By Bill Pearson
Originally posted on Talk of Sun City (Posted as written)
Let me shock everyone with this next piece on what i love about Sun City. Golf. Yup, i said it and i stand by it. I used to play, i don't anymore, but there's no question, Sun City was built as a golfing community and it will always be a golfing community. For anyone interested in our history and Del Webb, you know the man loved the game. What is so odd is, he took it up late in life. He was in his mid 30's. Most know he was a great athlete, aspiring to become a professional baseball player.
When
he put down the bat and glove for the last time (circa 1930), his focus was
work. His newly opened construction company was initially a tiny operation, but
as Arizona was coming out of the depression, his business flourished. In his
mid 30's he found golf and conducted some of his deals at the private country
club he belonged to. By the time Sun City opened, he had memberships in 14
country clubs around the country and had become near a scratch golfer.
There was little doubt Sun City was going to have a golf course, the real question was, how many? The original course, North, was started before anything else in Sun City. It stood to reason, come opening day, the front nine holes of the course should be open for play. Hard to imagine "a new active way of life" without golf taking center stage. Little did anyone know just how big a role it would play.
In 1979, as DEVCO was pulling up stakes and moving to Sun City West, there were 11 golf courses within Sun City's white walls. Not only were there 8 courses for the members; each of the three primary phases 1, 2 and 3 had their own private country club. They were owned and operated via stock ownership from those living on and around the courses who were willing to pay a premium for the status of joining and belonging to an exclusive setting.
It truly is amazing when you consider Sun City is only 3 miles wide and 7 miles long. The courses over time proved to be a value added amenity with the green space and open air being a nice departure from all of the building going on in the community. Even better, was Sun City golfers had the advantage of being able to play a different course every day of the week if they desired. The fact they could get to all of them on their golf cars made Sun City a stunning attraction for anyone interested in the game.
The challenge was these courses were all built in an era when a golf course was just a golf course. One only has to look at the courses in Sun City West to see the changing nature of golf course design. We had water features, but nothing like newer more challenging courses. Back when i still played, if we wanted a tougher course, we would load up the clubs and go pay to play one of the premium courses that dotted the Phoenix landscape.
In an effort to keep this on a high note, golf is still the best bargain going for Sun City residents. The occasional player in season only pays $35 per round, but there are full play passes and surcharge passes that can cut the cost significantly. Several of the courses have been updated, but the reality is the quantity will always outshine the quality. That said, for the 12% of the community that loves and plays the game, Sun City is a bargain.
And, to be sure, the open green spaces still are well loved by non-golfers. The cooling effect is immediately felt when walking adjacent to them during those hot summer months. What's not to like about that?
Continuing on with this discourse, i want to look at something most don't really think about. Over the years, i have gone back and forth on a topic that's been portrayed both positively and negatively. And to be honest, i've argued both sides of the coin thus proving two things can be true at one time.
I like the fact Sun City is too big. Newer age restricted communities have shrunk in size. Rarely do they get much bigger than 5000 homes, with many far smaller. For comparison, Sun City has 27,500 rooftops, Sun City West 18,000 plus and Sun City Grand around 12,000. All three of those are far larger than the average. The one exception to the rule is The Villages in Florida. They are wholly different as they are ballooning to 70,000 with a goal of potentially 100K. They also are situated in three different counties with a multitude of associations within the community.
The point here is, Sun City with it's massive population that nears 40,000 residents during the high season is unique. Throw in the 8 recreation centers, 8 RCSC golf courses, Viewpoint lake, the Sun Bowl, softball field and Duffeeland park and we find an incredible array of options and choices for members. The real beauty is when a facility goes down to the inevitable remodel, there's another just down the road. For example, when Mountainview closes for whatever number of years it will take, Fairway is less than a mile away.
One of the other things i have talked about and written about regarding our size, even when compared to both West and Grand, is ingress and egress. Say what? I have had the pleasure of visiting both communities any number of times and each and every time i leave i am thankful i didn't buy in either. Don't get me wrong, both are beautiful, but getting in and out of them are personally a pain in my ass. I know, i'm not a very patient person, but it always drove me nuts when coming and going from them.
