Harris Golf has agreed to purchase the nine-hole Wilson Lake Country Club in Wilton, Maine, for $249,000 and will take over the operation of the club in March.
The Wilson Lake club, which will remain a semi-private venue under Harris, is the second financially distressed Maine property acquired by Harris Golf in the past 15 months, joining the Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono which Harris purchased in October 2007.
Family owned Harris Golf also operates Sunday River Golf Club in Newry, Freeport Country Club adjacent to the L.L. Bean headquarters, and Old Marsh Country Club, newly opened last summer in Wells, Maine.
The company plans to upgrade the 76 year-old, Dick Stiles-designed Wilson Lake course via some restoration improvements, but the club will remain open to both members and public play.
Harris Golf executives said they plan to utilize the expertise developed during the firm’s 40 years of course development, management and construction experience to reverse the negative cash flow spiral that Wilson Lake has experienced in the past few years.
Vice President Jason Harris confirmed that the club would remain a nine-hole facility.
“It was profitable for most of its 75 years as a nine-hole course, and it will be again,” he said.