Graham Bell, owner of the Cramerton, N.C., club, said he will continue booking events while the club closes “temporarily” to assess its financial situation. Current members will be given full dining privileges at The City Club of Gastonia.
Graham Bell, owner of Cramer Mountain Country Club in Cramerton, N.C., announced on July 18 that the club had closed “temporarily to assess the finances of the club,” the Gaston (N.C.) Gazette reported.
Attorney Thomas Kakassy has been appointed as substitute trustee for the country club, a filing that is frequently a precursor to foreclosure proceedings, the Gazette reported.
Current members will be given full dining privileges at The City Club of Gastonia while Cramer Mountain remains closed. In a press release, Bell said he will continue to book receptions, banquets, reunions, corporate events and other events at the Cramer Mountain clubhouse.
Bell also asked Dan Maples, who designed the club’s golf course, to evaluate the course’s condition and determine if it could reopen in the fall. This year, the club’s tennis courts are unkempt and the swimming pool was not filled, the Gazette reported.
Bell made the club semi-private in April 2010 to overcome financial struggles, which allowed the public to use the course and dining facilities.
“Any time you make this type of business decision, it doesn’t come easy, but sticking your head in the sand and ignoring it is the worst thing you can do,” Bell said in a 2010 interview with the Gazette. “Some private clubs aren’t facing reality. I think it is a strategic mistake to not be proactive.”
Golf Pro Andrew Long said the switch hurt business substantially. Course deterioration hurt the club as well. Even though all 18 greens were rebuilt last summer, the course has not recovered financially.
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