Look, it's just a preference, but for those who argue Sun City is too big, i am more objective and see how much better we can be by making the most out of how large we are. In this case, size does matter and it's one of the things i like about the original Sun City Arizona.
I was a flaming workaholic. Hours meant nothing to me, the more the better (which wasn't too smart on my part as i was salaried). I was convinced work defined me, what and who i was. I was wrong, it was just what i did to pay the bills, to get to the day i could retire. Once i found Sun City and saw all it offered, my attitude began to change. There was life after work and once i retired i came to appreciate just how could it could be. Turns out, work was way overrated.
Let's take a look at two words i heard repeatedly while a volunteer at the Sun City Visitor Center. Two words those of us living here start to take for granted. They are; "Clean," and "Quiet." When we first bought in Sun City in 1999 and would visit for a week here and week there, we would always be amazed at the sense of serenity that would wash over us as we drove through the white walls.
Having loved the energy and excitement of work, fighting with people for a living and vacationing in Las Vegas for years where the action was non-stop, Sun City was the polar opposite. While there were hundreds of things to do here, you could do them on your time, at your leisure. The funny thing was when we would come for a week of "vacation" we would work on the house non-stop. Once we moved here, we could buy something for the house and take weeks or months to get it up or installed. It just didn't matter.
I digress. We quickly grew to enjoy/love how quiet Sun City was (other than the occasional golf cart being crunched by a car outside our doors on Boswell and Desert Rock Dr). People always laugh about rolling up the sidewalks around 7 pm but truth be told, other than the constant stream of walkers, i'm not sure they ever get unrolled. That's a good thing, unless you live on one of the streets those passing through go racing by on. Absolutely love the solitude.
They say, "cleanliness is next to Godliness" so i guess it's no surprise there are 31 churches in Sun City. Other than after a nasty wind storm and the trees are pounded, Sun City is most often spotless. The PRIDES do an amazing job around the community and it's not unusual to see it rub off on residents who will pick up after the occasional pig throwing out their garbage as they drive through our community.
The vast majority of us living here appreciate how quiet and how clean it is. But then really, what's not love about it?
I had met a business owner in the course of my dealings while serving as the president of the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum. His name was Steve Pohle and he and his brother owned Pohle NV Center (he has since sold it). He actually donated the blue three wheel golf car at the Museum and Jane Freeman and i drove it in Sun City's 50th anniversary parade (top speed 4 miles per hour :)). Another of those rare business owners who understand the importance of giving back to the community.
Anyway, we became friends and along the way i had him build me a golf cart that i still drive to this day. Nope, no break on the price and why i still have it a dozen years later. Be that as it may, i would often stop down at his shop, have coffee and we would talk. Turns out his dad opened the store in Sun City in the mid 80's. The family was originally from the Twin Cities (as was i). They had owned a beer distributorship and following an ugly Teamster strike by his drivers, sold the company and made for Arizona.
His father had passed away and the two sons ran three shops; one in the east valley, the one in Sun City and one in Sun City West. We enjoyed each others company (i know, hard to believe) and we talked about everything. Any number of times when the community needed something he stepped up and donated. He was just that kind of guy. What was really funny was he looked just like Hoss Cartright (my fav from the Bonanza crew). Imagine my surprise the first time i went in his office and saw an exact replica of the 10 gallon hat Hoss used to wear.
Back in the day (2010) i had my hands in and around all kinds of stuff. While the Museum was my passion, my wife and i became part of the year and half long 50th anniversary committee. That just meant those of us on it, did all of the free labor at every event. If you recall, the economy was in the tank and there was virtually no money from businesses. In spite of that, we held at least one major promotion every month where we sold 50th anniversary merchandise. The good news was, we got through it and when the year ended we had about 50k to donate back to organizations within the community. It might have been the longest year of our lives.
While drinking Steve's free but not very good coffee, he looked at me and inquired, "how's Sun City's mayor." I laughed, but quickly corrected him." Sun City has never had a mayor and hopefully, never will. I schooled hm a bit on the fight against incorporation lasting 30 plus years and that people moving and living here didn't want to be what they were back home. They loved there was no mayor, no city hall, no councilmen (male or female). They loved anyone living here could put up their hands and do as much or as little as they wanted.
