Sierra Golf Management, which owns the Murphys, Calif. property, had announced at the start of the year that it was permanently closing the nine-hole course, but volunteers within the community then raised $70,000 to convince the ownership to try to make things work for another year. “We’ll continue to work in the red, [but] we’re getting people we have not seen since we bought the course [and] it is a significant effort [to save it],” said Sierra Golf President Dave Christensen. “Whether it’s too little too late, we don’t know. We’re willing to give it another shot.”
Golfers could tee off again later this month at Forest Meadows Golf Course, the Calaveras Enterpriseof San Andreas, Calif. reported. As C&RB reported in January (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2018/01/forest-meadows-gc-closes-permanently/), operations at the course inside the gated community near Murphys, Calif., ceased at the start of this year because its owner and management company, Sierra Golf Management, was not making enough money.
But now, the Enterprise reported, the Forest Meadows course will officially open for golfing on April 27, after volunteers raised $70,000 in memberships toward a $75,000 benchmark identified by Sierra Golf as what was needed to restart operations, according to Dan Martinez, a volunteer in the grassroots effort to keep golf alive in Forest Meadows.
Sierra Golf Management President Jeff Christensen told the Enterprise that the money raised will not be enough to offset what the Chowchilla, Calif.-based company will eventually lose on the course by reopening it, but it will help mitigate the losses.
“We’ll continue to work in the red,” Christensen said.
After Christensen sent a letter to the Forest Meadows Owners Association in December that the nine-hole course would close permanently because Sierra Golf could not afford to operate the property at a loss and continue to fund expenses out of pocket without end, the Enterprise reported, the closure acted as a wakeup call for many local golfers, according to Martinez
In March, the Enterprise reported, Martinez and other representatives of the community’s volunteer group sat down with representatives of the ownership to identify what could be needed to reopen the course, and within days, Sierra Golf officials identified the amount of money they felt would be needed to be able to restart play.
Volunteers then collected nearly $30,000 the month before they hosted an event last weekend to punch the greens, work on the sand traps and ready the course again for play, the Enterprise reported, and then collected approximately $40,000 more in memberships.
“My goal was to try to keep the course open for one year, to see if we could get the community to support” it, Martinez, identified as the “point man” for the effort, told the Enterprise.
“I don’t know if the support would be here a second year on the [same] terms,” Martinez added. “A lot of people said, ‘Let’s give it this one-year shot.’”
The Forest Meadows course will now stay open through November, because of the commitment from the community, Christensen told the Enterprise. Without that commitment, Sierra Golf was fully prepared to keep the fairways closed, though it would have had to continue to water the grass, according to a contract with the Calaveras County (Calif.) Water District, and also mow the fairways to prevent sprinkler obstruction.
Beyond this season, the Enterprise noted, nobody knows what could happen, especially because Sierra Golf seems poised to sell the land, after receiving numerous calls a month, according to Christensen, from those who like the land but are not sure if they want to keep it as a golf course or develop the space into something else.
But for now, golfers are saving the course.
“We’re getting people we have not seen since we bought the course. It is a significant effort,” Christensen said. “Whether it’s too little too late, we don’t know. We’re willing to give it another shot.”
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