Have You Heard?

WICHITA — It looks like something is close to happening with Echo Hills Golf Club in Park City and, subsequently, Willowbend Golf Club.

Bert and Eloise Henderson, the owners of Echo Hills, are planning to buy Willowbend if the sale of their club goes through.

The Hendersons aren’t commenting yet, but Rod Nuckolls, who owns Willowbend with his brother, Rick, is.

Nuckolls says Bert Henderson “has an option on his land that expires at the end of September.”

“He anticipates his land being sold, and if it does close, we would close next spring,” Nuckolls says.

Mike Loveland, a broker at J.P. Weigand & Sons and the developer of Parkstone at College Hill, wants to use the Echo Hills land for a new commercial project in Park City.

Rod Nuckolls says the Hendersons plan to keep Willowbend operations as they are if they purchase the club.

“Very much so,” he says. “As a matter of fact, we’re excited for the Willowbend members because he won’t have the debt load that we did.”

If the sales go through, the Nuckolls brothers (both of whom play PGA Champions Tour events) have new plans of their own.

“I’m going to do something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” Rick Nuckolls says. “You know what that is? Play golf.”