At a special meeting on Monday, September 17, the Recreation Centers of
Sun City Board of Directors voted to approve a new golf fee structure.
According to RCSC Board President Denny Nichols, “The Board and RCSC
management realizes that these decisions are being made when many of our
golfers are still away for their summer vacations, but any alterations
to the golf fee structure need to be made now so the 2008 budgeting
process can be completed.” Nichols also cited the fact that
historically the golf rates change on October 1 each year and that most
renewals of the annual golf passes are done in October and November.
Under the new fee structure, effective October 1, 2007, daily trail fees
and annual trail pass permits for golf carts will be eliminated. The
lost revenue from annual trail passes and trail fees will be made up
through $2 increases in daily surcharge fees and daily cardholder green
fees. The Board also approved a 4 percent increase in all daily green
fees and annual golf passes. To help curtail future golf fee increases
to Sun City residents, RCSC will also begin allowing limited outside
play on its courses year-round. “We have only two sources of golf
income,” explained Director Norm Dickson, “from Sun City residents or
golfers outside of Sun City. If we can use even a small portion of the
unutilized tee times (the highest monthly average double sheet
utilization of available tee times is only 64 percent) to reduce the net
operating golf deficit, it should moderate the fees we will have to
charge Sun City residents to golf in the future.”
The Golf Ad Hoc Committee made up of volunteer Sun City residents met
and worked throughout the summer to provide a proposal to the Board of
Directors to eliminate the net operating golf deficit. The committee
investigated operating expenses in great detail, including personnel,
equipment inventory and income sources. The Golf Ad Hoc Committee’s
proposal, which was presented along with the management proposal at the
September 17 meeting, also included the elimination of annual trail pass
permits and trail fees and allowing limited outside play on RCSC
courses, but the fee increases were considerably higher than those
proposed by management as the Ad Hoc Committee was attempting to reduce
golf’s net operating deficit as quickly as possible. “This decision is
not an easy one,” Nichols said. “The Board thanks both the Golf Ad Hoc
Committee and RCSC management for their efforts in developing these
proposals.”
RCSC General Manager Jan Ek, who presented both proposals at the
September 17 meeting and served as chair in a non-voting advisory
capacity on the Golf Ad Hoc Committee at the request of the Board,
offered management’s alternative solution, which included lower fee
increases and asked the Board to allow the RCSC golf division three
years to eliminate its net operating deficit. Ek noted that statistics
show that significant increases such as those proposed by the Ad Hoc
Committee have led to considerable decreases in the number of rounds of
golf played, and therefore would not provide the desired result in
increased income and reduced deficit. Ek also explained that while
operating expenses could be reduced instead of income increased, such
required expense reduction would drastically reduce the condition of Sun
City golf courses and therefore create long-term problems for Sun City
as new golfers must be attracted to the community in order to keep its
eight golf courses financially sound. RCSC Director of Golf and Grounds
Operations John Snyder reported that, according to the Golf Course
Superintendent’s Association of America, the median Arizona 18-hole golf
course maintenance costs (maintenance and payroll) were $1.18 million
per year, while Sun City 18-hole courses averaged only $684,000 in 2006
in maintenance costs (maintenance and payroll)—$496,000 less than the
average Arizona golf course. Ek noted that this should be evidence to
even the non-experienced golf course operator that there is little room
for improvement in expenses without serious repercussions. “While I
know we are not perfect and there are always some improvements that can
be made, I believe that RCSC is operating its courses efficiently,” Ek
said. “And we maintain much less equipment than what is advised for
courses like ours so I do not see any significant opportunity to reduce
our operating costs or capital requirements for equipment.” From 2002
through 2006 (a five-year period), RCSC invested over $7 million in the
golf division in a combination of capital expenditures and net operating
deficits, all of which came from income sources other than golf, noted
Ek. “Contrary to what many believe, golf is not paying for itself let
alone contributing to any ‘general fund’ as has been erroneously
understood,” she said. “I realize that it is difficult for golfers to
see the hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in wells for the golf
courses versus the money spent on buildings which are much more
visible.”
According to the proposal, year-round outside play will be allowed on a
limited basis primarily at Riverview and South courses, as storage for
RCSC’s rental golf carts is available at those locations. Outside
golfers would only be permitted to make tee times three days prior to
the day of the desired tee time. Since RCSC golfers may make tee time
reservations five days prior, they will still receive priority.
Director of Golf Snyder also noted that the small number of golf carts
owned by RCSC will limit the number of outside golfers. “We are talking
about approximately 20 outside golfers a day, approximately 5 tee times
a day in the winter,” explained Snyder. “We do not want to take
anything away from Sun City residents; what we want to do is give
something to them by allowing limited outside play when they are not
golfing to help share the burden of the costs to operate these courses.”
Ek openly acknowledged the concern that the new fee structure would not
benefit golfers who walk, but said that any special exceptions for
walkers would be very difficult and cost-prohibitive to enforce. She
also noted that the golf industry as a whole has been eliminating
special pricing for walkers and including trail fees as a part of their
annual pass and green fee structure for many years now. In fact,
confirming telephone calls found that many local courses such as Sun
City West, Sun City Grand, Arizona Traditions, Coyote Lakes, Palm Valley
and several others do not offer discounts for golfers who walk.
The elimination of the trail fee will create several different scenarios
in this upcoming transition period for the 2007–2008 golf season. These
scenarios will be explained in detail in a separate press release and
available on the website (
