Sunnyside High School is on track to get a new golf practice facility, which the coach says would cut down on transportation costs and increase access to golf district-wide, pending governing board approval.
If approved, Sunnyside would be the first and only school in the state to have a golf practice facility on campus.
“I have not heard of a golf practice facility on any Arizona high school campus,” said Frankie Acosta, general manager of the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Sports Properties.
The proposed facility, which was brought forth by the school’s golf coach, would be about 6,000 square feet and host 10 to 12 regulation cups. It would be on the northeast side of the Sunnyside campus and cost the district about $70,000.
“The biggest thing is exposure and accessibility,” said Orlando Rodriquez, the golf coach. Golf is an expensive and difficult sport to get into, and having a facility on site would open doors for not just his own athletes but students across the district.
With the new facility, the golf team would have the ability to practice 144 days a year, compared with 111 without, he said.
Sunnyside golfers, of which there are about 20 this year, practice at the Torres Blancas golf course in Green Valley, which is about 25 miles away, and many students could only practice when they were taken there on district vehicles.
There are closer golf courses, but those either charge fees or are already being used by other schools, he said. Having a facility would mean that students who don’t have means to get to a golf course to practice could still get the practice they need to be competitive, Rodriquez said.
That doesn’t mean Sunnyside golfers would not practice on full courses, he said. They would still make trips to Torres Blancas, but far fewer. Rodriquez estimated the new facility would allow his teams to cut at least one bus trip per week.
“Now our kids have the ability to practice five days a week, work on their game and really improve,” he said.
Funding for the new facility would come from about $10 million in bonds allocated to Sunnyside district’s athletic projects, he said. When he first proposed his idea for a golf practice facility, he was not taken seriously by his school, Rodriquez said. So he took the matter to the bond advisory committee himself.
The facility isn’t just for the 20 golfers at Sunnyside High, he said. “It’s really for the Sunnyside district year-round.”
Rodriquez said he hopes to launch after-school programs to expose elementary and middle school students to golf, as well as opening the facility to the Desert View High School golf team for practice. He also wants golf to be a part of physical education classes.
The Sunnyside governing board is set to vote on the matter in an upcoming meeting. Should it get approved, Rodriquez said the goal is to open the facility in October.
