Owner Jack Lamberson said the driving range, practice putting course, and AJ’s Taphouse will remain open while he seeks a buyer for the course. A citizen organization named Save Fallbrook Golf Course is butting heads with Lamberson, claiming the golf course could become an eyesore.
The last rounds of golf at Fallbrook (Calif.) Golf Club will be played this weekend as the course will be shut down effective March 14, the Fallbrook/Bonsall Village News reported.
The sudden announcement of the closure of the course came March 5, when an employee received a phone call from the owner of the course, Jack Lamberson. The employee was told to create, print, and post signs stating, “Golf Course Will Be Closing March 14th. Restaurant/Range Will Continue To Be Open.”
When contacted by the Village News on March 7, Lamberson confirmed the closing of the course. “It’s strictly economical,” said Lamberson.
The closure comes after months of speculation regarding the course’s future by residents of the Gird Valley area and golfers, conjecture prompted by Lamberson’s known desire to sell the 116-acre property, which he purchased in a short sale in June of 2012 and soon found to be a losing investment, the Village News reported.
“It’s always been a loser, and I’ve thrown money at it for four years trying to make it work as a golf course,” said Lamberson. “We were at one time losing $250,000 a year. We got it down to $100,000 a year, and it still didn’t feel good.”
Lamberson said closing the course will help him make his payments on the property, the Village News reported.
“What it really boils down to is I can make the payments that I owe on the property with the losses I’ve been suffering,” said Lamberson. “I don’t have the losses anymore, so that takes care of the payments.”
Lamberson said his company (Fallbrook Golf Course, Inc.) has the entire property up for sale, the Village News reported.
“The land value is worth a lot more than what the golf course is worth, unfortunately,” said Lamberson. “The best for me is to quit fighting it. And I’ve had several offers for different things for it, but some of them just wanted to steal it.”
Lamberson said the driving range, practice putting course, and AJ’s Taphouse will remain open while he seeks a buyer for the course. When asked about future maintenance of the property, Lamberson said, “I’ve got a mowing machine. I’ll probably keep it mowed, but the big thing is I’m not going to throw water at it. That’s one of the reasons I’m closing it, because of the water cost.”
Lamberson said his decision to close the course and try to sell the land isn’t going to be a popular one with golfers and the course’s neighbors, many of which are members of the organization Save Fallbrook Golf Course, the Village News reported.
“I’m going to catch flack because I’m going to be putting something together that will be beneficial to me,” said Lamberson. “I want to try to work something out to get out of where I’m at on it.”
Teresa Platt, a founder of Save Fallbrook, said Lamberson is trying to drive away business by skimping on maintenance and threatening to shut down the course. Last month he announced he was shutting down the back nine, but reopened it after just one day, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
“He basically wants us all to disappear so he can sell his property to developers or mitigation bank buyers, even though we have a great base of players who really want the course to succeed,” Platt said.
The citizens group feared the Fallbrook course would wind up looking like the defunct San Luis Rey Golf Course in Bonsall, which closed last year amid plans to turn it into a wetlands mitigation bank. The property has become an eyesore, residents said. “It’s a weed patch and a garbage dump,” said Platt. “That’s what mobilized us.”
Progress has stalled on plans for the Fallbrook course’s back nine and escrow has still hasn’t closed, but the “deal is not dead,” said Lamberson, adding there are several other parties interested in buying the front nine, including three developers, but he prefers selling to someone who would preserve that part of the course. If that fails, Lamberson said, he’d rather develop the property himself, the Union-Tribune reported.
“I could sell the front nine right now to a very solid developer for $3.5 million,” he said, which is the amount he owes the bank. “(But) before I just give it away for someone else to make money on, I would develop it myself.”
The mixed messages have frustrated the citizens group. “Last week, the course pro told us that Jack was going to keep the course open for two more years,” said Joan McConnell, a group founder. “Then he does a complete about-face and changes his mind. He’s done this more than once.”
Nine members of the group spoke at the last meeting of the Fallbrook Community Planning Group, which is one of the many government agencies that would review permits to change the use of the golf course properties. Residents urged the panel to oppose any application to use the site for purposes other than golf, the Union-Tribune reported.
Platt and McConnell said they fear that Lamberson’s decision to stop watering and maintaining the site will make it more difficult for him to sell to another golf course operator. In the past, residents have used their own hoses, mowers and weed whackers to help maintain the course, said McConnell, and they’re ready to do it again, the Union-Tribune reported.
“That’s how people around here feel about this golf course,” McConnell said.
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