The Kamehameha Schools has sold its fee interest in the exclusive Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia, whose members included former President George Bush, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and executives of several Fortune 500 companies.

The $9 billion charitable trust sold the land beneath the 18-hole course and its Georgian-style mansion clubhouse to the club's members last month, the club said in a news release yesterday.

The price was not disclosed.

"This is a very significant milestone for RTJ. Owning the club has been a goal of the membership since Day 1," said Bud Elliott, RTJ's president.

The 250-acre golf club had been operating under a 40-year lease set to expire in 2036. The lease gave members the option for an early buyout of the fee interest.

Set 30 miles outside of Washington, D.C., on the shores of Lake Manassas, the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club is one of the nation's toniest country clubs.

The RTJ has played host to four Presidents Cups, in 1994, 1996, 2000 and 2005.

Besides Bush and O'Connor, members included former Vice President Dan Quayle; former AT&T CEO Robert Allen; Carlyle Group Chairman and ex-IBM Corp. Chairman Louis Gerstner; and former Urban League director and Washington powerbroker Vernon Jordan, who is the club's president emeritus.

Kamehameha Schools previously explored a sale to the golf club's members in 2002 but that effort fizzled.

The golf course was built in 1991 by a partnership led by Durham, N.C., developer Clay Hamner. The trust was a member of that partnership and invested about $45 million in the venture. In 2002, Kamehameha Schools estimated the value of its investment had dropped to $35 million, but the current price is likely well above its initial investment.

The partnership ran into financial problems in 1994, prompting it to sell the golf course and clubhouse to members. Kamehameha Schools kept the fee interest in the land.

That sale deal was spearheaded by former Kamehameha Schools trustee Henry Peters, who also served as a trustee of the golf club. Peters' dual role prompted club members Benjamin Stone and Robert Basham, Outback Steakhouse co-founder, to sue, alleging Peters had a conflict of interest.

Peters denied that, saying he recused himself from taking part in the transaction as a Kamehameha Schools trustee. The suit was settled after club members were given a 40-year lease.

The RTJ was one of the few remaining Mainland holdings that the estate acquired during its 1980s and early 1990s investment spree.

The trust has sold off nearly all of its speculative Mainland real estate since reforming its investment policies in response to the late-1990s trust scandal.

Founded by the 1884 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the Kamehameha Schools is a tax-exempt charity that educates children of Hawaiian ancestry.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.