympic size swimming pool, complete with low and high diving boards and two slides, was constructed directly behind the Pro Shop. The lake was the focal point for the pro shop, club house and swimming pool.

In the late 70s, the Grant Teaff Open was held here. Baylor had won the Cotton Bowl in 1974 and this event allowed local residents to meet notables such as Coach Teaff, Coach Cotton Davidson, Neal Jeffrey, and Steve Beaird. One year, Bob Lilly and Leroy Jordan of the Dallas Cowboys and Donny Anderson of the Green Bay Packers made guest appearances. It was said that Bob Lilly (Mr. Cowboy) made a huge impression on the youngsters at the pool when he allowed them to try on his Super Bowl ring.

I have been told time and time again that this was the jewel of Falls county. It is enjoyable to hear the stories of events that took place here, particularly ones involving “first”. There was the first time to play golf, first time to swim in a real pool, first time to jump off a high dive, a first kiss, and a first proposal for marriage.

Unfortunately, Spring Lake Country Club was closed in 1982. I’ve heard multiple reasons for the closures, but I suspect the two primary culprits were the lack of irrigation water and accessibility. A large, expensive water pumping station was constructed on the far side of the lake. Unfortunately, the lake has a sand bottom and would not hold water at full capacity for a long period of time. To solve this problem, a dam and new pumping station was constructed on Poole Creek. This proved successful until an overnight 7 inch rain completely destroyed the dam. The other issue that probably plagued the country club was location. Although the geographic location of the country club was directly between Temple and Waco, Texas, it was two county roads removed from Hwy. 77. Unless, you were looking for it, you would never know it was here.

After the closure of the country club, the property was turned into a boy’s home for troubled youth. This venture would only last a single year.

In the early to mid 1980s, the Roberts purchased the property. The Roberts did a good job of remodeling the club house into their home and converting the pro shop into guest rooms. The Roberts were the owners for approximately 15 years. During this time, the land itself was leased for cattle grazing.

In the mid 1990s, Melinda and I started our search for our place in the country. Living in the suburbs of Austin was becoming a rat race and we both wanted a different lifestyle for our two young daughters. After two years of searching, a simple ad in the classified section of Austin’s paper appeared that caught Melinda’s attention. I was on a business trip so she called the number listed and set an appointment to see the place. After visiting the property the following day, she called me that night and said she thought our search was over. She wouldn’t tell me much about it other than it had potential. She was right! We both fell in love with the place and started down the path to ownership.

During that process, I asked Mr. Roberts if I could try fishing in the lake. At that time my youngest daughter, Lauren, was my shadow and was eager to spend an afternoon fishing with her daddy. Lauren was only 6 at that time, so I rigged up her line with a float, hook and sinker. Standing just a few yards away, I was busy casting a spinner lure. Soon Lauren was getting bored and asked if she could also use a lure. I explained that using a lure took more skill and this was not a good place to learn because of all the moss. After a few more minutes, Lauren was asking again for the use of a lure. I decided a top water plug was a good option since it not only stayed on top of the water (and out of the moss), but also gave a little splash action to provide some entertainment. Now I know this is going to sound like a Texas fish story, but this is really what happened. On her first cast, the lure landed approximately 25 feet from the shore. I told my little fishing buddy to let the lure sit where it landed for 5 seconds then give it a little pop. The little pop never came. The lure had only sat there for 2 seconds when something grabbed it and it disappeared below the surface. Lauren knew exactly what to do. After pulling back on the rod, she started to crank on the reel and pull in the fish. When the fish got close to the moss bed that was hugging the shore, Lauren started to ask for help saying it was getting very hard to reel. Wanting her to take full credit for her first catch using a lure, I told her the fish had buried itself into the moss and the best thing to do was to simply start walking backwards, very slowly, and pull the fish onto the shore. As expected, a large round blob of moss was soon on the shore. Lauren was so excited! We both started pulling the moss apart to get a look at the prize. I could not believe what I saw next. There before us was not one bass, but two! – one on the front treble hook and one on the back treble hook. I looked down into my young daughter’s face and said “Lauren, do you know how unusual this is? On your first time to use a lure and on your first cast, you caught not only one, but two fish – on the same lure!” Lauren looked back up with those bright blue eyes and said “Yea…but…dad, it does have two hooks!” In reality, at that moment, I was the one hooked – hooked on this place and experiencing more of the same memory making moments we just had.

Needless to say, we reached an agreement for the purchase of the ranch and moved from Austin in 1998. Much has happened over the years – following are a few of the highlights: