A small house run by people who care about the details. Meet the team behind the prairie estate.
Thirteen rooms and one course mean every guest is looked after by people, not departments. These are the ones who set the standard.
A fixture of American golf hospitality for over forty years, Arnold Fairways came out of a quiet retirement to lead Strawgrass from bare prairie to opening day. He believes a small house should know its guests by name, and runs the property accordingly — with a handshake at the door and an eye on every detail.
A former touring professional and Class-A PGA member, Meg Ridgeway built her teaching reputation coaching amateurs to their first sub-par rounds. She oversees the course, the lesson tee, and the caddie program, and still plays The Dam better than anyone on staff.
Trained in Chicago and the Hudson Valley, Chef Cole leads The Sheaf with a strict farm-to-table discipline and a soft spot for prime dry-aged beef. He writes the menu each morning around what the local growers bring to the kitchen door.
With two decades in destination wellness, Aurelia Hahn designed the Strawgrass spa around the botanicals of the surrounding prairie. She measures success, she says, by how slowly a guest walks out the door.
A lifelong greenkeeper, Tom Bramble grew the course in alongside the design team and knows every contour by heart. His firm, fast greens are the reason your putts break the way they do.
Sophie Lin has orchestrated celebrations from city ballrooms to mountain estates. At Strawgrass she takes only a handful of weddings a year, so that each one feels like the only event the property has ever hosted.
A veteran of small luxury properties, James Okafor leads the front desk, housekeeping, and guest experience. He is the person who remembers how you take your coffee — and makes sure everyone else does too.
Vincent Auclair curates the Caddie’s Bar and The Sheaf cellar, with a particular passion for Midwestern wines and small-batch American whiskey. Ask him for a pairing; you will not be disappointed.
