Option letter excerpt Sun City West Independent online “ After reading recent opinions on Sun City West golf courses, I researched the Assessor’s Office website and found there is no covenant or deed restriction or attachment to restrict the sale of the golf courses. (•Unlike RCSC.) RCSCW golf courses use 50% of every dollar/FTE that is employed or dollars that pour through this association. The courses lose millions of dollars every year. They do not pay for themselves. Green fees do not cover the expenses. Consequently, if the courses are privatized, half of our salary, equipment and supplies expenses are eliminated.” ~ By Terry Burks | Sun City West More at Sun City West Independent online here.
Thanks EO. Bottom line is golf is an expensive amenity that adds greatly to the attractiveness of the community. SCW promotes themselves as being the premier golf community. I think this would imply they are trying to attract golfers as members. Recently, I visited the golf foundation website in search of learning more about the economics of golf course operations. There was little discussion of the cost side of the equation and much discussion on ways to expand the revenue stream. Based on what I know from the courses my uncle owned, the upside economics was always the value of developing the land. Golf was merely a way to minimize the carrying cost of the land until a developer came along with a big check. As a nonprofit with deed restricted courses our economics are quite different. The upside of golf for RCSC members is reflected in the value of their homes including the extra value if the home is located on a golf course. Golf fees will never cover the actual cost, including capital cost, of maintaining the courses. Consequently, we end up with interminable debate about how much to spend on golf and who should pay for it. The past board that I resigned from was probably the most anti-golf board RCSC has seen in a long time. This Board has three golf "enthusiasts" on it and is much more golf friendly. I see the value of being a golf course community in the value of my home. I enjoy golf but, much to the dismay of my father and uncle, I really am a golf underachiever. So where does that leave us as an active adult lifestyle community? My guess is this debate will continue into the indefinite future and the pro/con pendulum will swing back and forth.
We will never "fix" golf until we make major changes. That will never happen when we have golf league members on the golf committee. They will always protect their own turf before thinking what is best for Sun City. A group of casual golfers that have played all over the country would be much better choices. How much do we lose by missed tee times? Get rid of cash. Credit card only. Charge when the tee time is made. If they don't show up, we still have the money. It may be time to bring back trail fees. They had them about 25 years ago. Say about $5 if you have your own cart. Repurpose Quail Run when it opens back up. No tee times. Starter keeps 2 sheets, cart and no cart. Announce the next single or group when the last ones leave the first green. No forced groupings. If you want to play alone, that's fine. We have lots of people that would like to at least try golf and many that haven't played in years but not the way it is now. A person playing with a grandchild that never played before. A man that would like to play with his wife. It would speed up play on the other courses. Many new golfers would move on to the other courses as their skill level increases. But, as long as some people think about how much they can play for as little money as possible instead of looking at golf as a pleasurable experience, nothing will change. Remember. Big changes are only big to the people living here before the change, a declining number. For the people that move here from that day forward, a rising number, it's the way it's always been.
We've lived here for 22 years and golf and the structure has remained "stable" (meaning little has changed) for far too long. So your comments old and tired are spot on. My good friend Ben Roloff told me 5 years ago the problem with golf is it is all centered in the hands of the few who love the process where they pay the least and get the best tee times. It's beginning to change, and it was much needed. The director of golf leaving just might be the best thing that can happen for the future of golf in Sun City. He'd been around too long, nice guy but trapped in maintaining the status quo. We simply can no longer afford that to continue. Full play passes and the small groups consuming prime time tee times in peak seasons has accomplished one thing; booking over 300,000 rounds of golf. If all we cared about (which was the case for too long) was the number of rounds played, we accomplished that. It also created a setting where we dared not market the community and our golf courses by using how cheap it was as the primary driver (no pun intended). Think not? When was the last time you saw any marketing material to move to Sun City and play golf? Or better yet, buy a full play pass and play for under $10 a round. Potentially we could attract 1000's of new golfers who bought the full play pass and we would only magnify the infighting over prime time tee times. I don't know the answer. I know maintaining the status quo won't work. I have looked at other senior communities with golf courses and they've priced their full play passes at points that result in few golfers buying them. I like the idea with different levels of play and cards that reward golfers but none of them give the rounds away. I cringed when i saw the SCW call to sell off their golf courses. That would change the nature of their community and create a setting where the cost to golf would be off the charts expensive. The problem they have/we have is the density (number of courses) creates challenges that may at some point in time be beyond our control. If generation X home buyers aren't golfing addicts/enthusiasts, either giving play away or trying to market to non-residents is the only outlet (other than subsidizing play at higher costs to non-golfers). It's an interesting problem with one former board member doing an analysis on peak tee time play showing bookings at 100% plus. The months November through March book solid, as do most AZ courses. The summer months everyone gives it away. The question (IMHO), for anyone looking at how to fix the mess we are in has to look at what the cost of a round sold during the high season (peak tee time) is? Giving it away when others are charging $50 or more (per round) than we are selling it for is folly. I've written it several times, i will say it again: I hope once a director of golf is hired, the RCSC needs to hold informational meetings for the golfing community, and not for just those buying the full play pass, and not for just those who are part of the small groups. Old and tired was so right about the whole booking tee times and then not showing up for them. I'm told it's still hoovering around 20% (or higher) of times booked and no shows. If that's the case, during our high season, we could be talking 20,000-30,000 no shows. That's a lot of lost revenue. The problems have mushroomed out to the point where tweaking what we have is clearly not working. We know costs will continue to explode and we know someone best get a handle on how best to proceed. I know it's way beyond my pay grade.
