Freeland’s Holmes Harbor Golf Course hits market again

The Holmes Harbor Golf Course is on the market again. Recent owner Kevin Hanchett said his business group Onyxx Capital 1 is looking for an owner-operator to purchase the 18-hole course in Freeland.

“Neither my partner nor I have any experience in running a golf course and we don’t want to learn by trial and error,” Hanchett said in an email. “Our goal was to be a landlord for both the course and the restaurant.”

Hanchett and his unnamed partner purchased the disused course in July 2011 from Holmes Harbor Community Partners, about one year after it closed. At the start, he admitted he did not know how to run a restaurant or a golf course. He had plans to develop the dock slips to make the course a dock-and-play style golf course, similar to the Port Ludlow Resort.

The Edmonds resident, who also has a home on Mutiny Bay, hoped to find a course manager to revitalize the restaurant and greens. In October 2011, OB Sports Golf Management, Development and Consulting was contracted to review the property’s opportunities for improvement and development. After months of searching without success, Hanchett and his partner pulled out.

Holmes Harbor Golf Course has a history rife with financial problems. The previous owners, Holmes Harbor Community Partners, had to close the course because of the high costs and lowered revenue as the economy dropped. The Holmes Harbor Sewer District offered to purchase the course, but Columbia Bank rejected the offer on the $2.6 million property.

The course was built in 1994 by Jack Sikma, the former Seattle SuperSonics basketball player, who sold the 54-acre greens in 2003.

Contact South Whidbey Record Sports, South Whidbey School District, South Whidbey Fire/EMS Ben Watanabe at bwatanabe@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360-221-5300.

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