The Key School bought the nine-hole golf course for $1.5 million and plans to build three athletic fields, eight tennis courts, a baseball diamond, a 1.7-mile nature trail, a pool and a maintenance facility on the property, leaving 44 acres untouched. The 85-year-old golf course will close September 29.
The Key School’s $1.5 million purchase of the Annapolis (Md.) Golf Course was recently finalized and the 85-year-old, nine-hole course will close September 29, the Annapolis (Md.) Capital Gazette reported.
Plans for the course include three athletic fields, eight tennis courts, a baseball diamond, a 1.7-mile nature trail, a pool and a maintenance facility. School officials said about 44 acres will be untouched, the Gazette reported.
Signs opposing the sale of the course are still in many neighborhood yards, reading “Preserve Annapolis Roads” and “No Key School Sports,” the Gazette reported.
The laid-back golfers on the course are disappointed. “I think it’s pretty lousy, but life is life,” said Fred Weis, who’s been playing at the course for 25 years.
The Gazette report also included a list of local golf courses in the area for loyal Annapolis GC golfers to check out. Properties listed include Compass Pointe Golf Course in Pasadena, Eisenhower Golf Course in Crownsville, Blue Heron Golf Course in Stevensville, and Bay Hills Golf Club in Arnold.
Opened in 1928, Annapolis GC was designed by architect Charles Banks. Every hole on a Banks course is designed after a hole in Scotland, said Johnny Shields, co-owner of the Glenn Dale Golf Club in Prince George’s County. Shields grew up at the Annapolis Golf Course. His father and uncle bought the course in the late 1930s and owned it for the next 30 years, the Gazette reported.
“I would call it a hangover from the Great Gatsby era,” said Shields, describing gambling in the basement of what was then a beach club. “It was very elegant.”
The course has seen better days. Some of the holes are overrun with weeds. The fifth hole, virtually grass-less and marked with fox holes, has a bucket for a cup. Shields doesn’t fault the owners, noting that golf has been on the decline, the Gazette reported.
The Key School purchased the 70-acre course from George and Linda Graefe nearly two years after school leaders said they wanted it for athletic fields and outdoor classrooms. The announcement led to a lawsuit from neighborhood residents who feared increased traffic, noise and bright lights. They argued the school’s plans violated long-standing land use covenants, the Gazette reported.
In April, Circuit Court Judge Paul Goetzke ruled in the school’s favor. An appeal is pending, the Gazette reported.
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