Barely a year after insisting that they were in it for the long haul, a group of Vancouver-based investors is walking away from Sagebrush Golf & Sporting Club.
The group has agreed to sell the five-year-old track, a minimalist icon outside Merritt, British Columbia, to Newmark Properties, a home builder. Newmark believes it can turn the course, which has had trouble generating play since it opened, into a destination for golfers whose tastes aren’t limited to layouts that play firm and fast.
“My goal is to open up this little gem to the public, get a lot of people familiar with it, and get them up there playing it,” a Newmark official told the Vancouver Sun.
Sagebrush was co-designed by Dick Zokol, Rod Whitman and Armen Suny and is often cited as a prime example of sustainable design and construction. Golf Digest named it as Canada’s best new course when it opened and currently ranks is as one of the nation’s top 100.