Phil Buys An Arizona Course And Other Notes About The State Of AZ Country Clubdom
/Thanks to reader John for Peter Corbett's look at the state of golf clubs in Scottsdale and he reports a lot of membership and dues numbers, very little of it encouraging for developers but great for golfers. He also reveals this recent course purchase:
"This is about the low-water mark I've ever seen," he said.
Scottsdale's Sanctuary Golf Course was sold in the past month to Phil Mickelson and his agent, Steve Loy, for $2.2 million, a price far below its value of five years ago, Garrett said.
Brad Klein, a GolfWeek magazine editor, said the problem at Phoenix and Scottsdale golf clubs is that real-estate development subsidizes the golf operations.
When members take over the golf cub from the real-estate developer, they are forced to cut operating costs or tax themselves to maintain the courses at a high level, he said.
"There is a statement in the industry that the third owner makes the money," Klein said.
The third owner buys a course for $4 million that costs $20 million to build and $4 million to operate annually, he said.