Rain has become a four-letter word among East Valley golf course proprietors.

Through the months of January and February, the number of rounds and overall revenue have plunged deeper and deeper, to the point of forming a large pond of lost opportunities that won’t dry up for the rest of 2005.

Although getting an exact figure on how many millions of dollars have been lost is guesswork, at best, it is safe to say that rounds and revenues are off by anywhere from 10 to 30 percent for the first two months of this year. Considering there are approximately 150 public courses in Maricopa County, conservatively that estimate could be between $3.75 million and $7.5 million if each course lost between $25,000 and $50,000 -- and the majority of high-end courses (approximately 50) have lost much more.

Adding to the woes, employees at those East Valley courses also have been impacted, as positions like outside service, instruction, food and beverage also have lost thousands of dollars in wages and -- just as critical -- gratuities.

Tom Patrick, the vice president of SunCor Golf, says there is no way of telling just how much money has been washed away or how many days each course has been closed or affected, “Because so many variables come into the equation.’’

“But the best way to describe what’s been lost is, you make as much money in one week of February as you make for the entire month of August,’’ Patrick said of the comparison between the current peak season of January through April and the summer months of May through October.’’

Patrick said some unusual circumstances have contributed to the downpour of bad luck involving rainouts. Among the negatives, he listed:

*Untimely cloudbursts, most notably early in the morning and on the weekends. “It comes at 5 o’clock in the morning, nobody plays, whereas if it’s 5 o’clock in the afternoon, nobody cares. . . . Those early morning rains really hurt on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.’’

*More daytime temperatures in the 50s during January and February than ever before caused partially by the rain. “People don’t like to play in the cold.’’

*People not being able to get out of airports, or fly into Sky Harbor International, because of rain. “Plus, they see on the news where we’ve got rain on the way, and they stay away.’’

*Weather forecasters predicting rain, and then it doesn’t come. Such as Monday, a holiday, where the numbers were down despite sunny skies. “(Errant forecasts) just kill you.’’

“January was bad, but February has been a disaster,’’ added Patrick, whose SunCor Golf oversees three East Valley properties in Club West, The Sanctuary and SunRidge Canyon. And when this happens to you, there is no way you can recoup (the losses) later in the year.

“It also hurts all the people who work at the golf course, financially, especially those people who work for tips, because they’re the first who get sent home when it rains.’’

It’s been doing a lot of that lately, as total rainfall is approaching 5 inches for the year, closer to 6 inches after this week, according to the National Weather Service. That’s about 4.7 inches more than normal for January and February, as well as a crushing blow for tourism in a state that likes to boast about “330 days of sunshine a year.’’

Clubs at all ends of the spectrum have received the brunt, from low-cost municipals like Ken McDonald in Tempe, to the mid-priced clubs like Longbow in Mesa, and on to the higher-priced clubs like Legend Trail in north Scottsdale. And 36-hole facilities like Gold Canyon Golf Resort and Bear Creek in Chandler get hit twice as hard.

Scott Scherger, the director of golf at Gold Canyon, said his tee sheets on the Dinosaur and Sidewinder courses have taken a broadside, which in turn impacts resort rooms, merchandise sales, and food and beverage.

“We’re looking at losses of $20,000 to $30,000 a day in golf revenue alone,’’ Sherger explained. “We’ve lost every weekend in February, and had five total washouts in January with another four that were on the brink.

“When we lose a weekend, that’s double trouble because we’ll gross in one weekend during peak season what represents our entire month (revenue-wise) in June.’’

Rick Williams, general manager at Legend Trail, also is feeling the deluge.

“We’ve had four total rainouts, and eight to 10 partial rainouts,’’ Williams reported. “I suppose we’re about $130,000 to $150,000 down for the year -- roughly 30 percent -- which is a lot considering it’s early.

“You always take into account that you’ll have a few rainouts every year, but normally that’s just a few, maybe three tops.’’

What’s been unusual about “El Nino 2005’’ is it has affected some courses dramatically while leaving others relatively untouched. For instance, Longbow is just slightly off (10 percent), while Bear Creek is drowning (25 to 30 percent).

Jay Larscheid, the general manager at Longbow, said his club has been “fortunate.’’ He attributes a lot of that luck to the fact his course drains well, and

“we seem to set in a pocket that doesn’t get a lot of rain.’’

“At least we’ve been able to stay open, even if it might be on cart paths,’’ Larsheid observed. “We only lost a couple of days in January, and we’ve been open pretty much all through February.’’

Not so at Bear Creek, said director of golf Brent Sapergia, whose club has been forced to shut down recently on several occasions.

“We’ve had to close five times in the four years our course has been open, and four of them have come in the last two weeks,’’ Sapergia noted. “We’re down (in rounds and revenues) probably about 25 percent in February and 10 percent in January.

“(The weather) is just weird here: It can be raining everywhere else in the Valley, and it’s dry here. Or, it can be raining here, and it’s dry everywhere else.’’

What hurts the lower-priced courses even more is that the locals, which make up 80 to 90 percent of the tee sheet, tend to shy away more than the resort guests, who play regardless. And it’s a twofold problem, said Jennifer Marsh, the facilities manager at Ken McDonald.

“We were down almost 961 rounds in January from a year ago,’’ Marsh said. “And February is going to be worse.

“(The rain) gets us both ways: The locals won’t play in the rain, and even stay away for a few days after the rain because they know the course conditions won’t be that good. Whereas we had a group of 40 guys from out of town who played in the rain last week -- the only guys on the course -- because they just wouldn’t be denied, basically.’’

Despite all the gloom and doom, and the fact that lost rounds and revenues can’t be made up, Patrick said he’s hoping for some “spring fever in the next two months.’’

“I’m an eternal optimist, plus I remember last year, when we had a terrible November and December and still had one of our best years ever,’’ he said. “So I’m hoping that the rain will go away, that some visitors only postponed rather than canceled those vacations, and that we can recoup some of those losses in March and April.