AUBURN – Two years at Bates College in the late 1970s was enough to plant a seed in Don Sheldon’s mind.

Sheldon, a lawyer and commercial investor from Bradford, Mass., stumbled upon the vacant Prospect Hill Golf Course on a tip from his broker. That was on April 16.

On Wednesday, April 30, Sheldon will close on the property, and he plans to have the course open for business by Friday, May 2.

“It was a good opportunity at the right time,” Sheldon said. “I think if we’d waited any longer, we would have missed the season. The forces came together and things came together at the right time. I was looking for another opportunity.”

The bank took control of Prospect Hill, previously owned and operated by Georges and Gwin Gendron, during the winter. At least one local potential buyer toyed with the idea of buying the property, but decided against it.

The course itself is still in good shape, according to Sheldon. The 18-hole layout with two distinct, nine-hole tracks weathered the winter well, and with recent improvements to drainage and the early-season sunshine, it’s almost like the course will open without skipping a beat.

“I like what I see already,” Sheldon said. “I walked around the golf course, I like the feel around here, I like the people around here.”

One of the first hurdles Sheldon had to leap was finding someone in the area to run the day-to-day operations. He found that in retired Auburn fire captain Fern Asselin.

“I’ve been a member down here in the past,” Asselin said. “I love the sport, so he asked me if I’d like to be the GM here, and I said yes. I think we have a good start, because we have a lot of people coming back.”

Sheldon also arrived on scene to find the course without proper equipment, including mowers for the grounds crew and golf carts for the patrons.

“It’s all done,” Sheldon said. “We have new equipment, we have new carts coming in, I have a great guy running the front in Fern.”

Sheldon also hired Dick Fahey to run the groundskeeping operation. Fahey has previously worked for Poland Spring Golf Club and Boothbay Country Club.

“No matter what I end up doing, if you find the right people to help you, it can work,” Sheldon said. “I have good people on both side here.”

The members have started to come back, too. Sheldon said Monday he has more than 160 people signed back up this season, and has confirmation of six returning leagues, as well as a new league, and a few tournaments.

“We got the phone going on Thursday or Friday of last week, so to already have that many people committed, we’re just excited,” Sheldon said. “It’s all coming together because people are busting their butts to get it together.”