The $1.4 price tag has to be crazy low for this property, especially if the mineral rights are attached. The potential exists for exploiting the minerals beneath the surface via horizontal drilling without even disturbing the surface. Leasing rights for oil and gas in the Marcellus have been going for as high as $7000 an acre. Do the math ($1,225,000) and that's just for the rights to drill and says nothing about the potential income from the product. The $7000 is of course a high ball number, but it is also just for the Marcellus layer and there are the Utica and Trenton Black River layers beneath the Marcellus. It's my understanding that the rights to these layers are negotiated separately by those in the know. It's also my understanding that the property hasn't been managed well and that it could easily be a going enterprise if it were operated with a concentration on the golf and attracting additional members at lower fees and also tapping the semi-private market.
There's a very nice clubhouse attached and also a private residence that could be transformed into a lodge for groups of golfers who wanted to stay and play.
So, if there's anyone out there with some spare cash laying around that would like a top notch golf course as a personal plaything with the potential of an oil and gas bonanza you might want to do some due diligence and look into it. For that matter, maybe this discussion group should pony up the change to purchase Williams as a laboratory for golf research. It's close by (less than an hour) Pittsburgh Airport and would be if made public or semi private one of the best and perhaps the best accessible course in the area.
It would be said to see this superb facility go the way of NLE especially in an area that is not replete with quality golf.