by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi
King Carter Golf Course (KCGC), which was designated by Golf Digest as “the best new affordable public course” of 2006, is now closed.
Shocked golfers and surrounding homeowners learned of the sale of the course and its immediate closure Wednesday, August 1, the day James N. “Jimmie” Carter Jr. of Irvington closed on the property.
KCGC is within the Hills Quarter subdivision between Kilmarnock and Irvington. Hills Quarter has 108 homes and 62 privately-owned lots without homes.
Carter, president of Carter Financial Corporation, purchased 330 acres, including the course and several surrounding undeveloped acres, along with an additional 92 lots within the subdivision. Union Bank and Trust foreclosed on the course and took possession in 2010. The bank retained Hilda W. Allen Real Estate, a national leader in golf property sales, to help find a buyer, according to Carter.
Carter took the property under contract May 11 and is the sole owner, he said.
Jeffrey Crabbe, PGA pro, took over general management of the course four years ago. He left in late March but continued to manage the course through Crabbe Management Group until July 31. He met with employees to notify them of the closure and their termination August 1.
Crabbe recruited Chip Sullivan as the PGA head golf professional at KCGC in August 2017.
“We had great members and great golfers in this area and I’m going to miss them,” said Sullivan. “I should be able to land on my feet somewhere, but I don’t know where or when that will be.
“I would have loved to have some forewarning,” he added. “With me moving my family 1,000 miles to come here and not being told the course was in receivership was wrong.”
The course had 70 members when it closed, according to Sullivan.
KCGC has joined a long list of golf courses in Virginia and nationwide. It is the second course in Lancaster County to close within the last decade, leaving Tides Inn’s Golden Eagle Golf Course as the only course still open in the county. Northumberland County has two courses, including the private course at Indian Creek Yacht and Country Club and public course, Quinton Oaks Golf Course in Callao….
