It's Not Even About Golf Anymore ?

 

Originally posted on Talk of Sun City by Bill Pearson

 

Part 1 - Today's Board Meeting

 

I will go into detail below, today's board meeting was stunning. Here's why:

1). The board told us loud and clear, their job is about protecting non-members who buy full play golf passes.

2). Those of us living here and subsidizing golf should not expect to be able to get on a course when these non-members want to play.

3). Worse yet, they told us it is perfectly okay with them (the board) if those non-members can play golf on our courses for less than we pay. ($35 for us, $20 for them).

4). Even more staggering is the board told us they didn't want to infringe on managements right to set golf rates. I freaking kid you not. Was there a single person in the room who knows the history of setting golf rates?

 

Given the events of today, where the board was worried about the setting golf rates, their job should be policy (as they told us), here's a policy for them: "No non-member should ever be able to enjoy our amenities for less cost than those of us living here." I don't care if we are talking about 10 pin bowling, going to a dance, playing cards, lawn bowling, enjoying a swimming pool or golfing; members first and cheaper than outsiders.

 To Dale, Kat, Mike, Darla and Allan, you should all be ashamed.

Let me be very clear, Sun City was built for Sun City residents, it is owned by Sun City residents. Why would we think it is just fine to let non-members have greater benefits and utilization than those of us who live here and own it? Today was one of the most disturbing days i have ever witnessed in the history of this community. To Dale, Kat, Mike, Darla and Allan, you should all be ashamed. Putting non-members ahead of members is wrong.

 

Read the damned Articles of Incorporation. I defy you to show me where it says you should do everything legally possible to benefit those not living in Sun City. Defy you. It is a breach of your fiduciary obligations, plain and simple.

 

I get it, the management folks who don't live here don't give two shits about what they do and where the revenue comes from, your job is to represent us. Today, you told us point blank, we simply don't matter.

 

Pt. 2 It Got Pretty Heated

 

I put this out as a question for anyone reading this, anyone who golfs or anyone who lives in Sun City and subsidizes that small percentage of the those who buy full play passes. I had a guy tell yet again at the board meeting, i just don't get it about golf. He further clarified, i don't understand how it works.

 

Really? Freaking Really?

 

It got pretty heated, at least through all the crap i finally could sort it out. He told me he buys a full play pass and golfs 200 rounds a year. I won't bore you with the math; suffice to say, he is paying $7.75 a round. There's not a golf course in the country that can be run at those rates. Not one.

 

Today's discussion, motion from Director Collins was to increase/change non-member full play passes. It did a couple of things. The rate would be a flat $2500, no golf car. If they wanted a golf car, they would pay $6 per person, $12 for the two people in a car. At least that way, every time they played, they would either walk or rent a car, or bring their own.

 

Frankly that wasn't enough, but it was way more than what management wants to do, next January. So basically, their proposal is to do nothing and sell a boatload more full play passes that are good for a year from date of purchase. Steve's motion was a good first step.

 

Here's why; it changed how non-members could access our lottery. RCSC members would be able to get their tee times sooner than than non-members, now they have have equal access. As i pointed out at the meeting, my wife and i have paid $4250 in PIF fees since we moved here in 1999. Over that time period, 50 million dollars have been spent on updating our golf courses. Not one thin freaking dime has come from non-member full play passes. Not one dime.

Not only did we spend that much from PIF, the membership has paid an additional 25 to 30 million dollars from our annual budgets to subsidize the game. 

Not only did we spend that much from PIF, the membership has paid an additional 25 to 30 million dollars from our annual budgets to subsidize the game. You know, so guys who buy the full play pass and play 200 or 300 times play for next to nothing. Every household subsidizes golf, all 32,500 members. We help pay for your cheap golf.

 

As this member and i were arguing, i finally understood what he was angry about. He told me he has a bunch of his buddies who live in Peoria, Surprise and Glendale who buy the full play pass and they play together three times a week. I asked him why i should subsidize them? He told me because the RCSC gets their money from them up front. Are you freaking kidding me?

 

Up front, down the side, or up the ass, they are all golfing for what the RCSC tells us is $20 per round. If i want to golf, after paying my $4250 in PIF, yearly subsidies of $30-$50 per household per year, i can step on one of our courses (if i can get a tee time) for $35 per round. Is there something wrong with that picture?

