ClubCorp, owner and operator of posh country clubs worldwide, parted ways with 12 Oaks Country Club in Holly Springs last week, leaving it scrambling for new management and more funding.

“We’re looking at all the options right now,” said John Myers, president of Wakefield Development Company, the 10 year-old Raleigh firm that developed the golf course and surrounding 687-acre residential district.

ClubCorp did not return phone calls or e-mails requesting an explanation of why they ended the relationship.

The 18-hole course, located near the N.C. 55 bypass, was conceived as the crown jewel of the almost two-year-old community. The course is a Nicklaus Design Group creation, a firm named after golf great Jack Nicklaus that has planned hundreds of “distinctive” courses worldwide.

The surrounding 1,300 residences in the 12 Oaks community, ranging from $180,000 townhouses to $1 million estate homes, stand at about half-sold. And even though the 12 Oaks Web site promised an athletic center with pools, a ballroom and tennis courts rounding out the completed golf course, nearly two years later they’ve yet to be built.

Myers admitted the economy has slowed progress all around, but said their existing amenities are still top-notch.

“We’ve heard nothing but absolute superlative comments,” he said, noting the course is being managed by an interim team from Eagle Ridge golf course in Garner and retained most of its handful of employees. “We don’t expect members to see any changes.”

Myers said ClubCorp ended a “fee management” arrangement in which they didn’t own the club but managed its operations for a monthly fee. Although he wouldn’t say what prompted ClubCorp’s departure, he did describe the arrangement as atypical for the Dallas-based business, which owns most of the 170-plus clubs it operates. “It’s not their preferred arrangement,” Myers added.

Meanwhile, the club’s initial members are wondering if they’ll be able to keep their tee times.

A little over a year ago, 12 Oaks signed about 30 members for $1,500 each, which included course access and carts about three to four days a week. There were no locker room amenities, as the clubhouse stands at 90 percent complete, according to Myers. The deal also waived monthly dues and gave them first dibs to full memberships once everything’s built.

But that date is still up in the air, Myers said, and highly dependent on funding and the economy. “There’s no hard-and-fast date,” he said, declining to name the bank they’re working with.

In the meantime, Myers said they’re not taking new members but are keeping a waiting list for interested parties. He remains optimistic.

“With Novartis coming and all the new development on [N.C.] 55, we still think we’re going to make it,” he said.