Potential buyers of the San Geronimo Golf Course are expected to guarantee that the 157-acre property in West Marin would remain a golf course.

Marin County officials, who had been one of a range of potential buyers interested in a possible purchase, said they were informed that the county was no longer in the running. Details of the potential sale, and the name of the potential buyer, were not available, and a representative of the golf course owner did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Marin Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, whose district includes West Marin, said he was told Friday that the talks were moving in a different direction, possibly leaning more toward a private buyer who intends to keep the property as a golf course.

“We were disappointed because we worked pretty hard on this,” Rodoni said Tuesday. “But at the end of the day, we respect their right to make their own decision.”

Marin County Parks Director Max Korten, who was also contacted Friday on the matter, said the county’s intended use for the land was to keep it in open space to protect the coho salmon runs in San Geronimo Creek and its tributary, Larsen Creek.

Both of those streams go through the course, Korten said.

“We wanted to protect and enhance the land and make sure the area stayed as green space,” Korten said.

News that the golf course was for sale and that Marin County was interested in a potential purchase sent community speculation into overdrive earlier this month.

Ideas for using the land posted on social media ranged from a fire station to affordable housing to trails or other recreation.

Residents of Woodacre put up “Save the Golf Course” signs after someone posted online that the county would be moving the Woodacre fire station to the golf course property.

At that time, neither Korten nor Rodoni would comment on any potential use by the county because the matter was under negotiation.

Rodoni, who said he heard about the golf course being up for sale from an area resident, said the property would have enhanced the county’s open space options in West Marin.

“We would basically be protecting two coho streams,” he said. “It would have been a great opportunity for the (San Geronimo) Valley.”

He declined to disclose any specific information about the price tag under discussion on the sale.

The San Geronimo course, at 5800 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., was last sold in August 2009, when American Golf Corp. of Santa Monica, which had managed the course for Goldman Sachs and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, announced the course’s sale to Robert Lee. A price was not announced, but the indicated sales price from document transfer tax was $5.6 million.

Lee’s daughter, Jennifer Kim, executive director of the golf course, could not be reached for comment.