If John Marquardt looks like a kid in a candy store this summer, you can hardly blame the long-time Director of Golf at Paradise Pointe. For 23 years, Marquardt has toiled out of one of the smallest, if not the smallest pro shops – albeit one of the best - in the greater Kansas City area. Now the six-time PGA Merchandiser of the Year has a brand new showcase.

Thanks to a major construction project by Clay County, the owner of the Northland’s only 36-hole complex located along Smithville Lake, Marquardt has a 1,500 square foot pro shop and Paradise Pointe has a new 4,000 square foot banquet room capable of hosting 275 persons plus a new sports bar.

"It’s going to be fun," says an excited Marquardt. "We really needed a banquet room because of all the events we have here. Now we have the capability of going beyond golf events – weddings, meetings, parties."

The pro shop located in the old banquet room was the frosting on the cake. "We really didn’t expect it," said Marquardt. In addition to the new banquet room, the present facility got a complete refurbishing – new doors, windows, lighting, siding and roof.

"The biggest thing is it’s going to give golfers a chance to walk around and not bump into each other every time they turn around. And there was no way to display things. This is going to allow us carry more brands and more apparel and have more products of each brand."

Certainly the new facility was well-earned and well-deserved. No one in the Kansas City area has operated a pro shop better than the 52-year-old Marquardt.

For 10 consecutive years (1995-2004), Paradise Pointe has been on Golf Digest’s list of "America’s Top 100 Golf Shops." "That’s pretty prestigious; we’re really excited and proud of that," says Marquardt. "We’re one of the few who have done this consistently for such a long period of time."

Marquardt has also been recognized locally. The Midwest PGA Section "Professional of the Year" in 2002, he’s been named him Midwest PGA "Merchandiser of the Year" six times in the last 13 years – 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002 and 2004 – an honor that also carries nomination as PGA Merchandiser of the Year.

Marquardt credits that success to a variety of reasons. "I think we do a good job of servicing our customers. We don’t just sell golf clubs, we go out to the driving range with our fitting systems and make sure they get the right clubs. Our staff probably has more product knowledge than most because we work golf clubs so hard. While we have a lot of events, we’re different than most courses in that we don’t require tournaments and outings to spend in our pro shop. We do encourage it and have been successful with that."

With two courses, Paradise Pointe is able to host about 150 events a year including six in which both courses are used. There’s also a 90-man Thursday men’s league that fills up almost immediately and a popular women’s 9-hole league on Tuesdays. Brady Nelson is tournament coordinator while Eddie Hall, who is in his fourth year as general manager, holds a two-day "demo day" each year and maintains a supply of about 60 demo drivers for golfers to try out.

In addition to offering clubs, apparel and other golf related items, Marquardt belongs to the Advertising Specialties Institute (ASI) which gives access to anything that can be imprinted with logos or other printing. "We do a tremendous business with corporate and small businesses in Kansas City and we’re not hesitant to go out and call on some one."

In addition to the banquet room, the new facility will have three offices and badly needed storage room for golf carts in the basement. "We’ve never had a place to park them, we’ve always had to leave them outside," says Marquardt.

The old pro shop is being converted into a sports bar named "Hideout" in maintaining the course’s Jesse James theme which also includes the 18-hole Posse and Outlaw courses. "We’ll have big screen TV’s, tables and a bar and have added mixed drinks to our menu."

Paradise Pointe opened in 1982 with the current Posse course. When the Outlaw course was added in 1994, the Posse got four new holes along Smithville Lake which enabled the four holes that were replaced to be converted into an academy course for instruction and junior play.

"It’s a great part of our teaching program," says Marquardt, who has PGA apprentices Patrick Thaete and Matt Schonrock on his instruction staff. The four full-length holes adjacent to the driving range are maintained like the rest of the course and are open to play for $10 (twice around, eight holes).

Green fees for the Outlaw are $26.50 weekdays, $28 on weekends and $24.50 and $26 for the Posse with $17 twilight fees starting at 3 p.m. on both courses. Juniors and seniors can play either course for $17.50. Carts are $15.