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By Steve Donahue
While it took time, Agie Chenís lifelong goal of owning his own golf course ultimately ended in success, both in its realization and continued prosperity today
Agie Chen’s dream of owning his own golf course didn’t quite turn out to be an overnight success story. Chen—who learned to play golf in his native Taiwan—relocated to the United States in 1985, taking his family and love for the game with him.
He also decided to turn his dream of owning his own golf course into reality, preferably in the Chicago area. However, it wasn’t until 1996 that his dream finally came true, when Chen’s Broken Arrow Golf Club opened in the Chicago suburbs.
“He was looking for a place to open in 1985 and [Chicago] just wasn’t the right place at the right time,” says Chen’s son, Michael, Broken Arrow’s golf operations manager. “We also looked at places in Los Angeles and Hawaii that didn’t work out, so it took a little longer than he wanted it to. It all started in 1993 when he found some land that was being developed here in Lockport on the south side of Chicago, and the right deal came through.”
The club was named for an old Indian arrowhead discovered during construction. This is the Chen’s 20th year owning and operating Broken Arrow. For the majority of those years, they also managed a golf course near Shanghai, China, to which Agie flew once a month to check on the operation. The family no longer manages that course, but the Chens still have another business in China that requires Agie’s attention.
“My father still flies back and forth to China, but it all depends on his schedule over there,” says Michael Chen. “Sometimes it’s for three months here, sometimes it’s one month. It varies.”
Regardless, Michael has Broken Arrow’s daily operations covered, whether his dad is home or across the globe tending to the family’s other concerns. The Chen’s Broken Arrow management style works like a well-oiled family machine. Agie takes care of the facility’s business operations, Michael handles all of the golf operations, and Sue Chen—Agie’s wife and Michael’s mom—is a key member of Broken Arrow’s administrative team. Michael’s sister, Tina, used to drive the beverage cart before departing for another career. The club’s family feel had even extended to two starters who had been with the Chens and Broken Arrow since the course opened, but both passed away within the “past year or two,” Michael says.
Course architect Bob Lohman designed the 27-hole facility—which, Michael estimates, hosts between 38,000 and 40,000 rounds annually. The North, South and East nines provide three separate par-36 combinations while stretching across 250 acres of rolling land, each providing distinct experiences. The North course offers a very unique feature: Each green has two separate hole locations, inviting golfers to play to either a red or blue flag.
“I think the two hole locations on the North nine—the red flag locations are a little shorter than the blue flag locations—was a collaboration between Bob Lohman and my father,” says Michael. “The original idea was to play the South and East as an 18-hole combination, and to play the North twice [as an 18-hole round], but it didn’t quite work out the way we wanted. Some people like it that way, some don’t and some are indifferent, so now we just have a three-course rotation and hope people at least try the North and give the double-hole location concept a try.”
Broken Arrow is a popular venue for golf outings, as well as meetings, weddings, bridal showers, baby showers, birthdays, Easter and Mother’s Day brunches and the like throughout the year, but being Asian presents the Chens with opportunities other area golf clubs might not get. For instance, one of Broken Arrow’s largest annual events is the Philippines Independence Day outing, when roughly 225 golfers play golf on all three nines, and celebrate the country’s history and heritage all day long with family and friends.
“Obviously, being Asian and originally from Taiwan gives us the opportunity to do a lot of Asian business,” says Michael. “I belong to the Taiwanese American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Chicago’s Board of Directors, and we celebrate the Taiwanese Independence Day every year by hosting a golf outing here. It’s very special. We get to raise the Taiwanese flag for the day and sing the national anthem. It’s a little more special because we’re all from the same country. Sometimes you might not be able to do that at a different facility.”
Steve Donahue is a Connecticut-based freelance writer.