The Country Club of South Carolina is for sale.
An Ellis Maples designed 7,062-yard, 18-hole golf course with a fully stocked pro shop and practice facilities touted as the largest in Florence top the list of amenities. Six lighted Har-Tru clay tennis courts – two with stadium seating — a fitness center accessible around the clock, a junior Olympic-sized swimming pool and a kiddie pool are selling points aimed at the sports-minded crowd. Duffers Bar Grill, the Grille Room and the Palmetto Room offer ascending levels of dining formality, and the grand ballroom, with teak flooring and a stage, can host weddings and special events.
Hilda W. Allen Real Estate Inc. of Adel, Georgia, is in charge of selling the property, which includes a 28-acre parcel situated along the golf course’s 11 th hole.
Potential buyers have already shown interest, Allen said Monday, and the property has been seen by a few parties. The listing price has not been disclosed.
“It’s a sealed-bid offering,” Allen said. “We don’t have a listing price.”
She didn’t characterize the current climate for golf courses as a buyer’s market, but thinks the economy has improved to a certain extent.
“We’ve been through the worst time since the big Obama global bust-out, so as far as we know, the worst times may be over,” she said.
Management has been “keeping it up,” she said, regarding the properties for sale, which are currently owned by Carolina Bank and Trust Company.
“I get excited about selling golf courses,” she said. “We’ve closed on 13 already this year from Virginia to Florida.”
Allen’s firm requires a confidentiality agreement as well as a nondisclosure agreement.
“We sell golf courses. That’s our forte,” she said.
The course at the Country Club of S.C. has hosted several Professional Golfers Association of America-sanctioned events, according to Allen’s website, referring to Qualifying School tournaments.
In an April interview with Forbes magazine, PGA tour commissioner Tim Finchem said golf is a $70 billion industry that employs two million Americans for an annual wage income of $55.6 billion. World Golf Foundation CEO Steve Mona told Forbes 25 million Americans play 455 million rounds annually at 15,350 facilities nationwide.