Herald File Photo
John Bertges is stepping down as Jasper's golf director.

By COREY STOLZENBACH
sports@dcherald.com

An era shall soon be coming to an end.

Jasper Golf Director John Bertges has announced he is leaving the position, with his last day at Buffalo Trace Golf Course scheduled for June 5. He has been in this post since 2014.

“The city of Jasper has done really good for me and is a good fit for me,” Bertges said. “With the recent closing of Ruxer Golf Course, it makes it challenging to fit into that same role from a personal standpoint. It’s bittersweet for me because I enjoy the township.”

Bertges will be heading to Bedford as the head golf professional at the Otis Park Golf Course. His own personal income was being impacted since much of it came from teaching youth golf and noted that Ruxer was perfectly designed for players like that, but floods presented a challenge to the venue.

It was never his intention to go elsewhere. He wanted to stay in Jasper.

“Not to anyone’s blame,” he said. “I guess if there’s someone to blame, it would just be mother nature and just the way the terrain laid out with the golf course. I’m just not able to perform the duties that I was hired to do and I’m just not able to financially meet my obligations.”

Bertges is happy, though, that he found something suitable to his skills. He’s looking forward to getting rooted into his new community and understand its people. Bertges knows youth golf in Bedford had been good in the past, but it’s been a while, and now he wants to grow the youth golf program again.

He’s hoping to thank as many people in Jasper as he can and leave on good terms come June 5. Bertges believes the city will do something to advance junior golf in lieu of the role Ruxer Golf Course served the community. He’s hoping the city will remain involved with Dubois County Junior Golf.

“It’s a very tight-knit community, Jasper is and the people were very open and friendly to me,” Bertges said. “It was a pleasure to always work around the community that way.”