Sale sinks hopes of golf-club members.

• Author: Moriarty, Matthew

Members of a Southern Pines golf club who have feuded with its management for four years thought they would get a break when the club was auctioned off after its owner declared bankruptcy. But letters they got in January from the new management of the Club at Longleaf sounded straight from the lyrics of a song by The Who: "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."

That would be golf-course architect Don Maples, who lives in Pinehurst. One of his companies, Maples Properties, owned the club from its opening in 1988 until it filed for bankruptcy last year.

Bad feelings started in 2000 when he took over management of Longleaf's money-losing restaurant from Boston-based General Investment Development, which ran the real-estate side of the housing development and golf course. Maples instituted a $35 monthly minimum that irked club members.

The dispute mushroomed. Some members became critical of course maintenance. When GID sold the property in 2002 to Chicago-based CMC Heartland Partners, it withheld nearly $400,000 due Maples Properties, citing the ragged course. Maples fired back, suing GID for $5 million over the withheld payment. In July 2003, a group of members sued Maples Properties citing the restaurant...