Mr Sullivan's nine-hole, 20ha golf course, alongside State Highway 6, went on the market officially a week ago, with tenders closing on April 24.
''I just feel I've had enough. I've taken it as far as I can get it,'' Mr Sullivan said.
The course opened in 2000 - the creation of Mr Sullivan and his former partner Colleen Howell.
They spent two and a-half years turning a vacant, rabbit-infested series of dry paddocks into a tidy nine-hole course with 140 members.
Mr Sullivan came to Lake Hawea after selling his sheep and beef farm at Berwick, near Dunedin.
''I was always going to buy a farm up here but at that time there were that many rabbits and everything else and the locals said: 'Why hasn't Hawea got a golf course?'''
While Ms Howell did much of the tree-planting between the fairways, Mr Sullivan and some mates formed the course, including the greens, which required a rock foundation more than 2m deep.
''It's come out good. We're pleased with it,'' he said.
Mr Sullivan does most of the green keeping himself but still fits in a round twice a week.
''I've been round in par. It only ever happened once and I don't think it will ever happen again.''
Mr Sullivan leases land to the Lake Hawea Golf Club which provides a clubhouse for its 80 members.
Mr Sullivan said he hoped a purchaser would continue to use the land as a golf course but there was no guarantee.
''You never know, do you?''
He believed the course could be further developed, although there was not the room for another nine holes.
The course's capital value is $1.295 million.
