Willowdale Country Club will officially cease operations on Nov. 1.
Dwain Fuselier, club president, said that the club’s expenses have exceeded the revenue for several months.
“We cannot continue to operate in deficit mode,” he said.
The future of the club will be decided at a Nov. 10 stockholders meeting.
“A group of investors have shown some interest in purchasing Willowdale and continuing to run it as a golf operation,” Fuselier said.
If the investors decide to buy the club, they will have a spokesperson at the November meeting to go over details and present a plan for the club’s future, including a reopening date.
But if the investors decide not to buy, Fuselier said the club’s future will be unknown.
“The future would not be clear. If some entity does not step up relatively quickly to maintain the operation, then the club could default to the bank and then the future of that property would be uncertain,” he said.
Fuselier said the club welcomes offers from any other entities that would be interested in reopening the club as a golf operation.
He said that a drop in membership is one reason for the deficit. Membership at the club dropped from 180 people in March of this year to 118 this month.
This news comes after Fuselier said in September that the club did not have plans to close its doors. But he did say that being able to stay open did not mean that the club was doing well.
“We’re like any other country club in the country right now – we’re struggling to make ends meet because of the poor economy,” he said.
The club was also struggling earlier this year when bad weather and a struggling economy combined to force many country clubs out of business.
Willowdale managed to stay open after members voted to increase dues and collectively pay a one-time fee of $32,000.
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