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"This has been a 13-month process, so it's a little disappointing," said Elmwood Owner Gordon Ziegler. "We all have mixed emotions."
The Ziegler family now will have to focus on running the course next year after thinking the sale would be finalized in November.
"We've sold all of our merchandise. We're down to skeletons," Ziegler said. "We're definitely going to have to work on our cart paths. The course is in excellent shape, but we'll have to work on the paths."
The biggest challenge will be to bring golfers back to the course in 2010.
"We were definitely in closing mode," said Carolyn Ziegler, Gordon's wife.
"The good thing is we have five months to recover and get ready for the 2010 season," Gordon Ziegler said. "We have to get our customers and our leagues back."
Ziegler is hopeful most of the leagues will return.
"I think we'll have at least 80 percent of our leagues back," he said. "But still losing 20 percent of our leagues is a lot in this market."
The Ziegler family wants to emphasize that Elmwood will be open for the 2010 golf season.
"If we're going to be open in 2010, anyone who wants to buy it will have to wait through the season," Carolyn Ziegler said.
Elmwood is still up for sale.
"We're always for sale," Carolyn Ziegler said. "Hopefully it will sell in the next few years. We turned down some offers while we were under contract. Now we're more educated about the selling process."
The Ziegler family says they will wait for a fair and reasonable offer for their 68-acre facility.
"We're the last big piece of land on Highway 47," Carolyn Ziegler said. "We want to get the right price. We're willing to wait. We know the economy is in a crunch."
Elmwood Golf Course was built in 1963, and opened in 1964.
Ziegler became Elmwood's fourth owner on April 22, 1989.
"The big thing is we want the community to know we're still open," Gordon Ziegler said. "Everyone thinks we're closed, but we're open for business."
