BRANDON — Facing foreclosure, Neshobe Golf Club in Brandon has found a buyer.
According to Brandon town records, the course was sold to Milne Golf LLC on Jan. 7 for $550,000. That figure includes $310,000 for real estate, such as land and buildings, and $240,000 for personal property, such as equipment, inventory and merchandise.
Milne Golf LLC has a Waterbury address, and Waterbury resident Jon Milne signed sale documents filed with the town of Brandon. Milne, an entrepreneur who according to the Rutland Herald has also been teaching golf at Club Kwini in Shelburne, also told the Herald he plans to retain the employees of the 60-year-old golf club.
The National Bank of Middlebury in October began foreclosure against Neshobe. Club board chairman Jeff Wallin announced in late November that the club was only able to raise about half of the $575,000 necessary to wipe out the club’s debt and prevent foreclosure, but that Neshobe’s board would pursue a buyer.
The board sent out an appeal letter earlier in November seeking $4,000 per member to erase the club’s long-term debt before the end of 2019, but the effort fell short. The debt is a combination of a long-term mortgage and a line of credit, according to Wallin.
Neshobe’s woes are part of a larger, national problem, as the sport has become less popular nationwide in recent decades. According to a National Golf Foundation 2019 report, U.S. golf course closures have outnumbered new course openings nationwide since 2006, and 10 percent of the nation’s courses have closed since then.