AUBURN — Jim Day knows a thing or two about real estate development.

Nick Glicos, a Class A PGA professional and new president of the Maine chapter of the PGA, knows plenty about golf.

The pair hopes by combining those individual strengths, its new partnership as owner of Martindale Country Club in Auburn will lead to a new and improved era in the club’s storied history.

“Martindale is a unique situation,” Day said. “It has a tremendous history in this community, and I didn’t want to see it not continue to be what it has been in this community.”

The terms of the sale have not been disclosed. The club’s former board of directors approved the sale to the duo about a month ago. The Is were dotted and Ts crossed the first week of November, and Day and Glicos are now officially set to tee off.

“We believe that last year’s board did an outstanding job of building a model that would work,” Day said. “Unfortunately, it was a little too late in their history.”

Day said that over the last 15 years, the club had amassed too much debt and entered into too many deals that backfired on the club, a hole out of which the current membership could not have climbed without help.

Solid foundation

Jim Day is no stranger to the Lewiston-Auburn area, nor to Martindale.

A member at the club, Day is a director at Northeast Bank and has decades of experience in matters of local business. According to the Northeast Bank investor page: “Jim is the President of LRI, Inc. in Lewiston where he and his father led the development of several businesses and real estate including Spare-Time Recreation, Jim’s Jungle restaurant, Porter’s restaurant, PerSe Technologies, the Department of Labor Career Center, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and several other State of Maine offices.”

Day also operates The Winner’s Circle off-track betting at the site of the former Lewiston Raceway.

He’s been successful before, and this is another challenge, given the state of the golfing industry.

“We see Martindale as a golf club first,” Day said. “People join here to play golf, and we feel we can give members here a good value while continuing to offer a little bit more on top.”

Glicos, meanwhile, spent four years as the head professional at Spring Meadows in Gray, and has been with Martindale since 2007.

“It’s something I look at as a dream opportunity,” Glicos said. “Never, ever did I think coming to Martindale would ever turn into this. But at the same time, I’d rather invest in something that I know rather than something else. I think Jim’s and my strengths complement each other very well, so I really am pleased with the opportunity he’s brought to the table and I think this is really an opportunity to take off and go.”

A new outlook

Going forward, Day and Glicos are confident that certain changes will ultimately rejuvenate one of the oldest country clubs in Maine. Open since 1921, Martindale has been at the center of the local golf scene ever since. It has hosted the Maine Amateur championship five times, and several professionals forged championship careers on the Martindale grounds.

The biggest change next season and beyond, and the most noticeable to golfers, will be the price of a membership. A single membership at the club has dropped about $700 to $1,899. A family membership will be $2,899. Those under the age of 30 will pay $1,199 and junior golfers will pay $499.

“We had to make that change to reflect not only the economy, but area where we are,” Glicos said. “We had to make ourselves competitive, and still offer a great value for members, and I feel like we’ve done that.”

Food and beverage minimums have been reduced to five months in 2010 as opposed to seven months in previous seasons. The monthly minimum rate has remained the same.

“With the dues reductions, the food and beverage assessment reductions, some of the improvements we’re going to make to the golf course and the facilities overall, it’s a value to be a member here,” Glicos said. 

On the course, the club will also welcome a new superintendent to the fold. Interviews for the position are ongoing, and Day and Glicos said Monday that a decision is reasonably imminent.

“We’re getting tremendous applicants from inside the state and outside the state,” Day said. “These people see the opportunity here to develop what we’re talking about. Our thoughts are matching up with their desires, which is nice to see.”

“Over the past few years, our tight budgets didn’t allow for much in the way of course improvements,” Glicos said. “(Outgoing superintendent) Robby Brown and his crew did an excellent job given the constraints to offer a very good product. Both Jim and I would like to thank him for his many years of service to Martindale. Robby has worked hard and his work has been greatly appreciated over the years.”

Martindale will continue to operate as a semi-private club next year, with preference given to members. But the public will be invited to play the course. It will be the first full season of open play since the club opened.

“The membership model will still work, the membership here will still feel like it’s a member’s club,” Day said. “But we’re able to take over what’s been a volunteer board-driven business and apply some standard business philosophies and make it what I think will be a great place to work and business to own.”

Jim Day, right, and Nick Glicos have taken over the ownership of Martindale Country Club and started their tenure by slashing membership dues and plan to focus attention on the quality of course conditions and the club atmosphere.