Wilton’s golf course sold

WILTON – Wilson Lake Country Club’s board of directors have approved the sale of their facility to a Maine golf course development company.

Actual ownership will transfer from the board to Harris Golf, based in Bath, on Feb. 27 if no major issues arise before then. Harris Golf, which has developed and owned courses across the state, purchased the Wilson Lake golf course for $249,500.

According to Wilson Lake Country Club’s President Alan Morison, five directors were in favor of the sale, with two opposed. Up until the Monday meeting, Harris Golf had been considered a potential buyer along with Agri-Scape Golf Course Construction, Inc., which is located in Connecticut, and Kurt Youland, who operates the Maple Lane Golf Course in Livermore.

Morison said earlier that the decision to sell the course was made on an economic basis.

“Our expenses are much more than our income,” Morison said. “We can’t afford to keep it going.”

The Wilson Lake Country Club course, located on Rt. 156, consists of nine holes which stretch more than 3,000 yards. The course and accompanying facilities occupy slightly more than 145 acres. In addition to the golf course, the club, which incorporated in 1931, also features a small club house.

Morrison said that he hopes the sale will be good for the club.

“I think that’s good,” he said, speaking about the sale. “I think they’re well qualified.”

Harris Golf, headed by President Jeffrey Harris, is a family-owed and operated company which is headquartered in Bath, specializes in that sort of project.

“We’re a design, construction and management company,” Vice President Jason Harris said. “We specialize in taking golf courses and renovating them and growing the clubs’ membership.”

Harris noted that the Wilson Lake course featured an old Wayne Stiles’ design, terming it a “hidden gem” which needed some “tending loving care.” Harris Golf, he said, has put $25 million into developing and improving courses since purchasing their first course, Boothbay Country Club, in 1994. Within the golf world, the Harris’s are perhaps best known for developing the 18-hole course at the Sunday River Golf Club in 2004. Many of these courses have since appeared in national publications such as Golf Magazine, with Sunday River’s course landing on the magazine’s list of “Top 100 Courses You Can Play.”

The company works to approve every aspect of the club, from the greens to the landscaping to the food and beverage offerings, in a process that Harris described as “collusion.”

Harris Golf sold the Boothbay Country Club and Bath Country Club in 2008 and 2007, respectively, and now owns and operates the Old Marsh Country Club in Wells, the Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono, as well as the Sunday River course.

Harris particularly drew comparisons between Penobscot Valley Country Club, which his company acquired in Nov. 2007. Harris noted that the club had fallen on hard times, facing rising costs and a dwindling customer base. Harris Golf went in and restored the course and facilities, and have successfully grown the membership to more than 300 members.

Harris said that his company wants the same thing for the Wilson Lake course.

“It’s a great track with a great membership that cares about their club,” he said, “and we know exactly where they’re coming from. We want to see the club prosper for many years. It’s the way things should be.”

Morison echoed those comments.

“Hopefully,” he said, “the course will stay open for many years to come.”