I've written of self-governance above, but this segment is even more on point. No mayor elected, no local city elections, no city planners and pencil pushers with exploding bureaucracy costs; all part and parcel of what set Sun City apart, made us unique. Best of all, no matter how much anyone did or does, how much they gave back, all they were was another in the long line of volunteers. For me, i really loved there was no mayor. I know, very, very odd. But that's just me.
Let's wrap this thread up with some final thoughts; but before we begin a couple of definitions:
1).
Tangible: 1a : capable of being perceived especially by the sense of touch. 1b:
substantially real.
2).
Intangible: unable to be touched or grasped; not having a physical presence.
You may have noted during this exercise, i stayed, for the most part, away from the tangible stuff. Before we bought in Sun City, we toured several age restricted communities. All were newer, most were nicer and all were definitely more expensive. All had amenities, some had golf courses and all had much more elaborate housing. Not more choices, just much more expensive upgrades.
Which brings me full circle to opening day, when Sun City's target market was low to moderate income retirees. It evolved over time, but the idea the value behind buying and living in Sun City never really changed. The entire premise from DEVCO was for the community to be affordable. So that those, even with a modest retirement income, be able to able to buy here and enjoy all it offered. It is still remains that way to this day.
The second aspect of the company's goals was in the values they built into Sun City. A wholly different tenet than value. Imagine the challenges of the DEVCO employees who were tasked with making Sun City a success. By 1960, Del Webb and his company had an unparalleled record and everything they touched turned to gold. For more than 30 years in Arizona and around the country, he was unstoppable.
Sun City came along and it was a wing and a prayer. The first 4 years were amazing. By 1964, the 3 other locations around the country were dead and damn near buried. Then Sun City AZ hemorrhaged and it looked like the dream had ended. It appeared as if Webb's magic was done and so was Sun City. Enter John Meeker who refused to let it die and simply become a footnote in time. He didn't do it alone, the Webb team rallied behind him and everything changed.
Let me be very clear about this, because it is/was an intangible; the community, those living here and buying here became vested in Sun City's success. They too refused to let Sun City fail. They became his greatest promoters, they took on responsibilities that insured Sun City would be sustainable long after DEVCO left. They became the owners and the ones who would carry us into the future. DEVCO was always going to leave and Meeker understood that better than anyone.
Here's my deal, every age restricted community, and there's more than a 1000 of them around the country, are gorgeous. They sell themselves. Fancy, glitzy and all built to sell homes. Sun City was the impetus behind it all. It was "the community that changed a nation." It also was a concept that builders nation wide latched onto and turned into more than a cottage industry. Oddly, as they studied Sun City (and they did in depth), they came to understand they could never replicate what Sun City was, what they offered. Lot's of reasons for it, some real, some imagined, some just basic economics.
Ultimately, Sun City has stood the test of time. After all these years we are still incomparable, affordable and a place the vast majority of us love to call our home. People often ask me; "why are you still doing this, writing, trying to cling to the past?" My answer never varies, it was our past that made us what we are today. It was those countless thousands of buyers who came to Sun City hoping for a better way of life, to have more than from where they came. Seldom were they disappointed. Those who bought here and put their hands in the air and said, "I can do that."
The past 15 years there's been an effort to remake us into what all the other age restricted communities are; just move here and enjoy retirement. I could have bought in any of the other communities we looked at, but none of those was the original Sun City. All of them had the tangibles, non of them had the intangibles i found in this community. The intangibles are what make Sun City unique, why would we ever abandon them?
Let me leave you with this final thought. Webb died in 1974. The company continued on till 2001. By then the Yankees were long gone, Vegas barely remembered his name. The construction side of the business was all but done. There was only one remaining legacy (beyond his foundation) and that was the age restricted side of the business. The Pulte group came in and purchased the company and the reason was clear, they wanted the Del Webb Sun Cities name. It was synonymous with retirement.
This place we call home, our final destination in our journey of life has been the ultimate reward for a life well lived. I believe wrapping my arms around something as special as Sun City was, is worth fighting for, Letting it become just like all the others, only less expensive, is a fools game. In the end, maybe it's just one man's opinion. We'll see eh?
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