Sunrise Golf Club property set to hit the market

The sun is setting on Carmel’s Sunrise Golf Club.

The nine-hole public course at 9876 Westfield Blvd. is scheduled to close at the end of the month after nearly 25 years. Operators Patrick and Mary Ann Amore plan to retire rather than pay more to lease the 75-acre property along the Monon Greenway.

Owned by the Vera Hinshaw Family Limited Partnership, the land will be offered for sale, said Vera Hinshaw’s son Tom.

“We’ve had several people express interest over the years, but Mom never wanted to sell,” Tom Hinshaw said.

But his mother died Sept. 1 at age 88. The lifelong Carmel resident, who had four children, was known for her determination, according to her obituary. Case in point: Hinshaw was the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the owners of abandoned railroad easements like the Monon. Her side won.

Sunrise’s lease expired, Tom Hinshaw said, and the family proposed new terms. The timing was bad for the Amores.

“We couldn’t afford it going into the winter months,” Patrick Amore said, raising the possibility of actually retiring after three previous attempts. “A golf course is not an easy thing to run.”

So he’s wrapping up operations and hoping to unload golf carts, golf clubs and remaining odds and ends like a hot dog machine.

A buyer hasn’t materialized yet, but the residentially zoned land isn’t likely to linger on the market. As IBJ reported earlier this month, M/I Homes of Indiana has proposed a 48-home development on 15 acres of lakeside land on the opposite side of the Monon.