A deep dip in the golf industry has caused the owners of La Purisima Golf Course in Lompoc to put the property up for sale for $6.25 million.

The 306-acre property located along Highway 246 was quietly put on the market in November, Vice President and General Manager John Carson told the Business Times. When golfers concerned the course was shutting down started calling, the golf course decided to quash the rumors and go public with its for-sale listing.

Carson said the investors behind the 18-hole course, which has been ranked at No. 40 in the country in a reader’s choice list in Golf World magazine, decided to put the property up for sale when the economic downturn took its toll.

“This course was built back in 1986, and the way the golf industry is today it’s just been very operationally difficult the past few years and the owner has other properties to spend his time with,” Carson said. “He just felt the time was right to put it on the market.”

La Purisima is now being marketed as a potential spot for a new vineyard, winery or other tourist destination operation that also offers a golf course. Carson said the course has had several interested parties come out to look at the property, but that there are no offers currently on the table.

Lompoc’s biggest employer is Vandenberg Air Force Base, but the small Santa Barbara County city has in recent years started to cash in on the cache of the surrounding wine country. The Lompoc Wine Ghetto, an eclectic mix of wineries that set up in an industrial park in the city, is flourishing there.

La Purisima was built in 1986 and designed by well-known golf architect Robert Muir Graves. Carson said that until a buyer is found, it’s business as usual at the course.
“It’s still here, it’s still the great golf course it’s been, so we want people to come out and play,” he said.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated at 5 p.m. to reflect the fact that the No. 40 ranking was a reader’s choice list, not the official list from Golf World magazine.]