Story by Donna Thornton donna@southerntorch.com

The DeSoto Country Club is under new ownership, as of Tuesday.

The club will close down for six to eight months of renovation before owners  Devin Dean and Spencer Reed of Vistone Capital Partners plan to re-open the facility as a private club – Vistone Country Club -- for their investors and business partners.

Vistone Capital Partners said they were to close the sale Tuesday, and according to Facebook posts from DeSoto’s previous owner Darrell Shankles, Labor Day was the last day of operations as DeSoto Country Club.

Dean and Reed said membership will be by invitation only and limited to about 20.

 “We’re going to make it super nice,” Dean said. Reed explained the focus of the new facility will be providing a place where their investors and business partners can come together to network and communicate. It will feature the golf course, a golf simulator and putting green, a gym, pool, pickleball facility, basketball court and a restaurant.

The partners are involved in a number of businesses: Elite Real Estate, Little River Transportation, Little River Solutions, and sister companies owned by Vistone Capital. The company was formed about a year ago, and the partners had been looking for a location for offices.

They had been unable to find what they wanted, until the country club property became available.

Their plan for the new venture is not a conventional one. They expect to benefit from the kind of networking opportunities the club will afford its limited membership, and that their members will benefit as well. 

Dean and Reed want to offer top-of-the-line amenities to members. Even though they’ve purchased a golf course, they don’t expect golf to be the focus for them or the members they invite. It will be one of several offerings by the club.

They believe the exclusivity, along with “super nice” amenities, will draw the people they invite to the club.

Dean said they understand people who have played at DeSoto’s golf course may be disappointed by the change. He said there was no intent to inconvenience golfers; it was just a case of the partners finding this property that would accommodate their vision.

After closing on the property Tuesday, Dean said they expect it to reopen as a private club in the spring of 2025.