Transactions, july 25, 2014

     Olde Vine Golf Club, a nine-year-old venue in Riverhead, New York, has been purchased by its members. Now known simply as the Vineyards, the club has roughly 50 members, according to the Riverhead News Review, and it’s set out to find 70 more. The sales pitch will highlight what was once a weakness for Olde Vine: its 18-hole, 5,800-yard course. Before the Great Recession, such tracks paled in comparison to the longer, more celebrated courses on Long Island. Today, they’re being viewed as ideal for time-pressed players. “It’s a fun golf course,” the club’s pro told the newspaper. “It will challenge you, but it won’t take up most of your day.” Olde Vine’s members reportedly paid $1.25 million for the club’s 75-acre property. The seller was George Heinlein, who’s developing an accompanying subdivision.

     More than a decade after he purchased his first golf property in Florida, Wallace G. Cahoon has purchased a second. Last month, the Chesapeake, Virginia-based residential developer closed on 7 Rivers Golf & Country Club in Crystal River, a town in the far northern outskirts of Tampa. The Crystal County Chronicle reports that a Cahoon-controlled LLC paid $558,285 for 7 Rivers, which opened in 1968 and features an 18-hole, Bill Amick-designed golf course. Cahoon owns Cahoon Plantation Golf Club in Chesapeake, and in the early 2000s he bought a golf venue in Deltona, Florida that he now calls Deltona Club.

     A local developer has agreed to buy a defunct golf course in suburban La Crosse, Wisconsin. At a sheriff’s auction, Steven Nicolai and his father placed the top bid for Maple Grove Country Club, which had been foreclosed upon and was closed at the end of the 2013 golf season. The price: $1.145 million. “We’re speculating and don’t have any immediate plans,” Nicolai told the La Crosse Tribune. “We’re open to suggestions.” The club has operated, originally with a nine-hole course, since 1929. Its 180 acres have been targeted for housing for several years.

     After three years in foreclosure, a golf resort in Chicagoland is looking forward to making a fresh start. Pheasant Run Resort & Spa, in St. Charles, has been sold to a group of hotel investors and operators, according to a press release. The 250-acre property features a 470-room hotel, meeting space, an expo center, a 320-seat theater, a comedy club, several places to eat and drink, and an 18-hole, Bill Maddox-designed golf course. Hostmark Hospitality Group, one of the investors, will manage the property and oversee a $5 million renovation of the vertical structures.

     A nine-hole, executive-length golf course in Novi, Michigan, abandoned since 2009, is about to get a second life. Maples of Novi Golf Course has been purchased by a trio of investors -- Bob Kunkel, Rick Jaster, and Walter Carrigan -- who aim to revive not only the golf course but the property’s restaurant, swimming pool, and exercise area. “We want this to be what it’s meant to be, and that’s a family setting with great food and amenities to go along with a popular golf course,” Kunkel told the Observer & Eccentric. According to the newspaper, the course was forced to shut down due to “shaky management.” Its official grand reopening is scheduled to take place sometime this summer.

     An investor group has acquired the former White Plains Country Club in Pageland, South Carolina. The club, in operation since 1968, had been owned by a shrinking number of members. The new owners have reportedly paid off the club’s debt and have given it a new name, White Plains Golf Club. “They cared enough about it and believed in it and decided to make a go of it,” the club’s general manager told the Pageland Progressive-Journal. White Plains’ 18-hole golf course was designed by Eddie Riccoboni -- “in the old school of architecture,” according to the club’s website.

     The city of Montrose, Colorado has taken control of Black Canyon Golf Club, a venue that’s reportedly been losing money for years. Black Canyon’s original nine opened in the late 1950s, and its second nine, which was laid out on city-owned property, arrived in 1986. The shareholders of Montrose Land Company accepted $675,000 for their share of the enterprise.

     A bank in Missouri has disposed of an unwanted asset. In May, Bank of Sullivan reportedly sold Indian Rock Golf Club to a group that includes Jonathan Dugger and John and Danielle Tamblynn. The new owners, who have no experience in the golf business, told the Lake Sun Leader that they plan to implement recommendations from the USGA “for increasing the difficulty of the course.” The 30-year-old track, in Laurie, has been controlled by banks since early 2011.

     In suburban Columbus, Ohio, a private club with a laid-back vibe has found a new owner. The members of High Lands Golf Club have sold their property to an entity led by Kurt Bergemann of Kassel Property Management. “It’s a place to come and relax,” Bergemann told the Newark Advocate. The club, which had its debut in 1957, features what’s been described as a “Scottish-style” course. The architect is unknown, but the layout has its admirers. “I would put this golf course up against just about any course in central Ohio,” said the club’s general manager. “From tee to green, it’s perfect.” The new owners plan to make improvements to the club, but they’ve promised not to change its ambiance.