For years, Roger Smith of Clinton enjoyed playing several rounds a week at short, scenic Holmes Harbor Golf Course in nearby Freeland.
But on March 14, Holmes Harbor — the only public course on southern Whidbey Island — closed indefinitely, leaving Smith and many other island golfers without a convenient place to play.
“It’s something I used quite frequently,” Smith said, “so I was kind of devastated. And right now I don’t play.
“We’re all hoping it reopens, no question about that,” he said.
The immediate fate of Holmes Harbor remains up in the air as two principal parties — Mark Schuster, chairman and CEO of The Schuster Group of Seattle, which owns the course; and the Holmes Harbor Sewer District, which has an agreement to use the course as a disposal area for recycled water, are in negotiations over the property’s future.
Decades ago, Holmes Harbor was a full-length golf course, but financial problems caused it to close and then reopen in 1993 in its current executive-length (4,279 yards, par 64) design. It was reconfigured by the ownership group of former NBA player Jack Sikma, who later sold the course to The Schuster Group.
Schuster could not be reached for comment this week, but it is believed financial issues led to the current closure.
According to Stan Walker, president of the sewer district’s board of commissioners, the district has a 30-day maintenance agreement for the course and the possibility of an extension to 60 days.
“For the sewer district, it either needs to be a golf course or an open area,” Walker said. “From our point of view, it doesn’t make a difference what the Schuster Group does. We have to have the ground to operate it as a golf course or as a place for us to irrigate.”
There is a chance, he said, that Holmes Harbor could reopen “as a non-profit, muni-style course.”
“Quite a bit is unknown right now,” he said. “But we hope to know more within about two weeks about the possibilities of reopening it as a golf course. We’re encouraged to believe that’s possible.
“There’s not anybody here locally who wants to see it shut down. All the local golfers want to see it continue to operate.”
The goal, Walker went on, would be “to negotiate some sort of agreement with the parties involved … without getting into expensive legal issues.”
Which is good news for golfers like Smith.
“I hope it has a good future,” he said. “There are a lot of people here that kind of rely on it. … So let’s hope it reopens and we can all go play.”
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