In figures sent to the Tucson Greens Committee last week, the five city golf courses operated at a $494,410 loss for the first six months of the fiscal year.
Food and beverage alone was $241,313 under projected revenues. The base golf operation (mostly from playing fees) earned $2.1 million; management projected a $2.7 million income.
But this isn’t a problem unique to the five city golf courses. Two upscale courses, Vistoso Golf Course and Arizona National, recently went broke after the IRI Group’s implosion and eliminated privileges of those who had paid in advance, including some “lifetime memberships.”
After years of financial woes, Oro Valley Country Club, one of the area’s most successful golf operations of the last 50 years, was recently acquired by Club Corp of America, a Dallas-based firm that is taking over OVCC operations.
Tucson’s five muni golf courses are a resource for local golfers matched by few in the United States. In the year since OB Sports has taken over day-to-day management of those courses, it has created a sense of competence.
It is Step 1 in what could be a fruitful process depending on the patience of Tucson’s political heavyweights.
