Palm Desert's Stone Eagle in Default

Another high-end golf club is facing hard times: The Retreat at Stone Eagle near Palm Springs, Calif., features $2 and $3 million homes and an award-winning Tom Doak-designed, Stone Eagle GC, but that course is now in a stage of foreclosure.Â

According to this story in Wednesday's edition of The Desert Sun, Stone Eagle's lender, Pacific Western Bank, has filed a Notice of Default against the course, which reportedly owes the bank $24 million.Â

The Desert Sun says Stone Eagle has 200 equity members, and cites "anecdotal information" that those members have been asked to kick in $100,000 apiece to keep the course open.Â

"As with every other club in the valley, we've suffered in these economic times with a slowdown in sales," Ted Lennon, a spokesman for LDD Development, which built the course, told the newspaper. "But we're still selling memberships. We're up and operating and re- seeding. And we just sent out announcements and tournament schedules for the year."

-- G.R.