"It was offered to me on a Friday afternoon, and we signed the paperwork on Tuesday."
That's how Rick Caruso described the deal in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published in July. He was talking about buying the golf course most people behind the Lake Sherwood gates have always just called the Lake Club, the par-3 layout and clubhouse that sits a short walk from an entirely different, and considerably more famous, Jack Nicklaus golf course. Caruso is renaming his purchase the Miramar Lake Club, and the rebrand has surfaced a fact that even some local coverage has gotten wrong this year: Lake Sherwood has two separate country clubs, both designed by the same golfer, under different ownership, with different membership rolls, and until this year almost no reason for anyone outside the gates to know the difference existed.
Now there's a reason. Here's what actually changed, what didn't, and which club you're talking about the next time someone mentions "Sherwood" at a dinner party.
The Club Everyone Means When They Say "Sherwood"
Sherwood Country Club is the one with the trophy case. Nicklaus completed the championship 18-hole course for David H. Murdock in the late 1980s, and it formally opened on October 30, 1989. It has hosted Greg Norman's Shark Shootout from the event's 1989 debut through 1999, then Tiger Woods's World Challenge every December from 2000 through 2013, plus the 2016 PowerShares QQQ Championship and the 2020 Zozo Championship. Dustin Johnson holds the course record, a 61 shot on October 28, 2014. Golf Digest's 2025-26 rankings place it 21st in California and 186th nationally.
Membership is by invitation or member referral only, with roughly 375 golf memberships and about 175 additional tennis memberships spread across 12 courts. This is a private, member-owned club, and none of that changed this year. Caruso did not buy it, does not own any part of it, and has no connection to its operations. If your mental picture of "the Sherwood golf course" involves Tiger Woods highlights, you're picturing this one, and it's still exactly as it was.
The Club Caruso Actually Bought
The property Caruso acquired earlier this year operated for decades as Sherwood Lake Club, built around a Bear's Best par-3 course, one of only two 18-hole Nicklaus designs of that type anywhere in the world and the only one in the United States. It sat closer to the water and functioned as the more family-oriented, casual counterpart to the championship course up the hill.
Murdock, the Dole Food executive credited with developing Sherwood Country Club, owned the Lake Club property until his death in June 2025. Caruso's acquisition of the Lake Club came together within days after a broker's cold call, and by July 7 Caruso had unveiled the rebrand publicly: the Miramar Lake Club, sharing its name with Caruso's Rosewood Miramar Beach resort and adjoining private beach club in Montecito.
What's Under Construction Right Now
The clubhouse renovation centers on an 18,000-square-foot building that will include a resort-style pool relocated to open up more outdoor space, a full gym, a wellness center overlooking the golf course, and tennis courts. The details have shifted slightly since the sale first made news. Early reporting in the weeks after the acquisition described an Italian-themed restaurant and bar. By the time Caruso made the official announcement in July, that specific description had softened into "a signature restaurant concept" with an award-winning chef still to be named, alongside a broader promise of a culinary program and a calendar of social events.
Caruso's stated reasoning for the whole venture ties to a broader shift in the sport itself. His company's own materials cite National Golf Foundation data showing golf participation has climbed more than 50 percent over the past decade, part of the case for treating a par-3 lakeside course as worth a full hospitality buildout rather than a simple refresh.
As of Caruso's most recent public timeline, the target is a fall 2026 debut. That window is open right now. No formal reopening date or event had been confirmed as of this writing, which means residents checking the gate this month are watching a project that could finish any week.
Quick Reference: Which Club Is Which
| Sherwood Country Club | Miramar Lake Club (formerly Sherwood Lake Club) | |
|---|---|---|
| Course type | Championship 18-hole, opened 1989 | Par-3 "Bear's Best" 18-hole |
| Ownership | Private, member-owned | Caruso company, since early 2026 |
| Ranking | Golf Digest CA #21 for 2025-26 | Not competitively ranked, par-3 format |
| Access | Invitation or member referral, ~375 golf memberships | Membership terms under Caruso not yet published |
| Tournament history | Tiger Woods's World Challenge (2000-2013), Greg Norman's Shark Shootout (1989-1999) | Private family-style club prior to sale |
| Status this fall | Operating as it has for decades | Clubhouse and pool under renovation, fall debut targeted |
The Detail Most Residents Haven't Heard Yet
There's a second piece to this that matters more than the clubhouse finishes. Caruso is also under construction at the Commons at Calabasas, where the expansion includes an eight-story luxury apartment building. Premium units there are expected to come with a membership included, one that grants access not just locally but across Caruso's club portfolio, meaning residents in that Calabasas building would have the same access to Miramar Lake Club as people who live inside the Lake Sherwood gates.
That's worth sitting with if you've belonged to this club, in whatever form, for years. A membership pool that used to be defined by the community around the lake is being restructured to include people who don't live in Lake Sherwood at all. Nothing about tee times or clubhouse capacity has been announced publicly, but the mechanism for a larger membership base now clearly exists.
What to Watch For This Season
A few concrete markers will tell you where things actually stand, separate from the press releases:
- Signage at the clubhouse entrance switching from Sherwood Lake Club to Miramar Lake Club
- An announcement naming the restaurant's chef, which Caruso's team has said is still pending
- Visible completion of the relocated pool, since that's the most physically disruptive piece of the renovation
- A specific reopening date rather than the current "fall 2026" target
Lake Sherwood itself has been through bigger transitions than a clubhouse remodel. The lake was originally called Potrero Lake when it was built in 1904, making it the oldest man-made lake in California, and it only became "Sherwood" after the surrounding hills were used to film the 1921 silent version of Robin Hood and the area picked up the nickname Sherwood Forest. A century later, the neighborhood is still absorbing a new name tied to a new story. This is simply the latest chapter, and one that's still being written a few hundred yards from your own front gate.
If you're weighing what any of this means for a property here, or you're simply trying to keep the two clubs straight at your next dinner party, Josh Flagg tracks these transactions and the neighborhoods around them closely. Work With Josh.
