Oro Valley Golf Outlook Grim, April Numbers Show Struggle

In December 2015, Oro Valley Town Manager Greg Caton told the Town Council that during the peak season; January through April, golf membership should increase and the purchase of the El Conquistador County Club and golf course would prove to be wise. Unfortunately Caton’s optimism appears to have been misguided based on the recently released numbers for the month of April.

According to watchdog Town Council member Mike Zinkin, the total April revenue forecasted for golf, including golf fees, trail/cart fees, range/rental/other, and member dues was $271,200. The actual revenue for the same categories was $176,077. As a result, the April forecast was off by $95,123.

Zinkin told constituents in an emailed update of the Town’s financial situation: “One can say this is “constant negativity”. However, one can also say the forecaster is constantly wrong. The forecast has been off for 10 out of 10 months.”

At the December 2, 2015 Town Council meeting, Zinkin asked Caton “Only one quarter of the way through the year, we’ve lost $1.149 million of the expected $1.946 million. Do you really think that in the next 9 months we’re only going to lose $800,000 when in the first 3 months we lost $1.1 million?”

Caton replied, “Yes. When you look at the numbers, December really starts to pick up but it really gets more into peak season in Jan-April. Those are the strongest months and now with some of the atmosphere changing and the cloud over the property, we believe the new membership development will increase, we believe these operational changes will impact that balance, and also as the reputation of the course and the property continues to develop in the marketplace, it’s rebuilding that brand, and when we specifically get into Feb-Mar-April, those are positive months, neutral to positive, so essentially, we’ve finished the 6 toughest months in the golf season, that’s May-Oct, and the remaining 6 months are our busy season, although our fiscal year will dip into the slower part of the season and we’re going to reassess the operations when we get into those slower months of May and June, really typically June. May is still fairly busy. We lose a little bit in the revenue as the daily rate drops a little bit, but the volume is still there so we feel good about these numbers.”

Related article: Oro Valley Struggling In Peak Season, Investment Still Failing

Currently the Town’s management is scrambling to improve the numbers through social media and an expensive mailer campaign. At the same time, the courses are closed, or scheduled to be closed for capital improvements.

In fall 2015, Biz Tucson featured Oro Valley. In the article Caton brags that the Town “served itself well by sticking to 4 core pillars: public safety, water quality and assurance, roadway Infrastructure, and parks and recreation. Then he mentions upgrade of Aquatic Center to attract national competitions and the purchase of “El Conquistador Country Club for $1 million and turned it into a community and recreation center.” Not a word about golf.

^{*The average per round is calculated by taking the total revenue and dividing it by the total golf rounds for members and non-members}