BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME — Harris Golf has agreed in principal to sell The Boothbay Country Club, Booth Bay Harbor, ME to a group of investors headed by club member James Reeves and Harris Golf employee Clayton Longfellow.

The sale price of $4.5 million was announced in mid October 2008 with Reeves and Longfellow assuming immediate stewardship of the 300-member private club located in the heart Maine’s Mid-Coast.

“We could not imagine two more worthy or qualified people to take our work and to continue it,” said Jeff Harris, president of Bath, Maine-based Harris Golf, which purchased Boothbay CC in 1994.

When the firm purchased the property in 1994, Boothbay CC was a public, nine-hole course. Harris Golf subsequently renovated the Wayne Stiles nine, added a new one, took the club semi-private, developed 21 lots, and either courted or hosted prestigious tournaments such as the 2005 Maine Amateur. In 2007, the club went fully private and capped membership at 300.

The deal financing was arranged by the Savings Bank of Maine.

“We are proud — thrilled — to work with Harris Golf,” said Arthur Markos, president of Savings Bank of Maine. In the present unsettled economic climate, Markos says it is a sign of Savings Bank of Maine’s stability. “The Boothbay transaction underscores the wisdom of keeping business — at all levels — local.”

“Good deals always get done, and this is a good deal,” Harris added. “This shows that credit markets aren’t dry when cash flows are demonstrable. It also shows that golf in Maine remains a viable business. We continue to see opportunity here because our visions for new projects and the transformation of existing properties are always based on the realities of specific markets.”

Harris Golf Group, based in Bath, Maine, is one of New England’s premier course development, construction and management companies. It operates Freeport Country Club adjacent to world famous L.L. Bean; the award-winning Sunday River Golf Club in Newry, Maine; Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono, Maine; and the new Old Marsh Golf Club in Wells, Maine.

Photograph by course photographer Larry Lambrecht