Sierra Golf Management, which owns and operates the Murphys, Calif., property, announced that the course has closed permanently following its seasonal closure on December 1, citing losses in revenue as the primary reason. The golf course is the second in Calaveras County to close in the last two weeks.
Officials of Forest Meadows Golf Course in Murphys, Calif., have announced that they will close its gates, making it the second Calaveras County golf course to shutter in almost two weeks, the San Andreas, Calif., Calaveras Enterprise reported.
Sierra Golf Management, the management group that owns the golf course, issued a letter on December 28 announcing that it would close the golf operations on the course permanently after its December 1 seasonal closure, citing losses in revenue as the main reason behind the move, the Enterprise reported.
“This decision was not an easy one to make; we have valuable employees who rely on us for a paycheck and loyal customers who truly love the golf course,” the company said in a letter. “Unfortunately, we have analyzed sales reports, expense reports and market trends we have also deliberated and debated extensively and at the end of the day, we simply cannot afford to operate at a loss and continue ‘out-of-pocket’ funding of this operation with no chance of a return and no end in sight.”
According to their letter, Sierra Golf Management has tried to get the association to buy the course in an attempt to keep the course open, but, according to current association President Allen Dodson, the purchase proposal was shot down in 2015 and has not been revisited as a potential option, the Enterprise reported.
“We have no interest in buying a loss-making enterprise,” said Dodson. “At the time, the board discussed it and determined that it did not make sense.”
Dodson is not sure how much money the course is losing, he said, but has noticed the number of golfers on the course diminish. Sierra Golf Management President Jeff Christensen could not be reached by the Enterprise for comment.
In 2015, Dodson said he mentioned to homeowners that if they had any interest in the course, that they could form a limited liability corporation to purchase the course outright, but that the homeowners association would not engage in purchasing a golf course, the Enterprise reported.
“I would say that the board made it pretty clear in 2015 that if any one homeowner or anyone else wanted to form an investor group to purchase the course, that would be the best way to go,” Dodson said.
According to a letter sent on October 22, 2015, by Sierra Golf Management to then-association President Eric Davis, proposals were presented to the homeowners association to find ways to mitigate a “continued negative cash flow.” They included a $50 voucher for nongolfers to buy food or beverages at the course, and a $1,000 per month account between the homeowners association and Forest Meadows Golf Course that would be used for capital improvements at the discretion of the HOA, the Enterprise reported.
Forest Meadows joins La Contenta Golf Club in Valley Springs as courses closed in Calaveras. La Contenta, which also utilized Sierra Golf Management as the course operator, closed its fairways citing fiscal losses as the main reason. Unlike La Contenta, however, Forest Meadows is not owned by a separate limited liability corporation, the Enterprise reported.
Dodson, who is currently on vacation, said that he is not sure how people are reacting to the news, but he perceives that the number of people who play golf at Forest Meadows has significantly dropped over the years. “The people who have bought into the community in recent years are not golfers,” said Dodson. The course “is seen as a positive, but not a necessity.”
It remains unclear what Sierra Golf Management plans to do with the course. In the December 28 letter, the management group made it clear that it has not finalized any plans and is searching for ways to still use the course, the Enterprise reported.
“We have had many discussions and ideas about what we will do with the property after it is no longer a golf course,” the letter read. “At this time they are just ideas and no plan has been finalized on what will be the next chapter in the life of this property.”
Forest Meadows Golf Course was an 18-hole course designed by Robert Trent Jones. Seven holes were removed in early 2015 and the course was eventually renamed Murphys 9 Golf Course. It is surrounded by more than 500 homes and includes views of the Stanislaus River Canyon. Christensen said in 2015 that Forest Meadows could not operate any longer as an 18-hole course, the Enterprise reported.
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