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.