A three-hour auction at the former Tam O’ Shanter Country Club in Glen Head sold 93% of the items inside on Tuesday, stripping the long-closed golf property down to what could still be carried away, carted off or loaded into a pickup. The sale was run by American Auctions, Liquidations, Appraisals Inc. and drew bidders for everything from golf carts and office furniture to gym gear and restaurant fixtures.
Gerard Trimboli said the auction was meant to sell the space “to the bare walls,” and that is close to what happened. The site had advertised a barber chair, a leg press and an ice cream freezer, while the inventory also included ground maintenance equipment and a range of other club contents. Bidding began just after 12 p.m. after prospective buyers had two hours to inspect the items, and the pace was quick enough that most lots were gone well before the afternoon was over.
For people who had followed the property’s long unwind, the sale was less about one day than about how much of the old club was still left to liquidate. The 148-acre property once held an 18-hole golf course and sold for $11.8 million in 2019 to a New Jersey-based developer. The golf course stayed open through summer 2021, then the planned housing conversion stalled after toxins were found in the topsoil. Daniel Serota said the owners at the time let the application lapse, and the project fell apart.
That history explains why Tuesday’s auction drew more than bargain hunters. It was a practical step in the breakup of a place that had already been through one failed redevelopment plan and, according to property records, sold again last month. The Village of Brookville also tweaked its zoning to encourage buyers to keep the property as a golf course, a quiet signal that the next owner may face pressure to preserve what remains rather than build over it.
Still, the future of the land is not any clearer after the latest sale, and that is the part that hangs over the auction hall. The buyer from last month has not been identified, and neither has the next use. For now, the only thing known with certainty is what Tuesday answered: almost everything inside the former club could still be sold, but the property itself is still waiting for its next chapter.
Among the bidders was Matt Dowling, who bought 16 golf equipment racks for $10 each for content creation. Ravi Chopra and his son also were interested in a golf cart for use at home, though Chopra said it was “not in great condition.” Those small purchases captured the mood better than any broader description could: a former club being broken into pieces, one rack and one cart at a time.
