Sonoma Ranch GC
In Las Cruces, N.M., the owner of Red Hawk GC has now acquired Sonoma Ranch GC, another of the city’s public courses. In the Buffalo, N.Y. area, C-BONS International, which recently sold Brierwood CC to members, has also divested itself of Tan Tara GC and Fox Valley CC. The new ownership of Tan Tara will rebrand the club as Pendleton Creek Golf Club.
Sierra Norte Land Holdings, owner of the Red Hawk Golf Club in Las Cruces, N.M., recently acquired the Sonoma Ranch Golf Course in the same city, with plans to utilize the best qualities of both public courses, the Las Cruces Sun News reported.
Sierra Norte Land Holdings has owned Red Hawk Golf Course since it was founded in 2011, the Sun News reported. Sonoma Ranch Golf Course was founded in 2000, with a course designed by Cal Olson, and was previously owned by the Sonoma Group. The course changed ownership hands in 2014 to become part of the Las Cruces Country Club, but returned to the original owners a little over a year later.
Jackie Jones, Director of Marketing for Mesilla Valley Transportation, an El Paso, Texas-based company that shares ownership with Sierra Norte Land Holdings, told the Sun News that Sonoma Ranch GC and the Sunset Grill were acquired through a land acquisition of underdeveloped land near the course. The company’s current priority is a smooth transition for employees and guests, Jones added.
“Red Hawk and Sonoma each have their strengths and weakness. We are excited to partner up and learn from each other to offer our customers the best experience possible,” added Red Hawk’s Golf Professional, Johnny Montes.
Greg Garcia, Golf Coach at Las Cruces’ Centennial High School, has extensive experience with both courses, specifically as a marshal, the Sun News reported. He spent a year at Sonoma Ranch and about four years so far with Red Hawk. Now that the two courses are not in direct competition, Garcia noted, there is a chance for a good partnership and growth.
“Even though they’re great places now, they can get better,” Garcia said. “And so I think everybody’s kind of excited to see what’s ahead, what’s coming up. Now that they’re connected, what is that going to really do for the golfers?”
Many people are interested in seeing Sonoma Ranch improve in playability and Red Hawk add a larger pro shop, Garcia noted, especially as the nearby Metro Verde residential area continues to grow.
Both courses and their golf pros currently work well with the Las Cruces Public School teams, he added, and he hopes this partnership will continues. Junior programs specifically introduce children in the community to the sport and feed into the high-school programs, the Sun News reported, so youths joining the high-school teams already having a connection to the area courses.
Las Cruces native Jordan Glaze, who has been golfing in the area since he was about six years old, told the Sun News that he is familiar with all of the courses in the area, though he spends most of his time at the New Mexico State University Golf Course. He agreed that the new partnership will benefit the courses, particularly Sonoma Ranch, which he said has diminished in course maintenance quality in recent years.
Rates have not changed for either course as of yet, but Glaze said there are signs around Sonoma Ranch alerting customers to a pending change, the Sun News reported. Prices at the locations are fairly similar now, and Garcia said he anticipates rates coming in at about the same range.
“Especially right now with all the COVID stuff, the popularity of golf’s really taken off,” Glaze said. “I think that’s really, really good for the game. It’s super-awesome see all the new people out there.”
In New York state, The Buffalo News reported that the Texas-based owner of three Buffalo-area golf courses is selling all three to separate investor groups comprised of club members and former members, after concluding it didn’t want to operate in the Northeast.
In addition to its sale of Brierwood Country Club in Hamburg, N.Y. (https://clubandresortbusiness.com/brierwood-cc-will-remain-private-pending-sale-to-local-investors/), the News reported that C-BONS International Golf Group Management LLC is selling Fox Valley Country Club in Lancaster, N.Y., and Tan Tara Golf Club in North Tonawanda, N.Y., after more than seven years of owning all three properties but struggling to keep up with investments and operational needs.
The sales are being disclosed by the local groups, the News reported, and not by the Sugar Land, Texas-based company, which operates under the acronym CBIGG, and owns 21 other courses in Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey and Texas, with most in Texas.
Tan Tara GC has already been acquired by a group of five partners, including two couples and three individuals, the News reported. Four are current members, while the fifth is a former club member.
That group, operating as Pendleton Creek LLC, completed its purchase on March 3rd for $800,000, the News reported, and will be renaming the course as Pendleton Creek Golf Club. The new name reflects a “fresh start” and more partnership with the community, the group said, noting that it’s the only private golf club in southern Niagara County.
Brierwood is under contract to be sold to a different investor group, while the Fox Valley sale is also in the works, said Patricia Collins, a commercial real estate broker and a member of the Pendleton Creek group with her husband, Tim, the News reported.
“They’re unloading their Northeast properties,” Collins said of C-BONS. “They’ve determined that they don’t do well in the seasonal golf courses. They need the ones that can stay open year-round.”
Owning a golf course “wasn’t on my bucket list,” Collins added, but “we are pretty avid golfers.” She and her husband have been members of Tan Tara since 1994, the Newsreported.
“It’s been a dream of my husband since he was a kid to own a golf course,” she added. “And it’s not a bad price. They were really anxious to sell.”
The Pendleton investor group was spearheaded by Jim Mapes, who formerly worked for Wegmans Food Markets, the News reported. The other partners include restaurant owner John Edholm Jr. and Bob and Dave Carroll, who bring accounting and restaurant backgrounds.
The Tan Tara property was built in 1968 by Tenis Schreckengost, and includes an 18-hole course, a clubhouse and a halfway house on 178 acres that used to be the Long Acre Hay and Wheat Farm, the News reported. It’s remained a private club but has gone through at least five different owners over the last 30 years, most recently C-BONS. The club currently has 350 members.
“As members, we’ve watched it decline over the past few years, and needed to step in and bring it back to its full potential,” said Collins. “Large corporations didn’t have the passion for ownership. Now we have the opportunity to see those improvements through and make it someplace that, as members, we’re all proud of and look forward to going to.”
The new owners of Pendleton plan a series of investments and enhancements to the buildings and infrastructure, starting with cosmetic upgrades to the kitchen and bar area at the clubhouse, and “some pretty significant upgrades” to the kitchen itself, Collins said. They’ve also hired a new chef, former (716) Food & Sport chef Ron Kubiak.
Once completed, the restaurant will reopen within a month or so as the Pendleton Creek Pub, with a menu of classic Buffalo dishes, a mixture of casual and fine dining options, and a Sunday brunch, the News reported. It will also offer banquet services for weddings, graduations and other special events, and will be open to the public all year, with an array of televisions and a large covered patio.
The golf course, which remains private, reopened for the season last weekend, the Newsreported. When the weather permits, the group will also spend money improving the golf course itself. “We’re prepared to make the necessary investments,” said Tim Collins, who works for Rich Products Corp.
Tim Collins said C-BONS put the course up for sale last summer, offering it first to club members.
“We’re all members of the course, and we probably over the years have been on different Boards connected with prior ownership and gave suggestions about what could be improved, and they never followed through,” he said. “We’ve been talking about how to help it, so we said let’s see if we can make it work.”
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