WEATHERFORD —
In an office stacked with papers and decorated with photos, one image stands out above the desk of Wes Mickle at Canyon West Golf Club.
It’s a print that reads “Cherish Family” — and it embodies how Mickle feels.
For a large part of his adult life, Mickle’s son, Stan, has worked with his father at the golf club. Stan’s wife, Melissa, has acted as the trio’s spiritual compass, reminding them of scriptures and how to stay on the right path, Mickle said. The three Mickles are a tight-knit family.
And, together they are taking their next journey.
Canyon West Golf Club and the surrounding property, formerly owned by the Mickles, sold at auction for almost $5 million on Thursday, Sept. 27.
An area business owner was the high bidder on the 191-acre golf club and, Mickle said, intends to keep it operational.
Mickle said that he, his son and his son’s wife are continuing to run the golf club and will do so for a while longer. After the sale is finalized — in about 30 days — they’ll be training the new owner on how to operate the golf club.
The auction, which included more than 506 acres in 27 tracts, was expertly run by McLemore Auction Company in cooperation with Schrader Real Estate and Auction Company, Mickle said. Six other bidders bought the other parcels of land around the golf course. The frontage road tracts — tracts 1 through 12, which border Interstate 20 — were bought by a local developer and associates. There’s only one house in that area and the 154 acres are otherwise undeveloped land, Mickle said.
Names of all the high bidders are being withheld pending the closings of the sales, but Mickle did say that he and his family were happy with the results.
“We’re very pleased with the people who bought the property because they’re all good people, all good neighbors,” he said.
Despite his positivity, there are, of course, mixed emotions, Mickle said.
On the night of the auction, the family opted to have a celebratory dinner in Fort Worth rather that attend — though they did get updates throughout dinner about the progress of the auction, he said.
“A woman asked me yesterday, ‘Are you sad?’ and I said, ‘Well, no, because my son and I designed it. We built it. It’s always going to be our golf course,’” Mickle said.
The next steps for the family include meeting with the new property owners, transferring the golf club operations and, for Mickle, working to refine, manufacture and promote a futuristic-looking putter that he designed. It’s already received approval from the U.S. Golf Association.
They plan to maintain their homes in Weatherford, though Mickle admits that he and his son have always had an affinity for the beach, following a family trip to the Bahamas where they were able to eat fresh fish and lobster each night — so there may be some trips or future in that.
Until the beach calls again, there’s always golf — Mickle, his son and his three grandsons went out to play the day after the auction.
“I’m so proud of my son,” Mickle said, then, reflecting on all of his family and what they mean to each other, added, “I’m just blessed.”
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