Shamrock expected to have new lease, two courses close
By STEVE HUFFMAN
Plans are to reopen Asheboro Country Club within weeks. The new general manager said that reopening will hopefully take place by March 1, and, if not then, shortly thereafter.
“I love the opportunity,” Charles Mackintosh said. “I can do this, it can be done.”
The course was purchased out of bankruptcy by Warrior Golf Management last November. Warrior Golf, based out of California, is headed by Brendan Flaherty. The company owns about 10 golf courses nationwide, having earned a reputation for buying failing courses and making them profitable.
The course was closed Oct. 15. Bank of America, which took the course into receivership at the beginning of 2010, made the decision to hold the sale.
Prior to that, the course was owned by Carolina Fairways LLC, a group that purchased the facility in 2001.
Asheboro Country Club is the third North Carolina course purchased by Warrior Golf. The company also owns Reems Creek Golf Club in Weaverville and Broadmoor Golf Links in Fletcher. It is also in the process of purchasing Whispering Woods Golf Club in the Pinehurst area.
Mackintosh, 56, said the purchase of Asheboro Country Club included the 18-hole layout, 17 building lots and a large events center that houses a pro shop, clubhouse, restaurant and bar. He said about 200 acres was included in the purchase.
A revamping of the club is in the works. The snack bar and pro shop in the lower level have been gutted and are being reworked. Plans are to move upstairs after the work below is finished, and a bar and dining room refurbished.
Mackintosh said club members seem enthusiastic over Warrior’s plans for the course, opened in 1944. Recently, Mackintosh said, three club members volunteered to go over all 18 greens, plucking unwanted grass that had taken root. Other club members are helping refurbish the clubhouse.
“I’ve witnessed unbelievable goodwill and camaraderie,” Mackintosh said of the interest those club members have taken in seeing the course returned to its previous glory.
Mackintosh is an Archdale native and president of TornadoFoosball.com. He has staged and participated in, he said, thousands of foosball tournaments across the world. Mackintosh and Flaherty are both professional foosball players and became acquainted with one another through the sport.
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Plans aren’t settled for the reopening of Shamrock Golf Club in Burlington, but Will Walker said he hopes that changes soon.
“We’ve gotten a lot of interest,” he said of individuals looking to take over management of the course and reopen it. “We hope to have something firmed up quickly. It’s definitely going to happen.”
The course is located off N.C. 49, a few miles south of Interstate 85/40.
Walker is the grandson of Calvin Walker, who built the course in the late 1950s and the son of Steve Walker, who managed it for decades until his death in 1996.
The course closed in December, having been run the previous eight years by Ralph Johnson who had previously managed Arrowhead Golf Course in Mebane.
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Refurbishment work is on track to unveil Southern Hills Golf and Swim Club in Danville this spring. The course originally opened in 1952 and was known as Glen Oak Country Club for most of its existence. It closed in 2011 and was purchased by Aurora Golf Management late last year. Mark Hopkins, owner of Aurora, said the current timetable has the course reopening in May.
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Cedar Grove Golf Course on McDade Store Road in Hillsborough was sold at auction late last year, but the sale hasn’t been finalized and it’s unclear what the future owners have planned for the site.
Grady Park, owner of Park Auction in Graham, the firm that handled the sale, said paperwork involving the transaction should be completed within weeks. He said several people from “an investment group from down east” were high bidders. Park declined to name the high bidders.
Auction of the course property was held last Nov. 30. Equipment and fixtures went on the auction block on Dec. 10.
“We sold everything that wasn’t nailed down and some things that were,” Park said.
He said he doesn’t know if the new owners plan to reopen Cedar Grove as a golf course or develop it for another use. Park said more than 100 people attended the auction of the course property.
“There was a lot of interest in the course,” Park said. “It’s been part of the community for a long time.”
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Lynwood Golf & Country Club in Martinsville, Va., closed Dec. 31 after 64 years of operation. The club’s members voted Dec. 6 to cease operations, the vote coming after representatives of Henry County and the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. asked them to give up their lease so DuPont might sell the property to an interested party.
