AMMA, W.Va. — The days of playing 18 holes at Kanawha County’s Sandy Brae golf course may soon be no more. Owners are talking to a potential buyer who has his eye on grazing the fairways rather than putting on the greens.
“He’s wanting it strictly for agriculture use,” said co-owner Frank James. “He’s wanting it for a farm basically.”
The course property includes 252 acres. The course itself is 132 acres and the rest is in wooded property behind the course. It lies along the Kanawha/Roane County border and was formerly owned by the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission. They sold the facility to four private owners, but the course as an investment hasn’t proven to be a big money maker.
“We’re doing okay with it, but it just hasn’t lived up to our expectations and we thought this might be the time to move on with it,” James said.
James added however, this isn’t the time to be getting into the golf course business. In the present state of the economy, the market for a public course is soft according to James and the cattleman’s offer may be as good as they can expect for the time being.
“We know what it’s worth and we’re kind of set on a price,” he said. “But in this day in age, I”m sorry to say that’s probably the case. I know out in the Midwest they’re putting a lot of golf courses back into cornfields because it’s more profitable.”
James said the deal isn’t done and the course hasn’t sold. However, they’ve been shopping the property as a golf course for the past two years and had no takers. It’s sad for James and he knows a lot of the regulars who play Sandy Brae will also be disappointed.
“We draw people from Charleston and outlying areas. There’s just not a lot of golf courses up here in general,” he said. “Charleston is short on public golf courses and on the outskirts of Charleston there’s very little at all. I hate it for that fact, but at the same time as a businessman, you can’t sit around and go broke either.”