Transactions, august 5, 2016

     Washoe Valley, Nevada. Just months after he let go of his first Reno-area golf course, Stan Jaksick has found a replacement. Jaksick, who turned over Montrêux Golf & Country Club to its members earlier this year, has acquired Thunder Canyon Golf Club, a 22-year-old property that he’s described as “a great facility with the potential to be a premier golf course.” The seller was Gayle Block, who purchased Thunder Canyon with her late husband in 1999. The club, which features an 18-hole, Robert Muir Graves-designed course, opened in 1994 as Golf Club at Lightning W Ranch. It reportedly rang up roughly 14,000 rounds last year, when it operated as a private club. Jaksick has given the property a new name, Toiyabe Golf Club, and opened it for daily-fee play, a move he believes will attract about 10,000 additional annual rounds.

     Prospect, Kentucky. All the leaves are certainly not brown, but that didn’t stop California Dreamin’ LLC from contracting to buy GlenOaks Country Club, in suburban Louisville. The LLC had expected to close on the transaction last month. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that the seller, an affiliate of Pacific Life Insurance Company, assumed control of the 23-year-old club when its former owner “ran into financial problems.” GlenOaks features an 18-hole, Tim Liddy-designed golf course, and it claims to “work very hard to maintain a friendly, family oriented, relaxed atmosphere at all times.” California Dreamin’ is led by Jamie Miller, a Florida-based professional golfer who’s reportedly developed and managed golf properties “from California to Florida.” Miller hasn’t revealed what he paid for GlenOaks.

     Milledgeville, Georgia. The members of Milledgeville Country Club, which has apparently seen better days, have voted to sell their property to Ted Smith. “The majority of our members have been older people,” the chairperson of the club’s board told the Milledgeville Union Recorder. “We haven’t had the young families, and that’s what keeps a place viable. That’s been one of our big problems.” According to the chairperson, Smith plans to lengthen the club’s George Cobb-designed course and “do a lot of renovations” to its clubhouse. Milledgeville was established in the late 1950s. Smith expects to close on the transaction on October 31. Trick or treat.

     Boonville, Missouri. The city of Boonville has reluctantly agreed to assume ownership of Hail Ridge Golf Course. The city will operate the 18-hole course this year, but it hopes to have a private-sector operator in place next year. “The preference would be no city involvement,” Boonville’s mayor reportedly said in a press release. “But that was apparently not to be.” Hail Ridge opened in 2005. In 2008, its original owners sold it to Jacob, Philip, and Bill Rapp.

     Flushing, Michigan. Can Motown Golf Group and Flushing Valley Golf Course make beautiful music together? Motown, a group led by Angelo Arca, paid an undisclosed price for the 57-year-old golf course in suburban Flint, promising to “definitely improve the golf course.” Flushing Valley appears to be the only golf property currently operated by Motown, which aims to be “the driving force in leading Michigan golf.”