Diamondback Golf Course purchased by group including Manning Realty

Real estate entrepreneur Chris Manning of Manning Realty heads an investment group that completed a purchase of Diamondback Golf Course at Woodland Valley on Oct. 15.

Manning began leasing the course on S.C. 9 in the Loris area this summer from owner Lee Rawcliffe with an option to buy, and hired East Coast Golf Management to operate it. Manning is also involved in the ownership of the private Balsam Mountain Preserve in Sylva, N.C., outside Asheville, which is another of the six courses East Coast manages.

The four-year-old company also manages Rivers Edge Golf Club, Indigo Creek Golf Club, Azalea Sands Golf Club and King's Grant Golf & Country Club in Fayetteville, N.C., and East Coast president Mike Buccerone said he expects to close on four more course management contracts over the next month, all outside the Grand Strand.

Manning Realty is already handling the development, marketing and sale of lots and homes around Diamondback, a 6,928-yard par-72 Russell Breeden design.

The new ownership group and East Coast have already started to implement capital investment plans for the property and created new membership programs, and are overseeding fairways, tees and greens for the winter.

Patrick Wilkinson, who has been the head pro at nearby Black Bear Golf Club for several years, has been hired as Diamondback’s general manager. “He’s an integral part of the success we’re going to bring to Diamondback,” Buccerone said.

East Coast has also expanded its marketing cooperative, which includes more than 20 courses. It has added Whispering Pines Golf Club in Myrtle Beach, Magnolia Greens Golf Course in Leland, N.C., and Compass Pointe in Wilmington, N.C., to the partnership.

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Diamondback Golf Course purchased by group including Manning Realty."