Residents purchase Spanish Trail Country Club
Spanish Trail Country Club is now owned by the people who play at the golf course and live in the community.
The sale went through in early April. Plans to renovate the course had been in the works months before and bids had been analyzed.
Spanish Trail’s 27-hole golf course, 5050 Spanish Trail Lane, includes 15 lakes and tree-lined courses. Improvements to one of the lakes started April 7, the same day the sale was announced. Roughly 300 members were on hand for the announcement.
The previous owner was PPM America. The new owners are a small group of investors led by Cyrus Tang of Tang Industries Inc. All are active members and Spanish Trail residents.
David Brownell, board president of Spanish Trail, said he was unsure if members buying a course was a common occurrence.
He added, “Clubs around the country are owned by different groups … for the Spanish Trail Country Club to be owned by and run by its members, where the members are calling the shots, is one of the strongest attributes and most appealing aspects. When you’re the owner, you make the decisions for the betterment of the club. It’s no different than if you own your house or rent. As a renter, there are certain things you might want to do that you cannot do. But if you own it, you make the decisions.”
Established in 1984, Spanish Trail’s championship course was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. It boasts 60 bunkers and multiple waterfalls.
Greenside bunker renovation began in May but does not affect member play. Construction can be done on nine holes while members have access to the other 18, Brownell said.
The country club and surrounding community have served as an address for local professionals and golf aficionados since their founding in 1984. Former tennis star Andre Agassi and entertainer Siegfried Fischbacher have called Spanish Trail home, and the royal family of Brunei owns a 15-acre site there with a nearly 40,000-square-foot main house.
Other improvements at the course are slated to address some of the water features. . All of the bunkers on all three courses will be upgraded, Brownell said.
“The lakes’ improvements will extend the life of those lakes,” Brownell said. “It was 20 or 30 years ago that those lakes were brought into existence, so the enhancements will maintain the stability of the water supply in the lakes and maintain the beauty of the course. There wasn’t anything that was sorely in need of repair. It was just an opportunity to make a great asset that much better.”
He said he hits the course once or twice a week and that the sand trap changes will be what players notice most.
“This will really … make the course that much more challenging,” Brownell said.
Bill Rowden, general manager, also spoke to the sand trap issue.
“Every course in Vegas struggles with maintaining the bunkers on the golf course, the sand traps,” Rowden said. “And we estimate most of the capital money, in excess of $200,000, (will go) into improving all the greenside bunkers. It’s quite the process. There are 60 of those.”
About $500,000 was applied toward the improvements. Construction is expected to be done by the end of the year.
The clubhouse needed only minimal updating such as carpeting, Rowden said, as it had seen a major renovation three or four years ago.
The club has more than 500 members. It was exclusive until about five years ago. Now, public play accounts for about 20 percent of business
To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.
