Owner Jeff Fischer said a Chinese investment group was interested in buying the 18-hole property in Beaufort County, S.C. late last year and establishing a golf school, but the deal didn’t work out. He’s offered local property owners an opportunity to buy the club.
Sanctuary Golf Club, in Beaufort County (S.C.) in the Cat Island community on the southern end of Lady’s Island, temporarily closed its golf course after the new year began, The Beaufort Gazette reported.
Owner Jeff Fischer told The Gazette that the club is for sale and while awaiting a deal, he’s consolidating operations with the Lady’s Island Country Club on the north end of the island, which Fischer has owned for 20 years.
Though the Sanctuary pro shop was closed on January 7 and motorized carts remained parked in the shed, golfers willing to walk or with privately owned carts still took advantage of the cloudless sky and mild weather to play the club’s golf course, The Gazette reported.
“If you play a lot of golf in this area, this is probably one of the best golf courses around—in terms of the layout, and the water,” club member and Cat Island resident Doug Hendricks told The Gazette before teeing off.
Hendricks said there was little warning before Fischer closed the course, The Gazette reported. A sign on the door of the pro shop invited golfers to play at Lady’s Island CC.
Golfers were also given the option to walk and play the Sanctuary’s Cat Island course, paying for rounds on the honor system, The Gazette reported.
“Unfortunately, things have not worked out as planned,” the note on the pro shop door said. “Due to these circumstances, the golf course is temporarily closed.”
Fischer cited a decline in play, competition from the golf club at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island, and poor weather to The Gazette as among the reasons that Sanctuary GC closed. A Chinese investment group was interested in buying the club late last year and establishing a golf school, but the deal didn’t work out, he said.
Fischer has also offered the chance to buy the club to a local property owners group, The Gazette reported. The restaurant at the club closed last year, but still opens for Wednesday dinners.
“If the neighborhood wants to buy the property or building, they should get in touch with me,” Fischer said.
In July 2018, when it was time to renew membership dues, rates went up and Fischer asked for six months or a full year of dues up front, Pat Nestor, who has been a member of Sanctuary GC for 15 years, told The Gazette. In the past, Nestor said, members had been able to pay on a quarterly or monthly basis.
Hendricks told The Gazette that he has his Cat Island home listed for sale and is worried that a shuttered golf course will affect his property values.
The 18-hole Sanctuary Golf Club has hosted numerous junior, state level and professional events in the past, The Gazette reported. The National Women’s Golf Association held its Tour Championship on Cat Island last year, according to the club’s website, and the Women’s South Carolina Golf Association regularly holds its match-play event on the Sanctuary course.
The club also announced the acquisition of a new fleet of golf carts in November, The Gazette reported.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.