 

I get the argument golf cannot be self-sustaining, we should agree to subsidize it. The question should be, by how much per year? The question should never be, how much should i subsidize some 45 year old from Peoria so he or she can play for $20 per round. NEVER.

 

Pt. 3 By the way, it gets worse.

 

By the way, it gets worse. The golf report told us a lot. The one thing we know for sure is, full play golf passes to non-members are growing daily. The word is out, cheapest golf rates in all of Arizona. Let me help you get your head around this. A full play non-member golf pass is $2500 with a golf car; no car, $2000. Best rates anywhere, don't believe me, look for yourself.

 

We know from the RCSC, they tell us in 2021 an average round cost $20 for non-members. We also know the majority of those card holders bought the pass with car. Golf car rental is $12 for a car, typically 2 per car, $6 each. You can do the math on a 100 rounds (it's higher btw) but for simplicity sake, the $2500 pass, using our golf car is worth $600 to $700 off that price so they are essentially getting the the full play pass, for $1800-$1900.

 

So you understand, if i go play in the winter months and pay my $35 for the round, if i don't have my own golf car, i rent it from the RCSC for $6 per person, $12 for two of us. That puts my round at $41. The same round my new found friends from Peoria, Surprise and Glendale are paying $20 for.

 

But wait, if we don't do that, nobody will buy the full play pass that doesn't live here. Is that true? The real question isn't is it true, it is how did we get to the point where we had to give away golf in Sun City? Apparently nobody watched, nobody cared. The statement was made they only sold 14 full play passes in Sun City West to non-members. True, but they have less than a tenth of the golfers there buying the full play pass. They don't want people buying full play passes. Hell, for members, theirs is $35oo.

 

And so we are even more clear, Sun City West outside golf revenue as of their annual meeting last week reported two things:

1). Outside play generated nearly 5 million dollars, and not a round was sold to non-members cheaper than what a member would pay.

2). Non-members could not book tee times as early as members. Per the GM; "owner-members always had prime time privileges."

 

That is 100% different from the way Sun City treats their membership. Sun City West knows outside play is critical, but never to the detriment of the membership.

 (6.30)

Pt. 4 The general manager said to me a year ago, "it's not fair that golf should be treated differently than other clubs."

 

My next door neighbor just turned 100, the man next to her is 96, they have both lived here since their homes were built in 1973, their fees are grandfathered and they pay $248. The guy across the street and the one immediately behind me are in their 80's. Both moved here after 2003, both are now single or widowed and both pay the $496. The second two paid PIF in some amount, the first two none.

 

The all have two things in common, none of them use the rec centers any longer, their choice. The second one, they all subsidize golfers in Sun City. Worse than that, they all subsidize those living outside Sun City who buy full play golf passes. That's not their choice by the way, they just do. We all do. I've come to appreciate, many people feel golf should be subsidized. It's any amenity.

 

It was purchased under different terms and conditions with the RCSC president telling us point blank when they bought them for $10 and a cup of coffee, golf would be self-sustaining. It is interesting to note the 96 year old and the 100 year old lived in Sun City when those articles were in the newspaper. My guess is they don't remember Myron Waggoner saying that. Like 99% plus of the population, they've probably never read what the purchase agreement says either.

 

The general manager said to me a year ago, "it's not fair that golf should be treated differently than other clubs." Maybe he's right, but at some point, we need to be honest with ourselves about the benefit of really cheap golf in Sun City. I had a lady the other day tell me at the meeting her husband golfs 300 plus days a year. He says pointedly, it's like $5 a round. I know, i've done the calculations.

 

It's why i laugh when goofs living here tell me i don't understand the numbers. And that's where he is wrong, the problem is, i do understand them, far better than most. I'm willing to accept we need to subsidize golf for the membership. Not sure how much but we can't even have that discussion. Nope, we've now decided my four neighbors need to subsidize golf even for those not living in Sun City.

 

Let me repeat that, my 100 year old neighbor, my 96 year old neighbor and my two 80 plus year old neighbors who don't use any facilities in Sun City, help pay for some 45 year old living in Peoria, Surprise or Glendale be able to golf for $20.18 a round (less if they get the golf car with it). Now, look up and down your block and all the blocks across Sun City and multiply the number of seniors living here who are being forced to do the same thing.

 

Does that make any sense to you? (7.1)

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