Little more than five years ago, Lexington’s Sapona Ridge Country Club was on the verge of extinction. The large clubhouse, 18-hole Ellis Maples/Ed Seay designed golf course, swimming pool and tennis courts were sold to an Uber executive, who planned to convert it into a personal retreat.
It was a crazy, regrettable time for Sapona members, who ended up paying a high price — about $390,000— for not buying the club from NASCAR legend Richard Childress, who rescued Sapona in 2012. When Childress told the members he no longer wanted to subsidize the losses and would sell the club, the members failed to act.
That’s when Uber exec Mark Moore stepped in and bought the 172-acre property for $1.2 million, shut down the club and announced he was converting the 15,000 square foot clubhouse and the surrounding grounds into a vacation home.
Realizing they had lost their club, members burst into action and within a few weeks had persuaded Moore to sell the property to them — for $1.59 million. Members renamed the the property Sapona Golf Swim & Tennis Club. In early 2023, the members brought in management group GreatLife Golf, which eventually bought the club with plans of making improvements.
Based in Pennsylvania, GreatLife has a strong presence in North Carolina. The company also owns Carolina National, a 27-hole facility in Brunswick County. It manages The Preserve at Jordan Lake, Falls Village, Chapel Ridge and Heritage in the Triangle market; Foxfire and Whispering Pines near Pinehurst; and The Palisades Country Club in Charlotte. The company owns and/or manages more than 50 courses throughout the country.
GreatLife’s early course improvements at Sapona have been easy to see. About 80 trees have been removed along the ninth and 18th holes, making it easier for sunlight to nurture the turf and creating distant scenic views of the lake (shown above) that comes into play on the finishing holes.
In the past, Sapona had allowed public play only on Monday and Tuesday.
“2023 was our busiest year on record,” said general manager Justin Malone, hired by GreatLife. “We expect another good year in 2024 as people learn more about us.”
Malone said Sapona was experienced an “uptick in membership,” which now includes 281 social and full memberships.
Sapona joined the roster of Triad clubs with a golf simulator. Sapona’s simulator features an 18-foot wide screen and 255 courses.
