Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Mark Frost & Zander Frost, Chronicle Editor & Staff Writer
Closing is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 21, for Rich Schermerhorn’s purchase of the Kingswood National Golf Club.
“My full intention is — I’m going to get the course back to where it used to be 15-20 years ago when it was at its peak,” the real estate develeoper told The Chronicle.
“It needs a lot of love,” he said.
He plans to “redo all the tee boxes and the bunkers and get the fairway spruced up. There’s a lot of trees that need to be trimmed, a lot of the ponds are overgrown, they need the edges cleaned up.”
Mr. Schermerhorn also plans a new maintenance building and a cart barn.
He said the “irrigation needs some work, the pumphouses need some work. It’s a big project.”
Mr. Schermerhorn said, “I’m fortunate. I have the manpower, I have the equipment, we have the skills that are needed to do a lot of the certain things that are requiring attention.”
“If we can’t get it open until July 1, August 1,” Mr. Schermerhorn said they’ll take the time to do the job right.
“I might even redo the clubhouse,” he said, but the priority when the course reopens in the spring will be “getting it back in shape.”
“I just want to make sure, once we open, I’ve got this course at a 10 plus again,” he said.
Mr. Schermerhorn said, “There’s no agenda to build housing around it at this time.”
His son-in-law, former Adirondack Thunder star Shane Harper, will be the General Manager.
“He’s a scratch golfer at the Glens Falls Country Club. Won a Club Championship there,” Mr. Schermerhorn said. “Very knowledgeable about golf.”
“I just completed a 100,000 square foot mini-storage project just down the street…it’s a great opportunity for him and me, because he’s right there to keep an eye on both businesses.”
“We’re looking for the right greenskeeper to take on the project,” he added.
“It’s a beautiful course. And they’re not making any more golf courses anymore. So I see it as a great opportunity to give back to the community too.”
“I have over 800 residential apartment units in the area. That’s almost 1,500 people in that area that I can offer some sort of discounted entertainment for them. A lot of people like to golf.”
Can it be profitable?
“I didn’t buy it out of the gate to be profitable,” he said. “I bought it to give something back to all that people that live and rent from me in that area.”
“But it can certainly be profitable,” he added. “But to be profitable, you have to spend money to make money.”
“The rates that they’re offering now are extremely reasonable,” he said, “but that’s also what has unfortunately put the course in the condition it’s at.
“You’ve got to be able to reinvest back into it. And Deric’s [Buck’s] done a wonderful job for what he’s had to work with, but the course needs quite a bit at this time.”
Mr. Buck continues to own and operate Bay Meadows Golf Club in Queensbury.
Mark Levack was the agent for the buyer and seller in the Kingswood deal.
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