Mike Monk, who has worked at the Fayetteville, N.C., golf course since 2008, has taken over management of the property with his partner, Richard Taylor, and has submitted an option to buy it from Methodist University. In the meantime, Monk will focus on using course revenues to improve conditions, first by aerating the greens in early March.
A longtime King’s Grant Golf and Country Club employee took over the lease to manage and operate the Fayetteville, N.C., golf course on February 1, the Fayetteville Observer reported.
Mike Monk, who has worked at King’s Grant since 2008, and partner Richard Taylor said they eventually hope to buy the course from Methodist University. Methodist owns a 51% controlling interest in King’s Grant, and an investment group made up mostly of course members owns the other 49%, the Observer reported.
Monk and Taylor, both members of the Professional Golf Association, take over the lease from East Coast Golf Management, a South Carolina company that had been trying until recently to buy the course from Methodist, the Observer reported.
Monk and Taylor, whose wife, Kelli, works for Methodist, have submitted an option to buy King’s Grant, which Methodist is trying to sell for $1.4 million. Monk and Taylor are leasing the course under the name Two Putt Golf Management LLC, the Observer reported.
Taylor spent years in the golf industry in South Carolina, where he had been head golf professional at Wescott Country Club and on the professional staff at The Seabrook Island Club. He moved to Fayetteville last year, the Observer reported.
For now, Monk said, he and Taylor will focus on using course revenues to improve King’s Grant. They have already begun that work by meeting with the chief agronomist for the Carolina Golf Association to discuss ways to improve the greens and fairways, the Observer reported.
One change on its way is to aerate the bent grass greens in early March, if not sooner depending on the weather. “By the Masters, these greens should be in really, really good shape,” Monk said.
Monk said 65% of the money allocated to course maintenance will be used on the greens and surrounding areas. King’s Grant has struggled to keep its greens in good shape throughout its 26-year history. Those and other problems had continued since East Coast Golf Management took over the operating lease in 2014. The course continues to have issues with drainage, cart paths, an earthen dam and erosion at its entrance, the Observer reported.
And while those problems will take time and money to overcome, Monk and Taylor are optimistic about the future of King’s Grant. “We agreed with Methodist to keep the doors open and do the best we could with what we had,” Monk said.
Taylor added: “We want it to be awesome.”
Retired Army Col. Carl Broadhurst, president of the board for the 49 percent minority interest, said he is pleased with the new lease agreement. “Better than happy,” Broadhurst said. “I’m expecting good stuff. I’m not expecting miracles overnight because they can’t do that, but yes, happy to the Nth degree.”
Last year, Broadhurst and other members expressed dissatisfaction with Methodist and East Coast Management, saying King’s Grant had continued a downhill slide, the Observer reported.
Methodist may still face hurdles in the sale of King’s Grant. Real estate developer Chris Manning owns 10 acres on the course, which includes the driving range and part of the maintenance barn. Manning helped negotiate the sale of King’s Grant to Methodist, which bought the course in 2006 partly as a way to enhance its golf course management program. As part of the sale, Manning had promised that a new clubhouse, tennis courts and other amenities would be built, but that never happened, the Observer reported.
Methodist owns another 10 acres at the entrance to the club. Monk said he and Taylor are not developers and have no interest in acquiring that land. But he said others have made inquiries, the Observer reported.
The new lease agreement can be canceled at the end of any month, but Monk said he and Taylor are hopeful that they will end up buying the course. “I wouldn’t be sitting here if I didn’t feel it was an absolutely viable plan,” Monk said.
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