The sale of the River Downs Golf Club in Finksburg, a fixture of the Carroll County golf scene since the 1990s, was finalized in November, clearing the way for new owners to give the course a facelift ahead of its reopening set for next year.
The new owners, Clarinda de Guzman Islam and Rafiq Islam, are both 51 and work in the biotech drug development industry. They live in Glyndon in Baltimore County.
“We feel that this golf course gives us a chance to make a direct and local impact,” Rafiq Islam said, adding, “in some way, we see it as a continuation of the same mission: help people live happier, healthier and more connected lives.”
The new and improved River Downs Club will include the golf course, a restaurant and bar, golf simulators, driving range, locker rooms, pro shop and an event space — doubled in size from the previous design of the club.
“We want this to be almost like a living room of the community,” Rafiq Islam said. The club will be semi-private, offering different levels of club membership in addition to daily tee times for players without a membership, said Clarinda de Guzman Islam.
The club will have a phased opening. The driving range and restaurant will open first in early spring. For the sake of grass health, the course will be fully open in June. Newly planted grass will be sensitive in the spring, the couple said, and the extra couple of months will allow the grass to grow properly and ensure the safety of guests. Ahead of the summer, course access will be by invitation only.
The restaurant operations have yet to be finalized. The Islams said that they’re in negotiations with several local restaurants to determine who will operate in the club house. The restaurant is expected to be called The Grill at River Downs. “We have interviewed and screened multiple vendors, but we’re really focusing on quality, affordability and the customer service,” Rafiq Islam said. They expect to make the decision by the end of the year.
In 2012, the couple established Somru BioScience, headquartered in Canada and with an office in Towson. The Islams have two daughters, ages 15 and 11. Their older daughter is on her high school’s golf team. They said that as a family, they’re eager to make new memories at the course and play a hand in helping other local families make new memories, too.
The original course was built in 1995 and designed by famed golf course architect Arthur Hills, who designed more than 200 courses, including several in Maryland, before his death in 2021. The course design will remain the same, but future guests can expect improvement in the quality of the course.
The golf course has changed hands several times since its founding. Clarinda de Guzman Islam and Rafiq Islam purchased the course from River Downs Landowners LLC, with principals Dennis and Patricia Raver and Richard Isaac, the Islams said. They closed on the sale Nov. 7. Rafiq Islam said the land purchase and renovation costs combined totaled around $1.5 million.
Jeremy Dedmon, 52, grew up in Westminster and moved to Pennsylvania six months ago. Dedmon said he was “bit by the golf bug,” in the 1990s. When River Downs opened, Dedmon said it was known to be “pretty exclusive,” with a well-known golf director. The property’s records show the course was sold in 2002, 2007 and 2019. When one of the owners changed the club’s name to Francis Scott Key Club, Dedmon said it was a hit to the neighboring homes built as part of the golf club community. “All the mailboxes had the River Downs logo,” he said.
He said he hopes it’s restored to its original condition, “or better,” and that he would join the club as a member and make the drive to the club. “I’ll certainly support them, for sure, because I loved that course,” Dedmon said.
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