Cascade Golf Center

Keven J. Stratton, Proprietor

Keven J. Stratton is the proprietor of Cascade Golf Club in Orem, Utah. Stratton has managed the golf course since 1986.

Stratton is also a partner at Smith and Stratton Law Firm, which specializes in business law, real estate and estate planning. In addition, he is a managing member of several Utah Valley-based real estate development companies and manages a farm that is a major supplier of Strattonís Country Store in Orem.

Keven is a fifth generation Stratton in Utah. He was born in Orem on Feb. 12, 1962 and graduated from Orem High School in 1980, where he was student body president as a senior. After serving as a missionary in England for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1981-1982, Stratton returned to Utah and earned his bachelors degree at Brigham Young University. He graduated in 1987 with a major in business finance and minors in accounting and economics.

He attended BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School beginning in 1989 and was awarded a J.D. degree in 1993. In 1994, Stratton co-founded Smith and Stratton Law Firm.

Stratton is very involved in commerce and community activities in Utah County. He serves on the boards of several community organizations. He has served on the board of the Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce since 1994 and was elected chairman of the board in 1997. He is the present chair-elect for Healthy Utah Valley, an organization dedicated to promoting health and wellness in the community, and is a current board member of Kids on the Move, an organization that provides early intervention for children with disabilities. He also served as a member of the board for the Kiwanis Club of Orem from 1995-96. In 1995, he was appointed by Utah Governor Mike Leavitt to serve on the Consumer Protection Advisory Board of Utah.

Stratton is involved in the Boy Scouts of America and has received several awards for his service, including the Second Miler Award. He is married to Orem native Laurie Ann Miller. They have seven children - four girls and three boys.

Randy W. Anderson, PGA Professional

Randy Anderson has been the head professional at Cascade Golf Center in Orem, UT, since 1988.

As head professional, Anderson teaches golf to children and adults of all ages on beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. His experience with the golf course goes back to 1979 when he began working on the grounds and in the pro shop.

Anderson is a certified professional and a member of the PGA of America. He was elected a member of the PGA in 1993, after passing the playing ability test and apprenticing at Cascade Golf Center for five years. While most apprentices work under a mentor, Anderson achieved his professional status on his own, carrying all the responsibilities of a head professional during his apprenticeship.

Anderson was born in 1964 in Castro Valley, California. He was raised in Orem and graduated from Mountain View High School in 1982. After serving a mission in West Virginia from 1983 to 1984 for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Anderson returned home to Utah and continued working at Cascade Golf Center. He later earned an associate’s degree from Utah Valley State College in business management in 1993.

Anderson is an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. In 2002 he won the Merchandiser of the Year Award for the Utah Section of the PGA. Also in 2002, Anderson began serving a 3 year term on the Board of Directors for the Utah Section of the PGA.

He and his wife, Cari, have three girls.

Historical Sketch

Three brothers, Herbert B., Vern A., and Franklin K. Stratton, were the primary people responsible for the beginning of Cascade Fairways.

In the mid 1960s, longtime Orem residents Richard Nimer, Cliff Pyne, Earl Farnworth, Dexter Wilberg, Rex Kofford and Herb Stratton made a proposal to the Orem City Council suggesting that Orem City needed its own golf course.

Orem City organized a committee headed by Parell Peterson, sports director at Lincoln High School, with Herb Stratton serving as one of the committee members. After several months of research, the committee recommended that Orem City conduct a study to determine if Orem could sustain a golf course.

Nolan Waltham, head professional at Mick Riley Golf Course in Murray, was hired by Orem City to conduct a golf course study. The study, which cost $1,800, concluded that Orem City could support a nine-hole golf course. Based upon Walfun's study, the committee recommended that the city build a golf course. Understanding the associated risks involved, however, Orem City Council voted unanimously not to build a course and opted instead to focus on plans for a new city center.

Although the committee disbanded, Herb Stratton maintained a vision for a golf course in Orem and approached his brothers and other family members about building a course on their property. The Stratton family owned 85 acres beginning at the corner of 800 North and 800 East and continuing north into what is now Canyon View Junior High School.

When Orem City Councilman Harley Gillman heard the Strattons were considering using their own land to build a course, Gillman suggested that arrangements might be made with the city to purchase the land near the mouth of Provo Canyon. Orem City had purchased the land for its culinary water rights. At the time, the property was being used as a gravel pit and a portion of the land served as a city dump.

The Strattons desired to purchase the land but the city preferred a lease agreement. The city and the Strattons agreed on a 100-year lease.

Having obtained a lease on the land, the Stratton's set out to obtain their own financing. After being turned away by every local bank, Herb Stratton flew to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco in an attempt to find a financial backer for the course. After more than a year of unsuccessful attempts to obtain financing, in 1966 Stratton approached the Small Business Administration, where he was initially turned down. However, Ren Smith, director of the Salt Lake City office of the Small Business Administration, contacted the national office in Washington D.C. and was able to help Stratton arrange for a 15-year loan. The terms of the loan required that 10 percent of the funds be financed through a local bank. In order to obtain the 10 percent local financing, the Stratton brothers had to offer their homes and farms as collateral. After five years of satisfactory payments, the bank released the mortgage on their homes and farms.

"They [the Stratton brothers] morgaged their butts off while we just sat back and held our breath," said Earl Farnworth, one the original members of the research committee. "About all we did was pat them on the back and say, 'you can do it.'"

Construction began on Cascade Fairways in the Spring of 1967. William H. Neff Sr., a Salt Lake City golf course architect, designed the course. The course opened in May of 1968. Green fees were $1 for adults, $0.75 for seniors and $0.50 for juniors.

The first clubhouse and equipment shed consisted of a World War II POW barracks. In 1970, the present day clubhouse was opened to the public.

In 1971, the Strattons opened a driving range south of 800 North and finished blueprint designs for Cascade's second nine holes, also south of 800 North. In response to the Orem City's request to obtain the land so the Osmonds could build Osmond Studios, the Stratton's expansion plans south of 800 North were changed when they sold the lease on that portion of the land back to the city.

The Stratton's received no profits from the Golf Course during the first 10 years of operation. In fact, the Stratton family subsidized the course to keep it going during this period.

During Cascade's 30 years in operation, the course has gone through a series of modifications. These changes included moving the tee box on hole No. 1 to the west to make room for the present day driving range, adding a fourth set of tee boxes and additional water hazards and bunkers and planting hundreds of trees.

Herb's son Keven, who began managing the golf course in 1986, became the proprietor in 1989.

Mike Smith served as the PGA Golf Professional from 1968-1969 followed by John Evans from 1970-1982.

Randy Anderson, who has worked at Cascade for 16 years, began his current job as the course's golf professional in 1987. In 1992 he became a Class A PGA Golf Professional.

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