This has been an issue i am passionate about (allowing outsiders access to our golf courses for less money than we pay as residents). Sorry, but knowing Sun City's history makes this topic a hot button topic for me. Over the years, people argued i hated golf; that's never been the case. I hated the cavalier way management and the board treated the financials that went along with it. I hated that golf expenditures dwarfed everything else that went on in the community we all love. I wrote a couple of articles, intending to send them to the Independent Newspaper. They were simply trial runs. I've been told, more times than i can count, i write too much. I get it. Most people don't want to be burdened with reading, trying to get their head around the problem. I just sent one of the articles i wrote to the Sun City Advocates to be posted on their blog. Posted below, you will find the second one i wrote. Both are "too long." I needed to sort out what i want to say when i do send a letter to the editor. I know it need be shorter, straight to the point and understandable to those who care about what happens in the community. My focus has been narrowed and my goal is for those reading it understand exactly why they should come to the September 12 Member/Board Exchange meeting. It will begin at 9:00 am at the Sun Dial Auditorium. If you care about the RCSC giving away our amenities, you will be in the room. I'll post the letter below.
Sun City's history is amazing. Anyone taking the time to understand it will come away aware of just how unique we are. John Meeker was the genius who inspired the members to embrace a sense of community. They also were willing to accept the responsibilities that came with an ownership mentality. When those buying and living here took ownership seriously, they looked at every problem, every question and every concern as their own. All of which makes the past several months so difficult to watch. At the first member/board exchange meeting in April, three members from the RCSC golfing community raised concerns regarding outside play. Since that time, any number of letters to the editor on these pages have been equally critical of management's decision to sell non-resident full play passes. Since that meeting in April we have learned the average price for a round of golf for these non-residents is just over $20 per round. We also know, they are guaranteed a golf car for less money than a member can rent one for. It gets worse; they can access tee times just like a member via the web portal and it appears if they join a small group (30 or more), they can pre-book tee times without using the lottery system. That's a lot to absorb. Basically what it boils down to is, non-members can get cheaper golf rates and can access our courses better than the membership who paid for the courses. We have all done so by subsidizing golf from annual budgets and through the Preservation and Improvement Fees (PIF) we have paid. By 2025, when we will be spending very large sums on golf course conversions to desert landscaping, we will be coming up on 100 million dollars invested in our courses over the past 25 years. Golf is and always will be an important amenity in Sun City. What it never was, never intended to be, was a place where those living outside our walls could come and golf for next to nothing. There is no reason on earth why a 45 year old from Peoria, Surprise or Glendale should be stepping on our golf courses for less money than any resident/member of the RCSC pays to golf. Historically we know RCSC board members have aggressively fought against outside play. They argued with DEVCO about selling tee times to outsiders, even when they owned and operated the courses. The RCSC board had a chance to rectify that decision this past June. Instead they elected to do virtually nothing to stop the abuse, the giveaway. It's time for the community to reestablish that ownership mentality Sun City was built on. You can speak out at the September member/board exchange, but more importantly, this coming election vote for candidates who believe Sun City belongs to the members, not golfers living outside our walls
Ju s finished playing golf with a fella fro Surprise that plays four days a week on an annual pass and thinks he’s doing Sun City a favor by providing us his annual payment. A typical example of entitlement.
There's now 150 plus of them who feel that way. It's freaking shameful because any other course in the west valley would be twice the rate they are paying and in the East Valley it would be three times more. Everything about full play non-resident passes is inherently wrong.
I wonder how other SC residents, especially regular golfers, feel about that attitude? I don't golf anymore, and it annoys the heck out of me!
