The owner of Horseshoe Bend Country Club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week, halting a sale on the courthouse steps of the posh east Roswell facility.

The club and golf course is the centerpiece of Horseshoe Bend, which is one of the biggest and richest neighborhoods in Roswell, and the bankruptcy filing evoked mixed emotions from residents there.

A foreclosure auction would have meant uncertainty for the owners of the 1,200 homes in Horseshoe Bend, where property values are tied to the country club. But it also would have rid them of an owner who some think has allowed the club and golf course to decline in quality and prestige.

"Folks in the community would like to have it operated by someone who would invest in the club and bring it up to a better standard," said Les Hunter, president of the Horseshoe Bend homeowners association. "They're not expecting to see any improvement unless the ownership changes."

Rob Barnett, the chief executive of Tattersall Club Corp., filed for Chapter 11 Monday night in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Atlanta, 14 hours before the planned foreclosure sale.

Georgia State University law professor Marjorie Girth, who specializes in bankruptcy law, said the filing "puts everything on hold" in conjunction with the foreclosure by Rhode Island-based Textron Corp., which holds an $8.3 million mortgage on the country club from a 1998 loan to Tattersall.

But the stoppage is only temporary.

Georgia is a nonjudicial foreclosure state, which means that if a borrower doesn't repay his debt, the lender can file for foreclosure and sell the property without going through the courts.

"If the bankruptcy judge finds that the foreclosure was proceeding in accordance with Georgia law, and that no one could object to it, then the stay would be lifted and the foreclosure can proceed," Girth said.

That would please Roger Wise, who has lived in Horseshoe Bend for 25 years. Wise said he's watched the club and course go downhill under Barnett's ownership, and that his neighbors are "apprehensive and mad" about the situation.

Wise said that Barnett "took something that was cherished" and let it deteriorate.

Horseshoe Bend got its name from the fact that Chattahoochee River wraps around the neighborhood like a horseshoe, and five holes on the scenic golf course are along the river.

"I'm disappointed that someone else isn't going to be able to take this facility and do with it what should be done," Wise said.

Barnett, who bought the club 21 years ago from the original developer, did not return calls seeking comment, and Michael Wing, the attorney for Textron, declined to comment.

Last week, after the foreclosure filing was revealed, Barnett said his club was "doing great" and that he was finalizing a new loan that would allow him to pay off Textron and keep the 109-acre facility open.

Girth said the bankruptcy filing would probably delay the foreclosure for at least 60 days. That would give Barnett some breathing room to find a new lender.