LITCHFIELD — Randall Anderson has traveled around the world to play golf.
Now, when Anderson plays his home course, it really will be his home course.
Anderson and several partners have come to terms with Ron Foster and Richard Foster, owners of The Meadows, and next month the course is expected to change hands.
“We’re pleased we found someone local to buy it who will carry on with it,” Richard Foster said Sunday from his home in Florida.
Anderson, who has spent his career running call centers, moved to Maine 2000, and bought his home in Litchfield in 2003; that’s about the time he discovered the golf course. He has played there regularly ever since.
Recently, he learned via Facebook the 20-year-old course was for sale.
“And I thought, ‘Hmm, wouldn’t that be interesting to change career after 26 years?'” Anderson said Sunday. “I love the place, it’s near my house and I wonder if I could make it successful.”
He will get a chance to find out.
The course closes for the season Tuesday. When it reopens in the spring, it will be under the ownership of Peak Partners LLC, made up of Anderson and five friends with whom he plays golf every year and who see potential in the course, which is located between Augusta, Brunswick and Lewiston.
They plan to continue to run the course as it has been run. It’s a public course, although they do have some memberships, and they won’t have a dress code. They plan to keep the course accessible for skilled and novice players alike.
They are anticipating making some changes, including offering an online reservation system for golfers that will augment the current phone reservation system.
Golfers will see other changes, big and small. A warm-up range will debut next year and a number of maintenance issues, like trimming up some of the trees and cutting some areas of rough, will also be done.
The course’s Facebook page will keep players updated, they said.
“Over time we have ideas,” Anderson said, “but we have to play out the first part first.”
On Sunday, Anderson and Greg Ronitz-Baker, one of the partners in the limited liability company, hosted an event for golfers to give their input on what they would like to see take place.
Gerry Epperson, of West Gardiner, typically plays at The Meadows three times a week from as soon as he can get on the course in the spring until the last possible date in the fall.
“It’s a tight golf course,” Epperson said. “There are a lot of tree lines. A lot of times your balls are going into the woods a little bit. There are hazard markings that could be better marked.”
Those changes, he said, would speed up play, he said.
Two decades ago, when the Foster brothers were working in construction, they wanted time off during the winter, and arrived at the idea of running a golf course.
They had most of the land and the buildings they would need, Richard Foster said, so they hired a designer, bought a little more land and built it themselves.
Now in their 70s, the brothers are ready to retire. They spend six months in Florida and six months in their Litchfield homes, which overlook the course.
Anderson said the Fosters will help with the transition, and he has one of his own to complete.
He’ll be leaving his current job and as the member of the partnership who is closest, he’ll be managing the day-to-day operations.
“I am done as of January,” he said. “Then I am head first (in the golf course.) I don’t know how deep the pond is, but I’ll find out.”
Jessica Lowell — 621-5632
Twitter: @JLowellKJ
Send questions/comments to the editors.
